Free Study Plans

What are the PDF study plans?

The FREE PDF study house plans from the small HOUSE CATALOG offer material and structural information to help potential customers and clients determine their own cost estimates from local builders, contractors, and building suppliers before purchasing full plan sets. Ideally, people will of course purchase and submit full permit-ready plan sets to builders and suppliers; but for extremely budget concerned customers, the FREE study plans will work great for general cost-estimating purposes.

Why offer FREE study plans?

FREE plans are in the small HOUSE CATALOG DNA and spirit! In fact, its online history began as a totally free house plans website way back in 2010 before evolving into a fee platform. Why the change? The transition away from a free website was done solely to put an end to the ongoing internet copyright violations that the website was experiencing. Plans offered at that time were showing up for sale on mega commerce websites like Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy, and even appearing on international websites dedicated solely to selling my plans! It was challenging to say the least. When plans started showing up on a variety of allegedly legitimate free digital download websites, like Scribd, I just chose to end the program because violators created an ongoing hassle that demanded the constant issuing of DMCA takedown notices, formal infringement form work being emailed - or sometimes snail-mailed - to web hosts, etc. To be fair, most of these sites and companies complied quickly by removing the copyrighted material(s) and closing the offending websites, when needed. But it was a HUGE waste of time.

So that was that, and all was well for years…

Then came higher interest rates.

Today, with interest rates at their highest in decades, so many people are worried about the cost of building a new house, cabin or Airbnb. And rightly so. Mortgage rates have topped 8% this year and construction costs have more than doubled in many parts of the US and Canada since the pandemic! For me professionally, a noticeable result of the new financial environment is daily email requests asking questions like How much does it cost to build a small HOUSE CATALOG plan? Well, the answer is always, it depends. Why? Because there are differences in regional economies and these differences translate into different construction costs for the same plan. Plain and simple, costs are dictated by their building locations.

Now you can DIY your own cost estimating with the FREE study plans.

To help people predict building costs, and to help assess whether a plan can be built before buying it, I am introducing FREE Study Plans for the entire small HOUSE CATALOG. It will take some time to get everything online so be sure to stay subscribed.

So, what do the FREE house plans include?

All of the free study plans will include the following sheets: 3D cover, dimensioned floor plan(s) with fixture and appliance types and locations, foundation plan, roof framing plan, and some elevations.

Here’s an example:

What do the FREE house plans NOT include?

While a few DIYers and builders may be able to build using a study plan, it is not recommended. Why? To start, hey, you want to support this website! Also, the study plans are intended for planning purposes, not permitting or construction. The study plans will be missing critical construction information, such as prescriptive engineering and braced wall plans, as well as architectural details for foundations, walls, roofs, etc. (Note: you can read what sheets are missing by reading the Sheet Indices that appear on the Cover Sheets of the study plans.).

You will also want to purchase a complete plan set to record a personal license-to-build. When you do you will receive the entire plan, watermark-free, in a PDF format suitable for scaled printing and for emailing around to local code enforcement agencies and building departments for permits.

Plans are also intentionally inexpensive.

More FAQs!

Where can I find the free plans?

Check the Blog for available plans and updates. The Backyard Studio is the first design with a FREE study plan.

Where can I purchase plans?

You can view plans from the navigation drop-down menu. As the platform evolves, free and purchased plans will be available primarily on the the Blog and under the Plans.