1.
If I buy a set of house plans from Plum Design, what will I get?
Plum
Design will sell complete construction sets of house plans for any of the
houses featured on our web page. These plans are Canadian Building Code compliant,
but since all bulding authorities have slightly different requirements, plan
buyers are instructed to have their plans scrutinised by a local architect
or engineer to ensure compliance with local restrictions. Fees for such services
will be the responsibility of the plan buyers of course. Plum Design's responsibility
extends no further than the initial cost of the plans.
2.
How are the plans delivered to the buyer?
Plum
Design emails a full set of working plans (high definition PDF files) to
buyers so that the buyer can print as many copies of each plan as required
for building permit application, distribution of plans to sub-trades for
cost estimates etc. Most city building and planning departments are pleased
to receive digital drawing applications for building permits (they're attempting
to be paperless). If the local permit issuing authority demands 'blueprint'
sized plans, then the plan buyer can simply email the drawings to a local
print shop (or download and provide the print shop with a floppy or CD disk)
and have the required sized plans made inexpensively.
3.
Do Plum designed houses have to be built using wood framing?
No.
Though most of Plum's designs have been wood framed and the plans specify
wooden beams and supports, Plum will alter the plans to suit the buyer's choice
of construction materials. The 'Cool Queenslander' and 'Twist' houses on the
web page were designed to be built using concrete block walls (to cut costs),
and the 'Cylindrical' house was designed using metal stud walls, a few metal
posts and beams, and vertical metal cladding (siding).
4.
Why do most of Plum's house designs have flat roofs?
First:
We
like the 'look' - the contemporary appearance flat roofed houses present.
Second:
Flat
roofed houses provide design versatility - the floor plan layout does not
have to be constrained because it has to fit under a proscribed pitched roof.
Third:
With
the advent of affordable 'torch-on' bitumen sheet material the traditional
'built-up tar-and-gravel' roofing systems have all but been abandoned. 'Torch-on'
sheet roofing has been used on commercial and industrial buildings for years.
It is only in recent years that house builders have discovered that 'torch-on'
materials are both cost effective and less likely to develop the leaks that
roofs covered with small shingles have to contend with. It seems crazy to
attempt to waterproof a large area using small pieces of material (shingles)
rather than cover the area with large sheet material (metal or torch-on) having
fewer joins and seams that might leak. In the past when sheet materials were
not available roofers used wood, slate or clay shingles - even straw thatch.
5.
Why do all Plum's house design drawings appear to be clad in stucco?
Our
3D drawings are offered to help prospective buyers appreciate the internal
volumes and spaces, and to assist with a visual walk-thru description. Most
viewers have difficulty imagining 3D space from 2D floor plans or 2D elevation
drawings. Plum's drawings try to overcome this incapacity. In time we might
add surface cladding treatments and landscaping foliage. At present our drawings
are no more than explanatory - one needs to have the imagination to 'see'
the drawings clad in a variety of materials and colours.
