Floor plans or buy land first?

When thinking about buying a lot and building a new home, one of the first questions to come up is this…“Is it better to have my floor plans ready and look for a lot that fits that plan, or find a lot I like and then get a floor plan drawn to fit the lot?” This is an important point that often gets overlooked until you’re faced with it; where do you start?

   There are three ways to approach this issue any of which are fine. It all depends on what is most important to you and your family:

       Buying a lot to suit your floor plan

   This section is those whose floor plan will be the determining factor in a lot selection. Some of the reasons you may have decided on a particular floor plan could be: you’ve been drawing your dream home for years and it’s exactly what you want. Perhaps there’s a special need incorporated into it such as handicap access, accommodations for the care of elderly parents or a special needs family member, a specific pool or deck design, accommodating a very large or very small family, a home built for entertainment purposes, a home that will also serve as a place of business, a home with a large workshop or hobby area and so on.

   Having a completed floor plan in hand narrows down the lot search considerably. There will be only so many lots that are both within your budget and that will accommodate your floor plan.

      Drawing a floor plan to suit your lot

   There can be some real positives to this method, as an architect can mold the home to fully take advantage of everything your home site has to offer. If your lot location, amenities or view is more important to you than a particular floor plan, you’re going to approach looking for a lot differently. A few reasons that this style of lot search may suit you: you have a specific area, region or neighborhood you want to live in, you’re looking for a particular benefit from your future lot, such as the view of a mountain or lake, you want to live on a stream or a river, the need to live in a remote country setting or in an urban or town center environment, and so on. In this case, once you find the right lot in the right location, you can then design the floor plan properly fit on that lot.

   You have no idea where to start

   You may fall into a third grouping. You have a pretty good floor plan in mind, or a least a first draft, and yet you also will have a general location or lot type in mind. This situation happens all the time and, depending on your area, can be the toughest to work out.

   When looking around it may be difficult to find a lot you like, within your budget, which will work with your initial floor plan idea.  At this point you’ve got to make a decision. What’s the most important thing to you and your family? Sticking with your original floor plan ideas or finding another lot. When you hit this wall your architect should be consulted. Perhaps your floor plan ideas can be easily adjusted to fit a lot you are looking at – or maybe not. You need some professional advice.  Below are a couple of options that your architect may discuss with you.

   Boxing the Plan

   Think of your floor plan, not as a whole, but as a collection of parts. Image the master suite area, the eating and kitchen area, the garage area, living area and so on as boxes. You can keep the major portions of your floor plan intact and reorganize how they go together to better fit a home onto a lot you choose. Perhaps the lot you’ve found is too narrow to accommodate your draft floor plan. Take the major “blocks” of your floor plan and rearrange them into a formation to fit the lot. You’ll still get the feel of your draft plan, just in a bit of a different arrangement.

   Flipping the plan

   This is a stunningly simple way of getting a fresh perspective on your floor plan. Flip it, literally. Physically pick up the full floor plan page of your draft plan or drawings, flip them over and hold them up to a window or light. What you’re looking at is the exact same layout you’ve come up with, just backwards. Keep the “reverse” layout of your plan in your head when looking at lots. (Or, better yet, bring the plan with you.) When you’ve got a plan drawn up, or even an idea of what you want your plan to be, you’ll be visualizing that house on every lot you look at. This can lead to automatic dismissal of a great lot, if your “set” vision of your home doesn’t fit or look right on that piece of land. Keep an open mind and you’ll have a far wider range of possible lots to choose from. Surprisingly often, the “reverse” or flipped version of the plan can work out to be the answer to several common lot choice problems. 

Once you’ve got an idea in mind on which way to go you can start finding land for sale.