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 Can
you guarantee that my energy bills will be low?
Since Sun Plans has little control over the quality of construction, we cannot
guarantee energy bills. Our specs that come with full construction orders
do have many recommendations for your location for your builder to follow,
but your own knowledge and attention to detail is very important. Our Custom
Energy Recommendations come with references that help you locate qualified
contractors and, most importantly, a qualified heating and air conditioning
contractor. Some will even guarantee your energy bills. One of our homes constructed
in 1990 in North Carolina that we know used a HVAC contractor that specialized
in energy efficient HVAC and insulation (and even guaranteed their energy
bills for the first 3 years), had a separate meter installed on the heating
and cooling equipment so that the energy use could be measured. The owner
has graciously kept us posted over the years. Their 2170 s.f., all electric
home for a family of 2, using an air to air heat pump for a variation of the
Northern
Lights home has averaged $70/month or $850 (or about 12,000 KW) per year
for the last two years for the TOTAL home energy use according to the energy
report the home owners just sent us. That is approximately 60% of the energy
bills of similar homes in the area. Their separate meter reading have indicated
that the heating and cooling portion alone is about $25/month averaged year
round. (We would qualify the amount of insulation to be average but attention
to quality installation and house sealing high. The efficiency of the HVAC
was also average, but much attention was given to the design and installation
of the system (unit and ductwork) by the HVAC subcontractor.) With higher
amounts of insulation and the higher efficient equipment today, the saving
would be even greater.
Why is there so much variation in the passive solar performance of your
home designs?
Each of our home designs was originally based on the wishes of one particular
homeowner, including their preference for size, number of rooms, land, views,
family size, lifestyle, and value that they placed on saving energy and being
sustainable. Because every client is different in their goals, each of our
plans is different, and therefore some have a greater
I'm in a big hurry...can you help me?
We are a small, service-oriented architectural firm that specializes in passive
solar home design. Attention to detail takes time, whether it is preparing
the custom energy recommendations that are a part of the blueprint orders,
custom changes to an existing plan, or a custom design just for you. In order
for us to perform work at our high quality standards, we appreciate your getting
in touch with us as soon as possible if you're considering our services, and
not waiting until the day before you need the work done. Thanks!
Can you help me find a builder in my area that has built one of your homes
or is willing to follow your plans? Also, can you tell me how much and what
kind of insulation I should use in my climate and whether or not the overhang
length will need to be adjusted for proper summer shading?
Yes, once you become a client of ours (by contracting with us on at least
the first review and consulting phase of custom changes or a custom design
- see
this page), the sky is the limit on the type of questions you can ask
and the assistance that we can give. We are used to assisting clients with
things such as finding a builder or good HVAC contractor, researching new
products, and pointing you to others that may be able to help you if we can't.
We also provide some limited consulting for those who just purchase blueprints,
erasable vellums, or CAD files without custom changes. Just send us your list
of questions along with your order. If you want the questions answered prior
to ordering, then please begin our Custom Change process of which the first
stage is review and consulting of your questions. The fee starts at $295 and
in the event your questions truly are short (most are rather involved), we
can credit any extra to your plan order.
At this time, we do not keep a database of builders, but if our business
grows enough to justify this, then we might in the future. Right now, few
clients take the time to report back on their builder which would be a requirement
prior to us recommending them, but if you build one of our plans and find
one, please let us know.
In preparing the custom energy recommendations that come with custom plans
as well as the purchase of blueprints, erasable vellums, or CAD files, we
take a look at the required insulation and south overhang length for your
climate as well as point you to web sites that can assist you in finding a
builder, good HVAC company, or nonprofit organizations that provide consulting
at no charge.
I would
like to visit some of your completed homes. Can you tell me where the closest
one to us is? Regarding homes to view, clients to talk
to, or model homes, we get many inquiries similar to this, and I hope that the
following answers that we have compiled here will answer some of your questions
further. Have you looked at the photos that are available for some of our
plans? Click on the drop down box for each house plan to see if there are any
photos, or visit our photo summary page. Clients have
generously sent us these pictures to share. While we can certainly understand
your wanting to see a finished home or talk to our clients, we rely on our web
site, house plan book, study plans, construction review sets, and our reputation
in passive solar design to sell our house plans. We are an architectural firm
that sells only house plans and custom design, not a developer than sells finished
homes or construction kits. We do not have any model homes and we do not ask that
any of our clients open their homes for public viewing or to be able to discuss
their home with others. We realize this may cause some loss in sales of our house
plans, but the privacy of our clients is more important. Occasionally we have
a client who loves to share with us, and if that is the case, the photos and info
are referenced with each house plan. We are grateful for the photos that we do
have that our clients have generously sent. A variation of our Northern
Lights constructed in 1989 was published in several magazines. The owner has sent
us a letter which you
may read. Have you ordered the study plan for the house you are interested
in? They are larger drawings and most show furniture placement, all four elevations,
and often times much more, depending upon the drawings that the original client
requested. Each house plan has a study plan listed for it. They start at around
$60 including shipping. We also have construction review sets which are
more to study the construction aspect of the home, but include the study plan
as well. They are a mini set of blueprints minus the custom energy recommendations.
They are stamped not for construction. We can credit the price of the
Construction Review Sets, which start at around $200, to blueprint and other complete
house plan orders. (Sorry, new do not credit the cost of study plan orders alone.)
Please visit our ordering page for more
information.
Our new custom services include the option to have the creation of 3d drawings
inside and out..
A few of our house plans (and those designed by others) have
been on the national tour of solar homes in October, and this would be the best
way to see a passive solar home. Check out www.ases.org
and click on "home tours" for more information.
If you have trouble visualizing from floor plans and elevations, we recommend
that you hire a local architect to design your house. Many are used to providing
additional sketches and detailed assistance during the design phase. Architectural
fees are often the same as you would pay a Realtor if you were purchasing
an equivalently sized home, and our limited service, internet-based design
can be less.
And finally, once you become a custom client by at least engaging us in the
initial stage of consulting and review of your proposed changes or information
for a custom design (this allows us both to see if we are a good client/architect
match), we would then consider contacting a previous client for you if there
is one nearby that may be willing to open up their home to you.
I
would like to see you design smaller (larger, etc.) homes and have told you about
this in emails, but I still do not see any plans that fit my needs. Do you not
take into consideration what people are asking for?
We get many emails similar to this with requests that are too numerous to
list. Every request is valid for that particular client. We do not design
a home unless we first have a client. The client's needs come first. If you
do not see a plan that incorporates what you would like, it is because no
one else has yet asked for that in a plan. Most of our clients began at the
same point as you, looking for an existing/stock plan, realizing there wasn't
one available, then trusting us to design one for them. If you are interested
in our custom design (usually priced less than or equal to Realtor fees if
you were buying an existing home), then please request our custom design questionnaire.
Can I get
a discount on your design fees if I bring in my own drawings - either sketches
by hand or from a computer program? While we can certainly
understand your desire to start on the design of your own home, in reality these
drawings would actually increase our fees if you insist that we stick to them.
There could be an exception to this someday, but we have yet to see one. Here
is a response from another firm that posted a very good response to this same
question: A couple times a year, we have clients come in with
"designs" that they've created on a $49 CAD program from the local big-box electronics
retailer. Some ask for a discount on design fees (we're design-build), but most
have abandoned the software after a few clumsy printouts and a couple hours of
frustration. Our normal response is to encourage them to continue being excited
& involved about the design process, but now to let the experienced professionals
take the lead in creating their dream house. We rarely have much use for what
these programs spit-out, and never offer to discount our fees. We usually send
them over to the local permit dept. for a quick dose of reality from the plans
examiner. Not a single client has every complained or walked away. Most gain a
better understanding of the complexities of architectural design. - Ron
Danne, AIBD My favorite plan is no longer
listed. What happened to it?
Thanks for noticing that some of our plans are no longer on the main house
plan list. We apologize for any inconvenience and do appreciate your interest
in that plan especially since one of the reasons we are phasing out some of
our plans is due to lack of interest. Please email us with the plan name and
we will tell you how to find it on our site as well as let you know why it
was being phased out. Still, we realize that the plan may suit your needs
in light of the below issues, and in that case, we are happy to sell you the
plan, but there will most likely be additional fees and perhaps more importantly
additional time required to update the plan.
As a rule,
we are phasing out some of our plans to make room for better ones. The plans that
we are phasing out usually fall into two or more of the following categories:
- Older plan that no longer met our current drawing standards
- Unpopular plan as indicated by sales
- Too similar to another plan and this caused confusion
- Low percentage of south glass (often because the first floor was large)
- S.F. was higher than sustainable building guidelines of s.f. per bedroom
(see list on custom services page)
I noticed that some of your plans are designed to sit at an angle to
the sun with two walls facing south - one southeast and one southwest. Why is
that?
Those plans were designed for lots that are angled to the sun. It was impossible
to make a house with a long east-west axis fit on the site. You should select
a plan that is designed to sit at a 45 degree angle only when your land is so
tight that no other plan will fit, as there is some energy compromise in terms
of less solar gain and possible afternoon overheating in the summer. You
must be certain you can layout the house taking into account magnetic north (we
provide that info with blueprint orders as well as other energy recommendations
to make the best of the situation). We would like to have
to you convert a plan to ICF walls and have the plan adjusted for our location.
We'd also like to use the master bath from another plan. How involved is this?
We have changed the outside walls of other plans to ICF. Each plan is different
and not until we get into it, can we tell exactly what the implications would
be as our first choice is to leave the exterior dimensions the same to stay
within the 2' framing which is best for the roof framing to avoid waste. Some
people just expand out, but that throws off the roof framing from the 2' increments.
The windows also are affected by the ICF so we take a close look at that area
- esp. the south wall. Still that is sometimes a field change direct from
our plans if you felt comfortable having your builder do that and if your
building inspector would allow.
Of course you can have a local design professional make the changes too working
from our CAD files and that is appropriate if you also needed other changes
to adapt the plan to any unusual building code requirements as our plans are
not designed for the extremes of conditions such as earthquakes, expansive
soils, high winds, or high snow loads. (You might want to take the Construction
Review Set to your building inspection department, builder, and/or local engineer.)
To have a set of plans designed for all extremes would make the house over
designed and therefore very expensive to build. A structural engineer from
your area should review the plans anyway and that is why sometimes clients
order the CAD files instead of blueprints and have us sent them directly to
the engineer. Changing just the master bath is usually not that involved,
so just sketch out what you would want or send us a list of your ideas and
we'll come up with the best layout.
Recommended adjustments for location are done with both CAD file and blueprint
orders as part of our Custom Energy Recommendations that are included with
orders for blueprints and CAD files. You may want to see the information in
our Custom Changes
section and request our Custom Changes Questionnaire that further explains
the fees and process if you want us to consider making the changes and if
there is no one locally that can make them for you with our CAD files. The
first step is to complete the Custom Changes Questionnaire form and to send
in the consulting and review fee.
Want to see which of our plans already have ICF for the first floor walls?
Click this
link.
We would like to know if xyz (insert any plan name) can have the walls and
roof converted to SIPs (structurally insulated panels)?
See above info on ICF changes. Every house plan is different with a wide
range of implications for changing to SIPs. Some plans are easy, some are
more complex. While we do not mind a giving you a simple answer to an email
question related to appropriateness, we do not give detailed review and consulting
of the changes unless you have already purchased the construction review set
and gone over the changes with your local builder, design professional, or
SIP mfg. If you then still need consulting, you may want to go through at
least the consulting and review stage of our Custom Changes as mentioned above.
As a rule, the walls are easy to change to SIP whether the plan already has
ICF, stud frame, or other. The roof is the tricky part as there are span limitations
that vary based on the wind and snow loads of your area as well the design
of the house. Check the SIP mfg's span tables and talk with them along with
your builder or local design professional as a start. You may then be able
to answer your own question. The description of each of our house plans lists
the general construction method. If it says stick-framed roof with gable ends,
then it is most likely fairly easy to construct with SIP's for the roof. However,
if the house is designed for roof trusses, or has hipped ends, it will be
much more difficult. The entire roof may have to be redesigned and again,
some plans are easier than others.
Building Codes, CAD files & Engineers
We receive inquiries
as to whether or not our plans are suitable (without further modifications) for
a particular location. The answer is usually they might be, but that a local structural
engineer must first review the plans for conformance to local conditions and local
codes. They can recommend whether you need to increase or decrease the requirements
of the drawings. With the extremes of snow loads, earthquakes, high winds, and
unstable soils, it would be cost prohibitive to design a home that met all of
the possible extreme conditions. This is usually true of any set of house plans
and not just ours. Even if a location has adopted the new International Residential
Code which we use as a guide in our newer designs, there could be local modifications
and additions to it.
Usually the structural engineer (one with a PE Professional Engineer -
license and seal) can review the plans and attach any recommendations in the
form of 8.5x11 notes to supplement the drawings. So far we do not know of
any of our plans that would not work with this process. Other times the client
has ordered the CAD (computer aided design) files instead of blueprints and
had the engineer make the additional notes right on the drawings as the local
building inspection department may require that. Sometimes nothing else may
be needed the contractor would need only to follow the local building code
that is full of the additional information needed to build a house. If you
are in any area that has no building codes, the specs that come with our drawings
still specify which one for you to get and suggest that your builder follow.
Also, as we do not have a structural engineer on staff and even our custom
designs must also have a local structural engineer review the plans although
our preference is to work along with one during the custom process. This is
good insurance for your house and the fee even when combined with ours usually
still adds up to less than the Realtors fee if you were buying an existing
home.
Architects by law are not allowed to do engineering work such as structural,
electrical, plumbing, and HVAC (heating and air conditioning). If an architect
does provide those services or drawings, they are most likely are subbing
out that work to engineers licensed in the state where the house is to be
built. For most homes built, all but the most complex and large residences
have the plumbing and HVAC work as well as electrical circuiting design performed
by the builder's subcontractors as they do the construction. The ideal situation
would be to hire an engineer licensed in your state to not only add detailed
structural drawings to our set of plans (CAD files would most likely be the
easiest), but also design the plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning,
but since the costs for this extra work can be high and it is not the norm
in the house building industry, it is seldom done. Since engineers are also
trained in different disciplines, it may be difficult to find one trained
in all engineering aspects which then means you must work with either several
engineers or a large engineering firm that has all on staff. Often the larger
firms do not accept residential work and if so, will only work through architects.
The usual alternative is then to have just a structural engineer involved,
and to have the home owner and builder share liability by having the builder's
subs do the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical engineering.
What drawings are included
with orders for Blueprints, CAD Files, and Erasable Vellums?
Please see the description drop down box for each house plan for the drawings
that are included with each house plan order as they vary quite a bit based
on what our original client requested. Most of the drawings are limited in
nature as is the case with other stock house plans. (Commercial projects and
high-end residential homes drawings can have much more drawings and the price
for such increases proportionately.) The house plans are designed to be built
by a knowledgeable builder and will not contain all of the details necessary
for construction. The plans are designed to be used along with the building
codes, which address the other construction details, but there is no substitute
for an experienced builder that can work out all of the other details. We
have made our Construction
Review Sets available so that if you have any questions about the construction
drawings that you would be receiving, that you can explore them prior to placing
a more expensive order.
We suggest ordering the Construction Review Set if you have concerns prior
to ordering Construction Drawings - Blueprints, Erasable Vellums, and CAD
files. The review sets (stamped not for construction) are similar to the full
orders although we often update and change our plans somewhat. There are also
specs and custom energy recommendations that are attached to the cover of
the full sets and not the construction review sets.
Regarding engineering drawings, the schematic electrical is already included
in many plans (see list with each plan). Circuiting is not since we do not
have an electrical engineer on staff. Plumbing nor HVAC we do not provide,
as we do not have a mechanical engineer on staff. In addition, a local structural
engineer must review the plans for conformance to your area and provide additional
engineering usually in the form of 8.5x11 information, but sometimes in the
form of drawings. (Those in areas that need a lot more engineering areas
with high seismic activity, high winds, high snow loads, or unstable soils
usually order the CAD files so that the engineers can add their information
directly to the drawings.)
If you want more details than the set of drawings comes with, please ask
prior to placing your order for Blueprints or CAD Files and if our schedule
allows we may be able to provide them. If you need more extensive drawings,
it would be best to order our CAD files and have a local designer or architect
along with their engineers add the extra sheets. Full service architectural
services do include the engineering drawings and that could be where the confusion
comes in. The fees for custom architectural services that would include that
and much more all the way through construction overseeing would range from
10-15% of construction costs. Sorry, but with the demand of our limited service
architectural work, we no longer offer full service architectural. Feel free
to send in a list of questions at the time you place an order for blueprints,
CAD files, or erasable vellums and if it is not too extensive, the architect
will answer your questions or address your concerns in the custom energy specs.
We live in Canada and were wondering if your plans are designed for Canada?
Response from Sun Plans architect Debbie Coleman: While I was teaching a passive
solar workshop in Ottawa, I became much more aware of the Canadian building
industry. The other professionals that I met with there indicated that they
did not see problems with builders using our plans as most places in Canada
used the imperial system anyway and the builders and home owners continued
to order house plans from other US companies. . Our custom energy recommendations
adapt the insulation values to your location in Canada, but this is not done
until you place an order for blueprints, erasable vellums, or CAD files. You
may feel more comfortable ordering the Construction Review Set for the plan
you are interested in and running it by your builder and inspector first.
(The price is deducted from future blueprint or CAD file orders placed within
6 months.) Also, even for locations in the US, we recommend a local structural
engineer review the plans for your area as it is impossible for us to design
a house that meets all codes. Even some cities have their own variation of
a building code. A house designed for all extreme conditions (high snow, high
wind, expansive soils, earthquakes) would cost a fortune to build. People
sometimes order our CAD files and have us send them directly by email to the
structural engineer so that he may make any changes and additions to our plans.
They may also make design changes for you too as we give a one time copyright
for that to be done. We have also been contacted by another architect near
Toronto, Canada that uses our same software and he has indicated he would
like to work with us, so another option would be for you to order the CAD
files, then work directly with him for any changes.
Questions in General: We would like to know what you think about geothermal
heat pumps, SIP panels, solar panels, a new insulation, etc. (you fill in the
blank as the subjects are endless) Have you ever designed such a home using
this technology?
Debbie (the architect who is involved with at least the first stage of all
of our custom services) is used to doing all kinds of research once you become
a custom client and I'm sure she would be willing to look into your questions
and many more. Often our services involve as much research as they do actual
drawing. I can't say for sure about your question, but clients often send
her links to research and she often gives opinions on the mechanical systems
although since we are not mechanical engineers, we do not actually design
them. A simple yes or no cannot usually be given for most questions and therefore
our policy is not to do consulting until you become a client.
We can also provide additional consulting even if you just order a stock
plan unaltered. In that case, please send in your list of questions along
with your order and if the questions are something that can be addressed while
she prepares the custom energy recommendations, then there may be no additional
fee.
Most people who want consulting, actually first go through the Custom Changes
process first where she looks at your proposed ideas in relation to that particular
plan. When you get to the stage of having narrowed down a plan to one or two,
please request our Custom Changes Questionnaire. Currently the minimum fee
with that is $295. The consulting may or may not turn into actual custom changes
to that plan based on numerous reasons, but includes assessing whether continuing
would be a good client-architect match.
Most of our clients who ask very detailed questions end up with a custom
design after they try unsuccessfully to put their life into a house we designed
for someone else. (Sort of like Cinderella's sister trying to make the shoe
fit
) Please visit our custom
services page for more information.
Do your plans &/or energy recommendations suggest radiant floor heating?
Is this compatible with your passive solar design?
Since most of our custom design clients (who we first designed the plan for)
want to at least consider radiant floor heating, most of our plans mention
it as an option in both the drawings and specs which even have a list of radiant
floor heating resources. Sun Plans does not actually provide the mechanical
engineering of the system, but our drawings have notes allowing for it as
an option should the client choose. It can be added to any plan and often
by the contractor in the field or certainly by a local design professional
if you order our CAD files or erasable vellums.
What is the definition of "Plan Complexity?" I realize the obvious, but
would like to hear from you group just how or if further "complexity" translates
into increased construction costs or are we just speaking of increases in time
spent on the blueprints (and yes, I know that increases costs as well). Thanks!
Jim
Thanks for pointing out that we had not described the plan complexity. We
have just added a description at the bottom of this page: http://www.sunplans.com/html/list.php3
that described the items in our list. We created that category as a rough
guide since many people were contacting us wanting to know which were the
simplest of our plans to construct. It does not relate to the complexity of
blueprints as most of our plans are at the same standard now anyway, but we
appreciate your awareness of the fact that drawings can vary in complexity
too! In the extremes from simple plans by draftsman & designers, to complex
plans created by full-service architectural design, our construction drawings
would fall into the average category - a good basic set without the expense
of extensive detailing.
Why don't you have any flat roofed, southwestern style plans when the architect
used to live in Arizona? (the same question could be why don't you have any
Swiss Chalets since she used to live there too...etc.) Of course, by now we
may, so please browse our plans.
We do not design homes until we have clients with a wish list and there can
be just about any item or style on that list for their custom home. We design
what our custom clients ask us for. If someone requests a flat roofed adobe
style house, we design one. If they request a straw bale, we design one. If
they request a modern house with a steel frame, we design one. So the answer
as to why we do not have a particular style of home is because no one has
asked us to design one, or if they have, as is the case with southwestern
style homes, we do not necessarily put all of our plans on the web site. If
we think other people would also like the design that we arrive at, we may
then post it to our web site. Also, the plans on the web site are only the
plans that have been designed since 1990 and many are much newer than that
as (unlike some house plan companies) we do not sell older plans.
What is a daylight cooling chimney? I see them indicated on some of your
plans.
Daylight cooling chimneys, or similar sounding description in OUR plans are
a space framed and insulated between homes with truss-framed roofs in one
story homes. They allow both daylight in and hot air out. The daylight into
the center of the home brightens that area of the floor plan. The hot air
exiting maximizes the season for passive cooling. An operable window (manual
or electronic whatever your mfg. can supply) or an insulated wall mounted
fan lets hot air out. Daylight cooling chimneys work best on one story homes
with no basements (or those that plan on keeping the basement closed off from
the rest of the house in summer) since they have the least amount of stack
effect distance between the lowest entry and highest exit of air flow.
Our Construction Review Sets have more information on simple construction
items like Daylight Cooling Chimneys that are designed into our homes where
the original client was either not going to use mechanical air conditioning,
or either wanted to maximize their passive cooling season. If you like one
of our plans with a truss framed roof that did not have a daylight cooling
chimney, then let us know after you place your order for Blueprints, Vellums,
or CAD files, and we can makes some notes about adding one in the Custom Energy
Recommendations that accompany those orders. If you are considering custom
design, we may or may not recommend one based on the other many factors that
go into the design of a home.
How much support is provided by Sun Plans when I purchase one of your pre-designed
plans?
Compared to hiring a local full-service architect, very little, and that
is why your first choice should be to hire a local architect to custom design
a passive solar home for you and oversee your project from start to finish.
Along with a licensed, experienced builder, it is an investment that will
make the entire design and construction process simpler and more enjoyable.
If for whatever reason, you still find that purchasing one of our pre-designed
plans is appropriate, please be aware that it does come with limitations.
For clients who purchase pre-designed plans, we currently average 2 contacts
after the plans are delivered and those usually occur during construction.
The fees of our plans are based on that average of interaction. (Custom design
follows an entirely different process and the amount of service that we provide
during construction can be addressed and negotiated in the scope of services.)
Our research has shown that those who sell pre-designed plans (house plan
companies) usually provide little or no support along with the plan sales.
That is one reason why choosing an experienced builder is so important. However,
Sun Plans does provide a set of specifications that include custom energy
recommendations which are a type of additional support that no other house
plan company offers to the best of our knowledge.
Our house plans are designed to be constructed by an experienced builder
who knows how to adjust for local conditions, interpret the building code,
clarify the intent of the drawings, and improvise on site. If you order editable
documents like CAD files or Erasable Vellums, the same applies to your design
professional. Your own attention to detail is good insurance because many
decisions will need to be made on your home and assistance that you can provide
to your builder or design professional will surely be appreciated by them.
Also, our company policy (based on insurance issues) does not allow us to
provide consulting on projects where we provide editable documents such as
CAD files and erasable vellums although there are certain exceptions that
allow for a couple of clarifications directly to the experienced design professional
making the changes to the plans. It also prohibits consulting during construction
on projects that are not near us, for which there is no licensed general contractor
responsible for the job, or in which our architectural services are not engaged
for the entire construction process.
The contents of this site are copyright © 2002-2008 Sun Plans Inc.
All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced or redistributed
without prior written permission. Please contact us for permission to
use or modify our designs and information. Thanks!
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