Hi,

My wife and I are going to build a new house. My father (a builder) is
going to act as the general contractor. We want to take a stock plan
and make some modifications. Primarily, we want to remove vaulted
ceilings where present, and open up the area off the bonus room for use
as a walkup attic. Are these type of modifications simple enough to be
done to stock plans or are they too extensive?

Thanks!

wrote:
Hi,

My wife and I are going to build a new house. My father (a builder) is
going to act as the general contractor. We want to take a stock plan
and make some modifications. Primarily, we want to remove vaulted
ceilings where present, and open up the area off the bonus room for use
as a walkup attic. Are these type of modifications simple enough to be
done to stock plans or are they too extensive?

Thanks!


If your father is a builder, I would hope he knows the answer to your
question. My answer is that it all depends on what you mean by simple
or extensive and it's not clear exactly what you want to do. What do
you mean by removing vaulted ceilings? Does that mean just put in a
conventional ceiling with attic space above? If that's all it is,
then it is pretty simple. You'll still need an architect to approve
the plans and put a seal on them. But you'd have to do that even
without the mods, so if they are fairly straightforward, it shouldn't
cost very much additional.

wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
Hi,

My wife and I are going to build a new house. My father (a builder) is
going to act as the general contractor. We want to take a stock plan
and make some modifications. Primarily, we want to remove vaulted
ceilings where present, and open up the area off the bonus room for use
as a walkup attic. Are these type of modifications simple enough to be
done to stock plans or are they too extensive?

Thanks!


If your father is a builder, I would hope he knows the answer to your
question. My answer is that it all depends on what you mean by simple
or extensive and it's not clear exactly what you want to do. What do
you mean by removing vaulted ceilings? Does that mean just put in a
conventional ceiling with attic space above? If that's all it is,
then it is pretty simple. You'll still need an architect to approve
the plans and put a seal on them. But you'd have to do that even
without the mods, so if they are fairly straightforward, it shouldn't
cost very much additional.

Not every locale requires an AIA stamp for residential construction.
(Although, even if the local gov unit doesn't, whoever is financing the
place might.) If OP's father is a GC in the area, he should be familiar with
all this. If he is operating outside his normal area (like from the next
county over), y'all may wanna call the buiding permit office and ask. And
even with stock plans, you often have to modify for site-specific stuff
anyway, like foundation depth, entry point for utilities, etc. Changing the
roof framing system may or may not be trivial- as you pointed out- we can't
see the plans from here. Some builders are competent and experienced at
residential design, and some aren't. Not a slam, just an observation- if all
they ever built was other people's cookie cutters, they never had any reason
to learn. Even if OP's locale doesn't require an AIA stamp, if his father
doesn't have a warm fuzzy about making the design changes, hiring a
competent designer or architect is cheap insurance.

aem sends....

On 20 Mar 2006 16:21:40 -0800, someone wrote:

.... My father (a builder) is
going to act as the general contractor. We want to take a stock plan
and make some modifications. Primarily, we want to remove vaulted
ceilings where present, and open up the area off the bonus room for use
as a walkup attic. Are these type of modifications simple enough to be
done to stock plans or are they too extensive?

Uhhhh, your father is a builder, and is going to be the GC. So why
not ask him? (Why are you asking us.)


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.