I'm having house plans drawn do I need cross sections?

Q:

I’m having plans drawn up by an architect, he has given me all the exterior views and the overheads of the house for every floor. The plans look great, is there anything else that I should be asking him to render?

 A:

What you have now is the basic package that every architect and draftsmen give you. Those are the drawings that you will need to get a building permit. You could even have contractors give you prices on those drawings, there is one problem, if you don’t have any sectional renderings that cut right through the middle of the house then the contractors who price it will not be able to see all the details in the interior structural framing.

It is extremely important that you ask for cross-sections going both ways through the house, this will make the price you get quoted (from the contractors) to be more accurate and there will be less questions from the contractor you select later.

Chances are if you don’t get cross-sections right away you will end up getting them later when the house is in the middle of being constructed, the contractor will be having trouble figuring out where all the structural supports go and what the interior ceiling heights are suppose to be because there is little to no detail in the plans without cross-sections.

The reason that the architect doesn’t just give you the cross-sections in the first place is because it is an extra, in today’s construction world even architects are feeling the pressure of bringing in more and more work with less people looking to build homes. Architects used  to give you a full set of detailed drawings but the overall price was much higher, today’s construction market is much tighter and more competitive so they give you the basic package and then upgrade you from there.

When it comes to architect drawings you can never have too much information, yes it will cost you more money but its money that you will need to spend anyways so that the contractor who builds your home will know all the details before they start.

Remember the more information that your architect gives you the easier it will be for your contractor to build your dream home, the easier it is to build the faster your contractor can build it and in construction time is money.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.