Most people spend a fair amount of time incorporating every element and design they desire into planning their dream home. But when translated to paper, your picture perfect home complete with every size, dimension and location may be a confusing cluster of symbols that are unfamiliar. A good contractor will guide you through the building process, but it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with one of the most important elements in your home’s construction – the blueprints. There are multiple pages within a set of blueprints, each having a specific purpose that is essential to construction.

• Cover Sheet – is an artist’s rendering of what your home will look like upon completion.
• Foundation plan – identifies the layout of the foundation (crawl space, slab, pier or basement) that you have chosen based on your home design and location.
• Floor plans – shows the sizes and locations of all rooms, windows and doors, as well as plumbing, electrical, and other built in features. There may be multiple floor plans included in a set of blueprints depending on whether you plan to build a ranch house plan or multi-level floor plan.
• Elevations – Drawings of interior walls and the elements they include such as fireplaces or cabinets, as well as drawings of exterior walls with details of materials and dimensions.
• Cross-sections – drawings of the home for a particular section sliced from roof to foundation. These renderings allow you to see important structural elements from additional points of view.
• Details – Detail drawings break down certain components of your new home into step-by-step instructions. A few that may be included are framing plans, roof plans, electrical and plumbing schematics, stairways, and decks.

Throughout the blueprint pages there may be unfamiliar symbols. Generally these reference another page with a component’s detailed instructions. This system of symbols ensures that every detail is mapped out while keeping the plans coherent. It is beneficial to ask your contractor to decipher specific symbols for you as they may vary by plan. Also look at your blueprints to determine which scale is in use. Every one-quarter or one-eighth of an inch on the blueprint equals one foot in actual size. Scale conversions can be figured in your head or using a tool like a scale ruler. It is important to check all measurements to ensure your blueprints contain the correct dimensions.

Whether you plan to build a ranch house plan or multi-level house plan, it is beneficial to familiarize yourself with the different components of your home’s blueprints. This basic knowledge will allow you to adequately communicate questions or concerns throughout all phases of construction. And in no time at all, your new home will emerge from an unruly stack of plans into a beautiful reality.