Change a House Plan Exterior

A house plan exterior is not written in stone. They can be built of stone, but the style is not etched in stone. When shopping for a house plan remember that the floor plan is key and almost everything else can be changed.

Why Change The Exterior?

Finding a house plan you like is not an easy thing to do. Beyond balancing your needs from your wants, you also have to deal with the inside and the outside. We get many people calling with questions about the exterior styling of our home plans.

People sometimes do not understand that the inside and the outside of a house plan are not locked together. They really like a specific plan but are worried they will not be able to build it. Many communities have guidelines that include styling regulations. It is important to remember that the exterior styling can be changed quite a bit.

Classic Southwestern to Modern

Recently we had a client in Arizona that wanted to build a new home. Their lot was in a mountain community with height and style requirements. They searched our site and found that the Shiloh house plan was perfect for their family. However there were problems.

The stock house plan was designed with a classic southwestern exterior. This did not fall within the communities style guidelines. Also the overall building height was too tall.

Modification to the Rescue

Fortunately we were able to work with the client to modify the Shiloh plan to meet the requirements. As you can see the alternate exterior design changed the look completely. However, under the skin, the floor plan remains the same.

This home is an excellent example of how you can have your cake and eat it too. You can find a floor plan that is perfect and you can also have the exterior that will meet any community requirements. And the changes and modifications do not need to be this drastic.

When shopping for a house plan remember that you are not locked into the exterior look. A lot of the exterior features of house plans are not structural. Most of the time they are fairly flexible and can be changed up to make the outside work as well as the inside.