How To Draw A Duplex House

Working as a professional interior designer for many decades, I've been involved in design-and-build residential building projects.

Sourcing for house drawing plans online has become a less expensive option for prospective homeowners who want to save as much money as is possible when planning to build their own homes.

If there are ways they can shave off a few thousand dollars from their building budget, they will gladly opt for them. And one way to save a substantial amount of money if from architectural fees.

The costs of employing the services of architects, structural, and/or civil engineers, if you plan to build a modest home, can be exorbitant. From plan development and producing blueprints to structural and electrical drawings, by the time these costs are built into a building budget, some may have to give up their dreams for another time.

So, if you plan to build your own dream home and don't want to give up your dream, I'll think twice about paying architects and engineers for their expensive services and instead opt to buy a complete package of house blueprints from stock plan vendors you'll find online.

A modest but stylish house plan and home design built on a narrow plot. Modern and just the right size for those who want to downsize.You can find plans and blueprints for this lovely home online.

Why Modest Home Designs are the Preferred Choice

The reasons many are opting for modest sized residential houses are not far fetched. Even small home designs can fit into big dreams so having a huge house doesn't mean you have a better lifestyle. So, what are the reasons why we are ready to fit our big dreams into smaller spaces?

Planning is cost-efficient - You can buy and even have customised, house drawing plans online.
Affordable building costs - You save so much money building a smaller home. The lot is smaller and so drawing plans will cost much less.
Energy efficient - You expend less on energy costs, much more than in a larger home.
Compact and smarter - You can spend the savings you get from avoiding architectural fees on an aesthetically pleasing interior.
Tailored to fit lifestyle - No one really needs any home space that is larger than necessary to avoid having unused space in the house.

Additionally, living in smaller homes is the way to go. Remember a time when we had huge dining rooms instead of dining areas and breakfast nooks we have today. Also, instead of a room dedicated to a study, all we require is a niche or corner to serve as our work-at-home space. And now, instead of a whole dressing room, our lifestyle is now tuned to having a walk-through closet.

There are no more formal spaces, instead, we have functional and multi-purpose spaces.

An elegant home design. Its size is just right for first time homeowners and empty-nesters.

How to Find Affordable House Drawing Plans

Over the past few years, online retailers for house plans and blueprints are growing by the year and as architects and engineers are finding it more difficult to get jobs from prospective homeowners who desire to build smaller houses, they are now selling their designs through retailers of stock plans.

You'll find hundreds of house designs and blueprint, including structural drawings, mechanical drawings, and electrical layout drawings. Going a step further, whatever drawing plans you choose, they will give you an accurate estimate of what building the house will cost you.

Places like ePlans, one of the trusted leaders in stock house plan retail and HousePlans, have thousands of beautiful designs to choose from. Modest home designs range from compact traditional homes to stylish and modern architectural pieces.

Further Reading:

Homes Built on Narrow Lots

Traditional style home designs you will find online. Notice their modest sizes and beautiful classic features. For prospective homeowners that love elegant traditional style architecture.

Design Features to Look Out For

If you decide to buy your drawings online, and just want a moderate but elegant design, look out for the following:

Designs that have multi-purpose interior spaces
Interiors that communicate a sense of warmth and intimacy
Styles with meaningful and flexible (where necessary) interior details
Smart homes with open interior spaces that flow nicely into each other are pleasant and great to decorate. Check that the drawings have smart home qualities.
Household 'hotspots' must be in good proximity to important and essential areas. For instance, the kitchen should flow seamlessly into the dining area but visually separated with a breakfast counter.
Look out for niches or corners that have great design potentials, like bay areas, dead-ends, or under-the-staircase spaces.
House drawing plans that have the interior flow out into outdoor patios or decks. These are wonderful features. Glazed sliding doors that lead to the outdoors attractive possibilities for outside entertaining or dining.
Check that the design has porches and balconies that add both character and style to the building's exterior.

Put Your Savings to Work

When you purchase house drawing plans online you can put the money you've saved (architectural services) to good use.

What you save can be spent on creating a great interior and if you are creative, you save even more by decorating by yourself. If you think you'll need help, hire a professional interior designer or decorator. They can creatively work out a space-saving strategy to forgo traditional formal spaces.

So, whether you plan to build a log cabin, a vacation house, a country home, or your private residence, purchase home plans online. You'll be saving tons of money that way.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

shahid on December 11, 2012:

beautiful designs i love them

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on June 05, 2012:

Thanks the nice comments Miranda, Cheers.

mirandagoodenough from Sydney on June 04, 2012:

Stunning designs! I love this Hub already

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on February 06, 2012:

Hello Kohli,

After an initial course in interior design, in your own case, after your diploma, there are a number of options that can help you decide on an area of specialisation which will definitely make you stand out.

Here are some areas you can take short courses on (on-line or on campus), and specialise as:

Stage set designers

Lighting design and lighting effects experts

3D Computer rendering services

Space planning consultants

Furniture designers and custom furniture producers

Specialists in kitchen and bathroom designs

Residential interior designers

Commercial interior designers

Exhibit designers

Hope this helps Kohli, and thanks for the visit.

Best of luck in your future endeavours.

kohli on February 06, 2012:

I have a diploma in interiors (3 years)

What is the best short term course I can do to make me stand out by way of qualification.

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on April 08, 2011:

That sounds very interesting Aethelthryth.

I'm going to follow you also so i can know when the hubs are published.

Thank you for the visit and for leaving nice comments.

Cheers.

aethelthryth from American Southwest on April 08, 2011:

I have just interviewed the owner of a local reprographics shop, whose main business is copying blueprints. I am working on a series of Hubs about the trends in reprographics (and what I think is most interesting, some history of the blueprinting process). So your hubs about trends in actual building are interesting to me, and I am going to follow you.

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on January 31, 2011:

Thanks so much Almasi,

GodBless

almasi on January 30, 2011:

Voted up and useful for another useful hub.

TheNorwegian from Oppland, Norway on July 18, 2010:

thanks :)

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on July 18, 2010:

TheNorwegian, thanks for the visit. The house drawing plans come with the complete blueprints, including all the necessary structural drawings, that are an essential part of the building design plans.

A set of complete blueprints always comes with the necessary detailed drawings, including electrical drawings, mechanical, structural etc.

Without that, a building cannot be erected safely nor successfully.

Cheers.

TheNorwegian from Oppland, Norway on July 18, 2010:

Thanks for the info he. Great I guess, for many.

But have a question.

If people use this way to get their new homes drawn, what about the detailed drawings ?

Thinking about walls, roof, the building construction with all their forces....designed to keep the building standing ?

And for the record, asking as a profesionally carpenter.

Who is into building of houses and cabins mostly.

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on May 28, 2010:

Thanks for the complement akirchner and for visiting.

Multiple levels are quite nice and great for exercise, in that you can go up and down many times throughout the day, but because of its large square footage, we accumulate more stuff to fill it up.

Goodluck if you decide to downsize. I'm almost regretting the size of our house myself. As i'm getting older, i realise that i require less space. Trying to 'de-clutter' nowadays.

Glad you enjoyed this.

Cheers

Audrey Kirchner from Washington on May 27, 2010:

Definitely another wonderful hub and thanks for sharing it with us. I want to downsize one more time I think although our square footage is good but the multiple levels is really hard and I need more yard than house to do all I want to do. Good things to think about but the thing I always think about now is....how the heck am I gonna clean this thing? Oy vey - it's all about time management but sometimes it just seems the more you have, the more time you have to spend to keep it all up!

viryabo (author) from Lagos, Nigeria. on May 27, 2010:

Hi Habee, how is it going? They say the sales of the house drawing plans for smaller pert homes is on the rise.

You are right. The economic crunch is the reason, but maybe its good to downsize if and when the need arises.

Life is getting tough and tougher these days.

Thanks for visiting habee.

Cheers

Holle Abee from Georgia on May 27, 2010:

Great info here! I'm sure many people will be downsizing because of the present economy.