The only time that Sun Plans adds house plans is after a home owner first commissions us to Create-A-SunPlan or Adapt-A-SunPlan for them. If no one commissions the design of a smaller home, then one cannot be added. Like the home owners of our small designs, we hope that at some point you too will have confidence in our ability to Create-A-SunPlan for you. Please review what other small-house clients have to say.

Yes! Please sign up for the Sun Plans E-Newsletter to be notified of newly posted house plans. (Sun Plans will never share your address with others.) While not all custom designs developed by Sun Plans are added to the website, approximately ten are added per year.

First we suggest you make a list of your requirements in terms of square footage, bedrooms per floor as well as the compass direction that the front of the home should face.  (Don’t have your land yet? You can still look and purchase the smaller Study Plan, but suggest that you not invest further til the land is purchased in order to keep your house plan options wide unless you plan to select the land based on the plan which is possible.) Then start looking for one of our existing designs. You may find that one works perfectly! If not, you may find one that can be adapted slightly. If no plans show up, then it’s time to consider Create-A-SunPlan.

As an architectural firm and not a building firm, Sun Plans does not have model homes nor agreements with home owners to require them to open up their house for tours. However, Open House is a feature that allows home owners who choose to share photos and comments do so. With those who engage Sun Plans in Create-A-SunPlan services, we can occasionally arrange for a private tour of a nearby home if there are enough similarities in the home that you will be constructing.

If we do, they can be found under the Photo or Open House tab for each particular house plan. Sun Plans relies on the generosity of home owners for photos. They may be sent during construction or after they move in (sometimes years later after the decorating and landscaping is completed). Study Plans have been created of each design to allow a more detailed view of the design. If that is not enough for you to better visualize the home, Sun Plans can create a 3D rotating model of the house through our Consulting Services. Some customers like this better than photos since they can select their own design colors and materials.

At this time, we do not keep a database of builders, but it is in the long term plans since we have encountered some very good builders that usually welcome posting of their contact information. If you know of a builder who has constructed a Sun Plan, please have them contact us.

We are not a large company with houses in every county, so the chances of a recommended builder being in the same county where you will be building is very small. Plus, few clients report back on their builder, which would be a further requirement prior to us recommending them. By all means request that we research builders for you as part of any Consulting Services provided. The extra time searching for a qualified builder can be well worth the effort and it is never too early to start!

To begin selecting a builder, you do not need to have your house plans first, although if you do, that may be a point in your favor. Even a Review Set of a house design that you are considering will place you in the "more serious about building" category, which may increase the time they spend with you initially.

The so-called "perfect lot" for a solar home would have as few restrictions as possible. A sunny south side or solar easement is critical. Few trees would shade this south area in the winter, and there would be no tall mountains or buildings on the south that would shade the south wall of the house in winter.

Privacy is usually wanted on this south side, because of the many windows, so look for land where a neighbor cannot build to the south or one where your house can be set further back to avoid this. The number of south windows makes land with great south views ideal also.

Land that slopes to the south should be selected for those home owners open to having living areas on more than one level, since placing extra bedrooms not used daily in a sunny lower level tucked into the hill will save more energy than the same spaces placed on a second floor.

If a large front porch is high on the list of must-haves, avoid land where the front of the home would face south as the porch would block solar gain. This applies to homes in the hot south as well. However, porches work very well on the east and west since they can also shade the house from the morning and afternoon sun in the summer.

Land that requires the front of the home to face north typically provides the greatest flexibility with passive solar homes. That allows for a full front porch and the majority of the open, sunny rooms to be on the south.

See Select-A-SunPlan Tips.

While these concerns are justifiable, the response is complex. Sun Plans' home owners who wish to share do so by sending us photos and information that can be posted on our web site under the Detail tab for each house plan or in Open House, which was created to showcase exceptional examples of information and photos. With input from our past clients, we have developed a confidentiality agreement that allows them to share without giving out personal information. For Create-A-SunPlan clients, we can provide email addresses of others for whom we have created custom homes of similar scope with the intention of inquiring about Sun Plans' design services.

Sun Plans is typically not hired to provide services during construction so we may not be aware of changes made. If the home owner recommends design changes, we may incorporate the suggestions into the plans if we feel it is something that future customers may like.

The combination of a particular house plan, construction type (trusses, rafters, basement, slab, SIP, and/or ICF), land slope, views and general climate make it nearly impossible to transfer recommendations from one climate and house plan to another). The decisions are much more complex and interrelated than most realize. Everyone makes at least minor changes during construction, and those who have ordered our CAD files may have made substantial changes.

Custom Specs with construction orders make particular recommendations and suggested options for your climate for that particular house plan. Then, an experienced builder and third party home energy professional will help further adapt for the inevitable decisions that come up during construction. Have detailed questions about a plan before you build? Engage the Sun Plans architect in any of the numerous fee-based Consulting Services where particular concerns are addressed.

The variations on this question have been endless! Every Sun Plan originated from a custom client who may have requested unusual spaces and features. Unique solutions often evolve as a best option when considering the hundreds features to be considered when designing a home.

A very understandable request. Let us explain. First you might like to try to have concerns addressed through our free email with Customer Service. We suggest that you use the detailed Contact Us form that can make the email process of answering questions more efficient. Customer Service often receives some input from the architect with answering emails, or they can help point you to the answer on the web site.

If we said "Yes" to the above, the architect could spend almost all day, every day on the phone with prospective customers. Also, without previous knowledge of the climate, lifestyle, budget, schedule, previous products studied from Sun Plans (book, study plan, review set, consulting services), advice given might be inappropriate or misleading. Speaking with the architect directly is reserved for those who have already engaged us in one of several Consulting Services. And if we find out later that the questions truly end up being ones that can be answered simply, we can credit the remaining amount to a future order.

(We like to use the analogy of a doctor's office visit. As boring as it may seem, it really is in the customer's best interest to fill out a form and tell us as much as possible about past history and current concerns prior to getting good advice. Mostly likely, a doctor would not accept a call from a non-patient.)

Roof slopes are shown on the Review Set or Construction Prints. Roof slope is a relatively minor item to change. A builder may be able to change it as a "field change", but check with the building inspector and any architectural review board of the subdivision to see if this is acceptable. If not, it is not time-intensive to change the roof slope on the drawings, although that would vary from plan to plan. Usually, a roof slope can be increased with few implications, although the overhang length may need to shorten slightly. On a truss framed roof, the attic gets larger. On a stick-framed roof such as 1.5-story plans, the second floor living area increases. (The Details section of each house describes the type of roof framing.) If after reading this, you still need to know the roof slope for a particular plan(s), please email us.

If it were simple to assign a hot or cold climate designation, we would, but that would be a complex task with many exceptions. Passive solar house plans from Sun Plans could work in a hot or cold climate. However, those plans with higher percentages of south glass would perform better in cold climates without recommended changes to the design, and those with lower percentages of south glass would work better in hot climates without recommended changes. However, many of the changes we recommend in the Custom Specs are really simple to make.

While it can be difficult to add south glass to some plans since there may not be any additional south wall available in which to add south glass, it is easy to reduce south glass. It is therefore easier to adapt for a hot climate than it is for a cold climate.

With Adapt-A-SunPlan services, we first review whether or not climate-related changes are necessary. Energy and climate-related changes such as south glass and overhang changes are typically very easy to make in relation to floor plan or exterior design changes. And even if Sun Plans does not make the changes for you, the Custom Energy Specs that come with Construction Prints or CAD files include recommendations for making any reductions in overhang length or south glass.

So far we have NEVER had a client order a plan that could not easily be adapted for either a hot or cold climate. If, in the unusual case that a design would be ordered that we feel could not be adapted to the proposed climate, we would let you know, suggest a plan change or refund your money! (For assistance in selecting a plan prior to placing an order, please consider House Plan Selection Consulting. If, after the architect is finished with the review, she has not used up the entire consulting fee, then any extra would be credited to a future order.)

Radiant floor heating or any other auxiliary heating system for that matter, is determined by the local heating subcontractor along with the owner. Although the house plans and specs address radiant heat as an option and most floors are designed to carry the extra weight, the design of the system, or of any other specific heating system, is not included. In the residential construction industry, the heating and cooling systems are designed by the HVAC subcontractor. Codes require them to perform an energy analysis, usually in the form of Manual J. (See Consulting Services for how Sun Plans may be able to help with this through our HVAC consultant.)

 

In addition, since the heating loads of passive solar homes are often very low due to the solar gain, more complicated heating systems such as Hydronic radiant heating, or even geothermal, may not always be cost effective. Some home owners are electing to have simple, but seldom used systems for the code-required auxiliary heating systems even when passive solar first, and often wood second, will be used for the majority of the heating. 

In Sun Plans, daylight cooling chimneys are framed and insulated areas between truss-framed roofs in one story homes. They window at the top allows daylight into the middle of the home  and hot air out when open.

We design many of our roofs to include angles and orientations that allow for the easy installation of hot water and photovoltaic (PV) panels. This often involves a large expanse of south-facing roof. For our custom designs, we can design the roof to optimize the orientation of the panels based on the recommendations of those designing your hot water or PV system. However, due to difficuly of accessing the panels, and the roofing issues associated with mounting panels on a roof, many home owners choose to place them on easy-access poles low to the ground instead if they have plenty of solar clearance and land.

Once latitude and longitude is known, it is much easier to find the magnetic declination. The Sun-Inspired House covers this in more detail too.  

This link will help you find magnetic declination for your area by US Zip Code:

 

 

For Canada: http://geomag.nrcan.gc.ca/apps/mdcal-eng.php 

Here is a graphic version, which may be a little outdated, but is good for visualization:

If the declination shows west, then rotate the house clockwise that many degrees from magnetic north. If the declination is east, then rotate the house counterclockwise that many degrees.

 

Google Earth is also a great place to find latitude and longitude.

Sun Plans' Custom Specs that come with Construction Prints and CAD Files address the energy-related elements of the energy codes for the location. For the structural elements, a local structural engineer should first review the plans for conformance to local conditions for factors like snow loads, earthquakes, high winds or unstable soils. For general building codes, they may need minor modifications, usually done by the builder during construction since building codes are continuously changing and may vary even between two nearby cities.  The same is true of building in Canada. Having a Review Set of plans checked by the local building inspector, builder and engineer for a preliminary check is a good way to get early feedback prior to purchasing Construction Prints or CAD Files.

Yes! Part of the services that Sun Plans provides orders for Construction Prints or CAD Files is to review energy elements such as insulation and overhangs. The recommendations will be listed in the Custom Specs.

The exterior materials over a conventional stud wall have little effect on the energy performance of the home. Because it is the most common type of construction, and therefore the method most familiar to builders, our homes are mostly designed around the stud walls system for cost effectiveness. These can be sealed tight with spray foam insulation or caulking and cellulose.

However, increasingly we are designing homes with ICF (insulated concrete forms) and SIPs (structural insulated panels). We realize that many people prefer ICF, SIP or other materials for the exterior walls and those are relatively easy items to interchange, either during construction or through Adapt-A-SunPlan. The inherent mass in the walls of ICF homes increases the interior comfort by reducing temperature swings between day and night year-round. With stud or SIP walls, brick veneer on the inside of the walls is one way to add thermal mass as well.

Although Sun Plans has experience changing outside walls of existing plans to ICF and making adjustments for location, each plan is different and therefore must be evaluated individually. Those types of changes are about average in complexity. Changing the master bath, however, is usually a simple process. When the initial information is sent in to engage Sun Plans in Adapt-A-SunPlan consulting, sketch out what you want or send us a list of ideas and we'll design the best layout.

While Sun Plans will gladly accommodate a client's desires for a house, we find it is usually quicker, and therefore less expensive, for the client to provide input and allow us to create the drawings. We are more than happy to review your self-created drawings as a way to communicate your ideas in addition to a written description. Written descriptions of what you would like, such as filling out the answers to the Custom Design/Create-A-SunPlan questionnaire, allows for the greatest flexibility. Architects are trained in creating floor plans and exterior design. We do not copy floor plans created by other design professionals since that is illegal. 

It depends. Sun Plans is a small, service-oriented architectural firm that specializes in high-performance, passive solar home design. Attention to this extra detail takes time, so the sooner a client contacts us, the better. For Adapt-A-SunPlan, you may be quicker served by a local design professional that may have a shorter backlog of work. Our Custom Specs can still help them with energy issues, and our CAD Files come with some limited consulting regarding the energy implications of the proposed changes.

In order to cut down on complexity and sell the most efficient homes, Sun Plans periodically phases out plans. However, interested customers can contact us with the name of the house plan and request a price, but additional fees may apply to upgrade it to current standards.