On House Plans

As you may or may not know, The Boyfriend™ and I are just starting the process of building a house together (we got a great deal on some land awhile back). We had picked out a house plan that we both liked some time ago, which was a feat in and of itself as my personal tastes are distinctly mid-century modern while his are *gasp* rustic (dear god, if I had to live in a little cabin in the woods I’d shoot myself). Of course, now that the land has been tested and everything is a go to start the loan/builder/permit/etc. process, The Boyfriend™ decided that maybe we ought to look around for a new plan, just to be sure it’s exactly what we wanted. Shortly thereafter, he presented me with this stunning specimen of modern architecture. Unfortunately, the architect only builds on the west coast and refuses to sell us the plans…

To recap for those who may have missed the horrific unfairness of the whole ordeal; my rustic-loving boyfriend presents a house (which he claims to like) that would fit nicely into the image of my dream home, resolving one of the biggest obstacles of our building a house together (finding a plan we both like), yet we can’t build it simply because the copyright owner refuses to sell us the plans… Does anyone know just different a house plan has to be before it’s no longer under the same copyright?

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4 Responses to “On House Plans”

1. 1

   July 8th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
   Kat Coble says:
   

   I believe it requires a 15% alteration.

   But, honestly, why won’t the copyright holder sell you the plans for a one-time use? Is it a developer?

2. 2

   July 8th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
   Kat Coble says:
   

   Ah. Nevermind. Helps if I RTFA before shooting my mouth off.

   I’m betting they won’t sell to you because the houseplan is part of their integrated system of custom modular building; in other words, it’s not just a houseplan, it’s also a view into their business model.

   That’s pretty common with most of the Calif.-based Green builders.

   You COULD do a search for Green Modular Houseplans in Virginia; I’m betting you’d find something to your liking.

3. 3

   July 8th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
   Tom Boyer says:
   

   Hey there, Boy Kath here (her little brother). That house is gorgeous! I am totally rooting for you and the boyfriend get to use some semblance of those plans.

4. 4

   July 8th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
   dolphin says:
   

   Hey Kat, good to know about that 15% difference.

   It’s actually nearly impossible to find a modular builder around here that will build anything other than cookie-cutter farmhouses or traditional homes which isn’t something either of us are interested in. Believe me we’ve spent about a year now hunting. We have recently found Dwell Homes who builds all over the country and we quite like their Nexthouse (though not as much as the Breezehouse I linked in the post) except for the fact that it’s bigger than we need and WAY out of our budget. Of course, I think if we could convince them to build it without luxuries like solid mahogany trim (really, who in their right mind thinks mahogany trim is worth the money) we might be able to knock it down in price quite a bit. Of course they do custom plans as well, so perhaps we could combine that which we like from each home and have them build it, depending on how much they charge for custom construction…

   Tom,

   Thanks for stopping in. It really is a beautiful home, and I’m just thrilled that there’s actually a modern house out there that he wouldn’t mind living in (even seems a little excited about!!).

   I’ll be posting updates on the house as things progress.