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Find a plan

House plans, floor plans & barndominiums, read closely.

Find the plan that fits your land and your life.

An independent publication that reads house plans closely: how they live, what they trade off and what land they need, so you can see how a home would actually live before you commit to it.

Plan Finder

Start with your must-haves

No verified plans are published yet. Until they are, the Plan Finder answers your brief with the guides and checks that fit it.

Diagram of a lot from above: the house footprint sits inside dashed setback lines, which sit inside the lot lines. Note 1 marks the side setback.

Side setbacks come off the lot width before the house gets any. That is where fit starts.Diagram, not to scale

Where are you in the decision?

  1. 01 Inspiration

    See how it lives

  2. 02 Requirements

    Start with your land

  3. 03 Comparison

    Compare the layouts

  4. 04 Plan

    How a plan file works

  5. 05 Decision

    Read the checklist

Worth comparing

Fewer options, better compared

All collections

ONE STORYLAYOUTGUIDE

One-story house plans: what to compare before you choose

Everything is on one level, so the decisions move sideways: where the bedrooms sit, how far the primary suite is from the kitchen, and how wide the house gets.

Compare the layouts : One-story house plans: what to compare before you choose
  1. 02Barndominium, clearlyBarndominium floor plans with a shopBarndominium plans where a shop or oversized garage shares the roof with the living space.
  2. 03Small, well plannedSmall house plans under 1,500 sq ft: what to comparePlans under 1,500 heated sq ft, as listed by the seller.
  3. 04Before you chooseModern farmhouse plans, read past the facadeModern farmhouse plans, compared on how they live rather than how they look.
  4. 05Before you chooseGuest house and ADU plans: what to decide firstGuest house and ADU plans for a second, smaller home on the same lot.

Read the plan

Show the plan, not just the picture

Every plan we publish gets the same reading: no stars, no scores. Observations you can find on the drawing, the trade-offs, the land it needs, and the questions to ask before you buy.

How a plan file works How we pick plans

The Plan Read

SQ FT BED BATH STORIES WIDTH

Field names only: values come from the seller, with a date.

  1. 1At a glance
  2. 2How it lives
  3. 3What works
  4. 4Who it suits
  5. 5Trade-offs
  6. 6Land fit
  7. 7What to check
  8. 8Similar alternatives
  9. 9Source & verification

Land & lot

Start with your land

The lot is the one thing the house cannot change. Its width, slope and orientation decide which plans are worth reading at all.

In preparationRead your lot before you choose a plan

Rooms & layouts

Start with a room

All layouts

Barndominium, clearly

A shop under the same roof, and a house that still feels like one

If the shop is why you are looking at a barndominium, where it meets the house decides how the house lives: what you hear, what you smell, and what you carry through the kitchen.

  • Shared wallThe least separation. Sound, dust and fumes are one door away from the kitchen or a bedroom.
  • Buffer roomThe buffer takes floor area from the house side. Check that it still works as a mudroom, not just a corridor.
  • BreezewayMore exterior wall and roof to build, and you step outside between the two in bad weather.
Compare the layouts : Barndominium floor plans with a shop

Three ways a shop meets the house in a barndominium: sharing one wall, with a mudroom buffer between, or as a separate building joined by a breezeway.

Shared wall

Buffer room

Breezeway

Three ways the shop meets the house.Diagram, not to scale

Before you choose

Before you buy a house plan

A plan set is a license to build from drawings, not a promise that they fit your site.

11 things to check · the first four

  1. It fits your lotPlan width and depth, plus your front, side and rear setbacks, fit inside the lot. Get setbacks from your planning office.
  2. Your foundation is offeredThe plan set includes the foundation your site needs (slab, crawlspace, basement or walkout), or the seller can draw it.
  3. You know what the plan set containsAsk for the sheet index: floor plans, elevations, sections, roof plan, electrical, details. Sets differ between sellers.
  4. The file format suits your builderPDF, CAD or printed sets allow different things. CAD files make local changes easier.
Read the checklist : all 11 things to check

The newsletter

The Walkthrough

One plan, read closely. Every Sunday.

House plans, layouts and building decisions, from LAND & PLAN.

Sign-up opens before the first issue is sent. There is nothing to fill in yet, and we won't ask for your email until there is something to send.

Every issue, in five minutes

  1. 01The WalkthroughOne plan, read closely.
  2. 02Worth ComparingThree alternatives, one line each.
  3. 03One Good MoveA single layout detail.
  4. 04Before You BuildOne question to take to your builder.
About The Walkthrough