Earthships are also said to be open source, but the plans are (definitely) not free https://earthshipbiotecture.com/
You can also check Open Source Home, by Studiolada (those are free, but the plans are in french) https://www.countryliving.com/remodeling-renovation/news/g46...
Open Source Ecology is now listing a house in their list of builds https://www.opensourceecology.org/extreme-build-of-the-seed-...
Open Building Institute is also promoting a configurable house https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/
- buying some architectural books. Many (good ones) have plans in them from excellent architects. A sample from a good one is at [0]. If your tastes are not so 'architecture school' there are others.
- looking at the development approvals in your local area. Plans are often open to all. And they will (assumedly) be up to code in your area today.
Imo the concept of 'open source' doesn't translate to houses as well because regulation, construction approaches and tastes can be so locally specific and also change over time.
[0] https://issuu.com/birkhauser.ch/docs/floor_plan_manual_housi...
In Australia at least we need to submit development approvals which are public for some time.
As part of these approvals there will be floor plans and architectural drawings. They won't be enough to build off (usually), but they're a great source of inspiration it you're looking for ideas, costings, and what your local council is willing to approve.
- https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/
- https://www.openstructures.net/
I don't think anybody's compiled them in an "open-source house plans DB", but it's a pretty neat idea.
He's just started discovering symmetry.
Someone already wrote: ads. Go to your house/flat hunting website of choice, use the appropriate filters (house/flat) floors, sqm/sqft, etc. Usually the photos and the layout are there, and if you put a price range you can also see the cheap ones vs the expensive ones.
There are millions of applications and each local authority has a different database so it may take a bit of digging to find what you are searching for.
Application example - https://publicaccess.tewkesbury.gov.uk/online-applications/a...
Drawings example - https://publicaccess.tewkesbury.gov.uk/online-applications/f...
Would a pre-existing plan account for the sun exposure of your land? Would it have a roof that makes sense for how much it rains or snows? Would it take advantage of elevation for views or make sure to block a nearby neighbour? Would it deal with moisture, or fires, or access roads? Foliage? Your family size?
If you really want to design your own house (a great idea), look up materials around A Pattern Language instead. Learn what makes a great house, then design a plan incorporating those ideas but customised towards your plot and your needs.
Check also their forum for many member submitted plans: https://www.sweethome3d.com/support/forum/listthreads?forum=...
Did I mention that the free/open source software Sweet Home 3D is great :-) It’s been posted a few times on HN.
https://onlinecourses.shelterinstitute.com/courses/free?utm_...
There’s also then a in person course to actually do it!
https://www.argentina.gob.ar/habitat/modelos-de-vivienda
I don' know where are you from, but be advised that construction techniques that we use are mostly brick based with reinforced concrete structure.
I want it to be designed to minimize cuts and make building simple. I want the roof to be two slabs with no fancy protrusions, angles, gables, etc.
I want something that is easy to build and maintain.
As far as I’ve been able to find out, bardominiums are the closest to what I want.
It's a modular design system based on the dimensions of commonly-available construction material, intended to be both cheap and easy to construct without (too much) assistance.
The gotcha is that it's based on dimensions of materials commonly available in the 1960's, so I have no idea if something you bought today would fit.
For comparison, I've paid around $2000 for whole family house project, it's not just plans but also heat class computation, heating systems plans etc.
Country CZ (EU). It's two story house made of "bricks", with gas/wood/heat pump heating systems. I would say pretty classical here. For ~$270k, not counting the property.
Also soon there is starting another round of EU subsidies in range of $50k paid upfront for houses with solar panels, green roof etc.
Lumberyards often have fully kitted plan+materials packages you can order, and can often make some changes to suit your needs. Someting like https://www.hancocklumber.com/package-type/home-packages/
Local lumberyards can be hit or miss, but you likely have one that is happy to offer a huge range of services to customers.
You'll need him anyway because of the building permit.
Why go through the trouble to build something if you’re just going to get a mediocre building plan someone is willing to give away for free?
Let’s say something that can generate house plans according to some parameters.
I can say that the places that sell house plans, they want anywhere from about $3000 on up for the paper version, and they're usually numbered and watermarked. Digital ends up costing you several more grand on top of that, and I'm not sure exactly how they lock those down. On top of that, they're often missing important things like the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing plans. Your contractor is supposed to do that on the back of a napkin or something.
Ideally, any plans you'd find would have the following:
1. foundation
2. floorplans, 1 per
4. exterior elevation
5. cross section
6. electrical
7. interior elevation
8. perspective
9. construction notes/details
10. materials list
Here are some of the benefits of building your own house:
1. You know everything about it. Well, some things you forget, but most of it remains in the back of your mind. "Didn't I run some extra wire here just in case?"
2. You learn all of the skills that you will need to maintain your home, if you don't already have them. This means you never need a handyman (but your weekends are shot).
3. Just like nobody will watch your money like you, nobody will build your house like you. There are a lot of really crappy houses being built in 2023, and for the last 75 years or so. The reason for the crappiness, of course, is money.Being able to make the decision to use quality building materials instead of collecting 10% more profit, for example, can result in a really big improvement over conventional building.
4. It's really satisfying living in your handiwork. I'm sure there are more reasons - I can't write all day.
Now the pitfalls and reasons it sucks:
1. It's really frustrating living in your handiwork. For me, every time I walk past something that still needs my attention, it's a little stressor. Of course that's not too different from regular homeownership, I think. There are also a lot of times that I wish I would have planned it better.
2. Regulations (and financing) are really, really not in favor of building your own home. Unless you are a professional builder as well. Permits will expire way too soon, you won't understand their processes, they won't understand your processes. Assuming you need to borrow money, the bank won't know what the hell to do. They will literally freak out and nobody will be able to help you. This is too far outside of their routines.
3. It's a lifetime commitment. I mean, I guess it doesn't have to be, but for me it definitely feels that way. I built too big, and now I'm stuck working on it for what feels like forever.
Also, I'm in a temperate climate (Georgia, USA) where I don't have to worry about cold weather too much. I'm back in the woods where people don't ask too many questions. I have the support of my family, which I couldn't have done without. Overall, I'm happy with where I am. I usually enjoy the work, and at this point I don't mind taking time to do other things as well.
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I built a house in Cape Cod (Massachusetts, United States,) a few years ago. A few things to consider:
When I started working with my GC, he had a whole filing cabinet full of designs. They weren't "open source," (as in copyrighted under GPL/MIT/Apache,) but he scanned the design we started from.
I then used (shockingly) preview on Mac to cut and paste it up to move some walls and rooms around. (Basically, we took some space out of the master bedroom to make one of the other bedrooms larger. The master bedroom still has a lot of extra space.)
He then sent my changes to a professional designer who brought the design up to something that the contractors could follow, and made the garage deeper so we had extra storage and a garage door for a riding lawn mower. In 2017, in Cape Cod, this cost me a little over $1000.
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But, if you really want to get creative, I suggest hiring an architect. They have the experience that you, as an untrained novice, don't have. A good architect should be able to weigh your desires and give you something that'll be better than you could imagine.
Considering that redos are very expensive when building a house, spending a few thousand on an architect will be much cheaper than spending tens of thousands on a "redo" after the fact.
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Furthermore, if there is a house you like, at least in MA, it's easy to find the dimensions online. Just google "[town name] GIS", and you will find the town's database of all homes. Enter the address (or street,) and you will be able to find room layouts (with sizes) used for assessments, and even the assessment of value for the home. These are all publicly available records.
It's also useful to pull the GIS data of any land you're planning on buying (in MA.) This will tell you who paid what for the land going back as far as the records are available. You can use this in negotiations. (I knew that my GC overpaid for the land before the 2008 crash, so I adjusted my negotiation style accordingly.)
You do have to provide some basic info to get them but I can confirm that they're a full set of plans.
The same way an architecture would be wise to converse with software developers to start building a mental model of their industry, so should you in the reverse.
I just finished the lattermost process. In that case, you can get ideas from open source plans, but getting a builder to build your plans will be a full-custom build with the corresponding costs.
We looked at the plans several builders offered, modified one we liked, and then had them build it. From what I can tell, this route saved a lot of time and cost (assuming you are going the builder route).
So, … I’m gonna build a dream house. For real. And I’m supposed to be drawing my dream design, only I don’t really like the tools and limitations etc.
So, predictable programmer procrastination: instead of drawing a house, I start making my own house drawing tool:
https://williame.github.io/HomeBuilder5/ (needs mouse, won’t work great on mobile. Use SHIFT key to draw walls at an angle. So far, I have got as far as about to stop you building a wall that passes through another.)
Any plan (at least in my area) is going to require an licensed Architect stamp and engineering to match local code.
It's also worth it to spend the money up front to get a house designed that fits your lot (terrain, light, elevation, etc) - you'll more than make up for it in final home value.
https://hammerandhand.com/best-practices/manual/
e.g., retrofit windows:
https://hammerandhand.com/best-practices/manual/3-windows-do...
All the listings from 1908 to 1940 are at http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/byimage.htm
Here you can find multiple projects for free approved and shared by gov agency.
