Passion Plans is a relatively new platform established in 2020 to help homeowners and architects meet, allowing homeowners to easily buy pre-made house plans, and for architects to sell their plans conveniently.
The aim of this platform is to help increase transparency in the home building industry as well as make it easier for homeowners to truly get the homes they desires, without having to necessarily start from scratch with an architect.
While we admire the craft of architecture, we also admire the desire to make home building more accessible to anyone wanting to engage in the activity, and we believe that is in part done by increasing the future homeowners’ accessibility to affordable house plans, while giving them the opportunity to then work with an architect to customize those already made plans.
In doing so, you’re taking advantage of the many thousands of hours that have already been spent on the craft – making these beautiful plans, while at the same time making it a lot more affordable to actually have customizations made if you don’t find anything that is perfect for you.
We also believe that it can often be hard to visualize the exact end product that you may want, and by having a platform that showcases thousands of plans, it’s a lot easier to get it right when you do choose to engage with an architect. Increased transparency allows you to get a much better understanding of the various options available, and you might’ve otherwise simply not been aware that it was an H-shaped house you were in the market for all along.
We realize that there’s no chance you will visit every single plan on this platform but that is not the intended use of it either. The intention is that you better narrow down the criteria that are important to you and that you get a more thorough understanding of the different categories and the various limitations that different designs have. For some people, the U-shape is what best fits their goals, but for others with a narrow lot, it may simply not be feasible to go with a plan like that. Every family’s criteria are different, and we hope you can find something that matches exactly what it is you’re looking for, or that you get inspired to work with an architect following your search on this website.
Do you know any architects?
If you know any architects that are sitting out there struggling to get in front of a consistent user base, we would love for you to refer them to this site. We’re still onboarding architects at the rate we possibly can justify, in a manner that makes sense for both us and them, while offering what we believe are better terms and more transparency than is available from other similar platforms. Being listed on the site does not cost anything for the architects, and when a sale is made, we share the money that the plans are being sold for, in a way that is more favorable to the architect than on similar platforms. Does it not at the very least warrant us having a conversation?
Our goal is not to tell you what you need but rather to give your mind inspiration and the possibility to wander, inspire curiosity and lead you further down the line in your search for the place you will soon call home.
How to use the platform?
The best way to use Passion Plans is by starting off by getting some idea as to the various requirements you may have for that perfect home you are hoping to build.
What that means is you will need to determine certain important aspects regarding the amount of bedrooms and size you are looking to build. It might also be the right time to consider if you have certain specific requirements when it comes to the budget you’re operating with, what long-term goals you have etc. Do you plan on having guests come and visit you every single weekend, or is the intention with the home that you’re building that it will serve as your getaway from the city? If so, you might not even be looking to build something very big, but in that scenario you may have other considerations with regards to location and more. If you just bought a lot of land on a lake, we have a bunch of plans intended to accommodate those needs, all that vary in size to fit your budget.
If, on the other hand, you are hoping to also build a pool next to the home, there are many other considerations you will have. These include how you will be able to access the outdoors, where you will be changing clothes, whether there needs to be an outdoor kitchen, too.
If your primary concern is that you want to build something that sets you up for financial success going forward, you may either want to look into our duplex plans, as these are great for getting additional cash-flow and get equity in the home, or if you don’t want something that comes with landlord duties, you may want to consider if something smaller is what best suits your needs.
A growing platform
While we may be a relatively new platform, we feel that we have a lot to offer, and that is the reason why our platform’s visibility is growing as rapidly as it is. To say the least, the growth and success of the platform has almost been overwhelming, and we want to share our success with others by making the building experience easier. Rather than slowing down, we have been working hard to figure out how to successfully expand our offering, work with architects and improve the experience for our customers – without our customers’ commitment to helping us out by buying the plans we have here, we wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing.
Any time you choose to buy house plans from us, you’re supporting all the architects that we are working with, and enabling us to further add helpful features to this platform also. We sincerely thank you for your support.
How we work with the architects and what we have to offer
Architects are the people actually creating the art pieces that are what draw our users to this platform, why we wanted to create a section on the page dedicated to the process we engage in, and how we help to ensure that architects do not regret their decision in working with us.
Without the architects, we wouldn’t have any products that we would be able to offer. That includes both the ones we employ, and the external ones that license their plans to us.
We are always working on ways to improve the platform, whether that means adding features for architects or users, and one thing we have found is very requested is adding various levels of analytics to better let architects understand which of their plans are not just seen but also purchased. We consider our platform a success as long as we keep adding additional features to make the experience better for everyone and hope that our popularity will also keep increasing as more and more people realize just what we are able to offer.
While there may be other platforms out there with different offerings for architects, one of our main goals is for us to focus on what we are good at while we are better allowing you to focus what you are good at – creating house plans. You might be able to find other platforms where you will get a slightly bigger percentage of the overall sale when your plans sell, but those platforms traditionally also offer less assistance than we aim. We will not just get your plans listed in the best categories, but we will also help you figure out how to better adjust your plans so that you are increasing your chance of selling more of them, which will obviously benefit both us and you.
It would be a shame if you end up spending a lot of time figuring out how to get started with us just to find out that you are not getting out of it what you were hoping for. Some of our categories are a lot more popular than others but those categories may also have more options available in them for sale, why you might be better off making plans for some of the categories that are getting a moderate amount of popularity so far, while still having only a relatively small amount of products in them.
What we can offer – some of the benefits
We are not perfect, and we are always looking for ways that we can improve, also when it comes to working with the architects, why we encourage you to reach out if you have any ideas for us.
Publishing your designs
The same way that you may be looking to gain more visibility in the field and sell more, we also have certain things that we are looking for. Is there anything you think we can do different, then please let us know.
We want prospective designers and architects to feel safe and secure in their choice and desire to work with us. We always find it an honor when architects reach out to us and indicate an interest in working tiogehter with us.
While we may not be the biggest (yet, hopefully), we are willing to listen. And while we are willing to listen, we are also willing to share our feedback on how we believe we can make the partnership more fruitful, too. While we considered making this a platform that would charge a monthly fee, we quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn’t what the industry was looking for, why listing your house plans here comes at no cost to the architect.
While we want to include architects, we also do find that the best partnerships are formed through the mutual belief in the end goal. Our belief is that that is best achieved by establishing clearly what each part is hoping to get out of the partnership. This serves additional functions, but with more transparency and honesty, we can all grow.
Without adding high quality home plans to our platform, the chances are that those won’t sell, but only consume both your time and ours. We do have a certain level that we want to have when we are publishing plans on here, and hope to work with you so that we can get the dedicated quality in them to be able to achieve that. We also want to be adding plans that are actually relevant for the users of our site, the needs of today’s home builders, and some of the slightly less traditional niches that we also serve in the market.
With your superior design and strong visual representation, we will be able to give home buyers those experiences that they are making the right decision buying what you have created. That goal is a lot easier to achieve with professional photos as well as photorealistic renderings.
The more information you provide along with the plans, the more it will ease the mind of a potential buyer. By providing front, side, and rear elevation, buyers will know how well the house plans may work for their sloped lot.
Working together with Passion Plans is a great way for you to increase your personal income without having to invest in expensive marketing yourself, while benefiting from repeat revenue without having to spend many hours on each individual client, selling your various plans over and over to our basis of committed users.
Avoid having the hassle of dealing with a lot of the customer support that you would otherwise be required to have to do, as we have knowledgeable sales professionals at hand that know your plans and can help guide the journey of a buyer.
We are continuously getting more and more users on our site, which means that your sales through our various channels will keep growing as we do – the more people that see your quality house plans, the more people will also end up buying them.
When you list with us, we will work intensively to ensure that it is a decision you stand by for years to come.
I am interested in working with an architect – can you help me?
If you are interested in working with an architect on a custom project, there is a very good chance we will be able to help you make that project come true as well. While our most common product is to offer stock house plans to the masses, we do also work on custom projects.
If you are interested in going this route, you need to understand that drawing house plans from scratch is a much more expensive way to go about building your home than if you are rather to buy one of the options we have available already. While creating something custom may seem appealing to some of the people that might be interested in more unique solutions, for others it may just be very appealing to save a significant amount of money with one of the many options we already offer. Although you may want to build your dream home, a lot of the work is centered around the appliances and finishes that you choose to go with, and those aren’t necessarily dependent on the house plans that you bought. We want to work with anyone who has a vision to build a custom home, but by setting expectations from the beginning, we also believe we’ll be able to come up with a better end result that suits your needs.
I am not entirely sure what is the right option for my family
If you have come to this site without necessarily knowing all the aspects of what your future home needs to include, we don’t blame you. There are a lot of considerations that need to be made in the process. Sometimes you just need to speak with a professional who can help visualize your ideas and lead you down the right track. If you simply contact us through the contact number available on the site, you may be able to speak with one of our representatives, but they might not be the best people for you to speak with. Their main job is to clarify things regarding the use of the platform.
Rather than talking to one of those representatives, you may be interested in talking with an architect that can help you better understand what it is you are looking for. Although we do have architects available to be able to provide that service, we want to explain why we charge for that service. When an architect isn’t helping draw house plans, they are working on something else, and it is only fair that they also receive compensation for the time that they are putting into that work. If they design house plans, they get a commission on the basis of each sale. When they are advising customers, they forego the potential for a commission they could receive on the basis of one of the products they are working on. While we do want you to feel you are getting the service you deserve, we also want our architects to feel adequately compensated. That is why we charge money if you are looking for a consultation with an architect.
Should you choose to work with us?
Every time a homeowner chooses to work with us instead of one of the other platforms in the space, we’re honored by your decision. We realize that we are not the only ones selling house plans online, and that it may sometimes be hard to tell one company from another.
If you’ve read the various pages on the website, you will see that we go into a lot of details on some of the issues that we find tend to be of importance to user – the terms and conditions, the privacy policy, how we treat the architects that we work with, among other things. In a crowded market, it is sometimes hard to stand out as the solution for you to choose, but we’re trying to create a new standard in the market. We’re trying to show you, the homeowner, that we don’t just want to sell you any product, we want to sell you the right product. We always want to make sure that we are in fact in fact getting happy customers, and we are trying to work with anyone who may have issues with various aspects of our website. The worst thing that can happen to our business is that people end up being unhappy about the value proposition that we’re offering. We don’t want to sell you a house design and end up in a situation where you quickly realize that it isn’t capable of offering you what you and your family is looking for.
We provide a bunch of different services on this website, including the possibility to work directly with an architect to figure out the various needs that you may have for your future house. We offer these things to homeowners so that you can make sure that you’re making the right decision. We also offer an array of tools that may help you better navigate our site, as well as understand the various needs that you and your family may have. We’d in fact rather sell you no product than sell you the right one, and in collaboration with the architects that we work with, we believe that we have a very compelling house design product that we are offering on this website.
While it is easy to say that we believe we are different from our competitors, we do believe that we are trying to create a truly superior product, including providing transparency on a bunch of topics in the home building process. Having been in the industry for a long time already, we believe we have a pretty good grasp of some of the mistakes that homeowners make in the construction process, why we are trying to help you avoid make those mistakes too. For instance, you can access some of those resources on our blog where we post a lot of the relevant information. For that specific reason, we encourage you to bookmark our blog so that you can easily find it at a later point. The blog is not just the place where you will be able to find a lot of the home construction resources, but also where you will be able to find some of the estimation tools that we are developing. In our blog posts, we talk about a wide array of things, including how you make sure that you’re not just building the home that you want, but how you also make sure that it is a good investment doing so. Besides ensuring that it is a good investment, we talk about the various aspects of choosing different building materials, and how you choose the ones that fit your family’s needs.
If you choose certain types of building materials, you may end up having to do a lot more maintenance than you were realistically hoping to do at the house. On the other hand, some types of building materials may be so expensive that you cannot expect to recoup your investment when you try to sell the house. Although you may really want those beautiful marble countertops, you may simply not be able to find a prospective buyer in a couple of years when you’re hoping to sell the house if you’re building the home in a part of the town where such features are vastly uncommon.
We also have blog posts on topics such as the advantages related to choosing slab foundation in comparison to having a crawl space, where we talk about some of the durability and energy efficiency considerations in the process. You can typically choose on the different designs whether you prefer one type of foundations over another, but we at least want you to know the various benefits and drawback so that you’re making the decision that is right for you.
We additionally have a bunch of extra project in the pipeline, including writing an entire book that talks about the various aspects of building a home, what you need to be aware of and the potential mistakes that you need to make sure you avoid making. When we are done with that project, we will make it freely available to anyone that chooses to purchase a house plan through our website, and it will be available to anyone that has bought from us in the past as well.
When you’re choosing to work with our platform for the style and design of your future home, we truly feel honored, why we want to make sure that it is a decision that you will never forget. Although there is a limitation as to what we are able to do, we strive to push that limit every single day by additionally developing our product offering. We’re continuously investing in more features, house designs and more content for the website, and working on ways that we can otherwise become better. We try and listen to our users to hear what types of features it is that they want for us to add, and we wake up every single day with the intention of making the construction industry a better and more informed industry. Although it may be hard to change an entire industry, it is at least possible for us to help the homeowners that come by our website and whom we help find the right design for their future home.
Where do you go from here?
Now that you may have a better understanding of what it is that we are trying to achieve in the construction industry with the use of this platform, the next step for you may depend on whether or not you feel that you have enough information to start figuring out what the right design could be for you.
If you have read this far down the about us page, and you have perhaps also come across our terms and conditions page and our privacy policy page, you may now be ready for the next big step. If you haven’t come across those pages yet, perhaps the next step for you is to check out those pages where we address some of the ways in which we handle all the data that is transmitted to us. Those pages have been created to help you understand how seriously we take transparency. When you have been through enough information on what we are like as a company, the following step is for you to actually start browsing the various designs.
Perhaps you start browsing the various designs we have available on here before you in fact commit to various specifications that you would like for your home to have. Perhaps you start out by creating a list of the things that you are looking for, after which you start browsing. The first option may leave you open to certain options that you may otherwise not end up considering. The second option of starting out by first determining your needs may create a more structured approach in how you handle the entire design selection process. While neither process can universally be said to be better than the other one, you are still making some important decisions that will influence your life for a lot of years to come. Before choosing the final design that you want to purchase, we at least encourage you to make sure that it has the various features that it needs to have. Does it have the number of bedrooms that you need for it to have now? Have you made sure that you have considered the various needs that your family may have in the future, and that the number of bedrooms of the plan that you are choosing accounts for those potentially changing needs? Does the house have the style that you are looking for, whether you want something that is more modern or more traditional? Are you making sure that it is actually a style that you will want to live in in the future, or are you rather planning on moving to a different house at that point? Have you thought about whether or not the proposed building materials that would be needed for the house that you are looking at, are in fact suitable for the area that you are living in? For instance, if you live near the water, or in the Southern part of the United States, you may frequently be experiencing very high levels of humidity. When that is the case, it would be very good for you to take those local requirements into account and make sure that your choices are suitable given local conditions. Have you additionally made sure that there aren’t any type of local building codes that prohibit you from building the type of home that you have been looking at? There are commonly special building codes in areas close to either the lake, the beach or in areas that are prone to flooding.
Making sure that your chosen plan lives up to the relevant building codes would be done by contacting your local building department and consulting with them.
