This service is intended for those who have designed their home themselves in detail, are looking to build an extremely simple home, and are looking for the least expensive set of drawings containing only the minimum content required to obtain a construction permit.
Drafting Service Level E produces a set of house plans comparable to those you would receive from a draftsman or home designer. However, Warren adds a few important and necessary upgrades which will be discussed below that provide a more coordinated and buildable set of plans. The benefit of obtaining this service from Warren instead of a draftsman or home designer is simple, it is being provided by a licensed architect who specializes in residential projects at a price competitive with unlicensed and less knowledgeable individuals. This service provides you with house plans at Warren’s lowest price while being drawn to comply with local codes, regulations, and construction standards.
The Level E Drafting Service requires that you provide, at a minimum, an accurate floor plan locating all walls, doors, windows, cabinets, appliances, equipment, and plumbing fixtures. Also required is an overall list of design specifications including items such as the type of exterior wall construction, exterior finishes, roof slope, ceiling height, etc. The home design which you provide must have a floor plan layout that would be desirable to others and must not infringe on any copyrights. For this service level, the design you provide should be finalized to the extent that changes and suggestions for improvement are not desired. For this reason, changes to the design/drawings are not included in the fee for this service level but may be requested during the process at additional cost. Changes are however included in the fee for service level D2 and above.
The Level E Drafting Service is not appropriate for those needing plans for a custom or semi-custom home and will not always be offered. To qualify for this service, you must be looking to build a small home utilizing typical, economy oriented residential construction including a monolithic slab-on-grade foundation, pre-engineered wood roof trusses, and exterior walls of either 2x6 framing with horizontal lap siding or 8” concrete block with direct applied stucco. The home must also be on a fairly level lot which has no special site conditions (example: home may not be located within the 100 year flood zone or other special flood zones). In addition, the home must be structurally simple and straight forward while having a very simple roof design and exterior detailing.
Drafting Service Level E begins with a startup meeting where Warren utilizes a 2 page questionnaire to verify that all major design points have been addressed in the design provided. Beyond the design requirements, during this meeting Warren reviews the service contract in detail and discuses the service process. After the startup meeting, Warren draws the floor plan into the computer based on the design provided. While drawing the homes floor plan, Warren places furniture into the plan which is an asset to the process in many ways. Placing furniture in the homes floor plan allows you to have a better understanding of the sizing of each room and how circulation will flow through the home. The furniture layout also aids in the placement of doors, windows, light fixtures and electrical outlets. Once the floor plan is complete, it is emailed to you for review. As previously mentioned, changes to the design are not included in the fee for this service but this review provides you with the opportunity to request changes at additional cost before the plans progress to a point where changes become time consuming and costly.
Once the floor plan has been approved, Warren continues by adding all the remaining detail that will be utilized in the final Architectural Construction Documents. Once completed, the drawings are emailed to you to allow for a complete review prior to sending the drawings to the structural engineer. This review provides you with an opportunity to request any minor final changes that you may wish to make prior to finalizing the plans. Information added to the drawings for this review include the exterior elevations, roof plan, an exterior wall section, elevations of all interior and exterior doors and windows with standard specifications, an economy oriented schematic electrical plan, a foundation plan with details, and miscellaneous text, tags, and dimensions as required.
Once the final review set (Design Development Review Drawings) have been approved, Warren emails a copy of them to the structural engineer. Warren has a preferred structural engineer who does quality work at a reasonable price. The structural engineer provides structural specifications for the overall project such as the sizing of beams, steel reinforcement in the foundations, spacing of roof sheathing nails, hurricane straps, and more. Once the structural drawings are complete, warren picks up the engineers package and reviews it to verify that the architectural and structural documents do not have conflicts with each other. In addition, if the architectural drawings require any revisions for structural coordination (unlikely on projects utilizing drafting services), these adjustments are made as well. Once structural coordination is complete, Warren emails a .pdf copy of the architectural plans to you for your records and obtains full size (24”x36”) prints for sign and seal by Warren and the structural engineer. Once the plans are signed and sealed, Warren’s services are complete and the plans can either be picked up or mailed to you. Once you have received the final plans, you are ready to proceed with the contractor of your choice.
The positive aspects of the Level E Drafting Service is that it has a low fee and relatively fast turnaround time once Warren is provided with a home design that is ready to convert into construction documents. There are a few negative aspects to this service (and similar services by others), the first being that although the plans will contain enough information to obtain a construction permit, they leaves much to be interpreted by the contractor and subcontractors during construction. Many residential contractors like this because there is not much for the home owner to hold them too contractually but this is bad for the home owner. Within limits, the more information you have in the construction documents, the better off you are. Another potential disadvantage of this service level is that it is based on a design which you provide. Some home owners are able to generate a nice design but home owners often design floor plans which do not have an attractive exterior design. Some home owners also design floor plans that have odd layouts which look and/or function oddly, sometimes not realizing this until after they move in and it is too late to change the design. In addition, if you design a home that works for you but is not appealing to others, you may find the home difficult to sell when that time comes. For these reasons and many others, if the budget will allow, Warren highly recommends utilizing Designer Service Level D2 as a minimum service which provides a nice balance between fee, detailing, customization, and service.