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STOCK BUILDING PLANS MAKE QUALITY ARCHITECTURE AFFORDABLE - PART I
Architectural services have historically been for wealthy folk that can afford to spend tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on design services and a million or more on construction. But for the rest of us, hiring someone to design and build a structure is many times an unaffordable luxury. These essential services to our culture have been priced out of the contemporary family’s budget, keeping the antiquated architectural business model in the era of the early American Industrial age.
The current architecture firm structure is completely dependent on the Consultant Business Model, a service mode of business that trades time for dollars. The continued strict adherence to this model has illustrated the profession’s inability to change with current trends in economics & marketing. In its simplest form the architect bills its time at an hourly rate, works so many hours, and then sends the client an invoice for the financial value of that time. With this model the architect is constantly defending its work, time and value. These days it is extremely difficult to scale the business without it demanding more of the organization’s time. This demand is ‘satisfied’ by increasing fees and/or staff, both of which under this model further instigate the core problem of affordability by ‘regular folk’. Time is finite and our most valuable resource. When a business runs out of it, it has reached its growth limit. To ensure built environment design professions have continued relevance in the future, we must rethink the way we do business.
Consumers in today's markets now more than ever want products. 21st century buyers align themselves to clear and rapid value exchanges made with ease. Pay $3.00 for a cup of coffee at your local beanery and get your product immediately. Technology has accelerated and expanded this desire. Today, there are a myriad of ways to digitally purchase and exchange money for products and services. Now, you can pay $10 for a new book over the internet and literally get it in a day. Pay $1,500 in exchange for a MacBook Pro and get it in a week with multiple payment options. No confusion. The exchange is clear, concise, and easy. People buy 'products'.
Perhaps in part because of the architecture profession’s inability to change its primary mode of operation, potential consumers of design services over the last century have figured out ways to get what they want in a house and build it without an architect's involvement - whether they like it or not.
Stock Building Plans ( or what I like to call Pre-Designed Building Plans) allow these ignored consumers to do just that. And the statistics bear that reality. Here are a few brutal facts that today's architects NEED to grapple with…,
“What’s that? facts.
DRAKE - “Gyalchester”; Album: MORE LIFE, 2017.
The ‘House’ (in all its variations) is the most common building type in America. Because of its shear volume it has the greatest potential to influence the built environment and greatest potential for any positive change.
In spite of the previous fact, an estimated 2% of professional architect’s penetrate into the residential market - most of them small firms or sole practitioners. Large firms do little to no residential ‘house’ work.
Of the ‘houses’ constructed in America, ONLY about 5% of them are designed by a licensed architect.
The vast majority of American homes come from Stock/Pre-Designed House Plans NOT designed by architects.
Depending on complexity and size, Stock Plans/Pre-Designed House Plans are sold between $600 - $3,000. a fraction of the cost for a custom designed building.
In 2018, According to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the average house designed by a licensed architect has a construction budget TWICE the amount of the sale price. This does not include professional service fees nor the cost of land.
From the numbers, one might conclude that Architectural Services are an elitist indulgence and do not relate to the common American person/family. Truly, most people have little contact with an architect when it comes to what they desire in a home and the lifestyle they’d like to live. Yet architects are perfectly positioned to help satisfy that desire and do so with beauty and sustainability in mind, two elements that are starkly absent from today’s offerings of Pre-Designed Building Plans. The market for quality and diverse shelter is vast, yet grossly under-served by the profession that can best influence it. Concurrently, it is being over-served by those not trained in matters of good design. The Pre-Designed Building Plan as a quality architectural product is a great way to start making architectural services more accessible to the masses.
"‘The Arlington” stock plan set from the 1920’s as published in the Sears & Roebuck Company Catalog. Millions of houses like this were affordably built across the country in the early 20th Century.
Architects must first recognize that the primary goal within this market is practical shelter. Subjective concepts like aesthetics, beauty, composition, style, while desired, are secondary for most consumer in an undersupplied market. Faced with a decision between the two, financial accessibility, practicality, ease or all three win out. Our current built environment is propagated with thousands of built stock house plans that address the primary goal of shelter. To do that within a budget that works for most folks, it is often the subjectivity of style and beauty that suffers. House Plans satisfy an important demand evidenced by the staying power of its market. It is up to the architectural profession to adapt to that fact. The task for the profession is whether or not it can create a House Plan product that is economically accessible by a majority of folks while being beautiful yet practical? The answer to this question in theory is a resounding yes. Much of early 20th century America was constructed from House Plan Catalogs produced by companies like Sears & Roebuck. The catalogs offered every style and type of house imaginable and allowed for variations. Many of these houses still stand today.
In practice however, this depends on if the profession can remove a bit of pride from its business model and replace it with a bit of humility and utility. This move has the potential to benefit all parties involved - the architect, the consumer, and our built environment.
Fabric[K] Design now offers Stock House Plans!
Fabric[K] Design is now partnering with Liberty House Plans to offer Stock House and Pre-Designed Apartment House Building Plans. Our very first collection, ‘The Oliviette Series” is published now and available for purchase starting at $450. Cut your project costs substantially with a Stock Building Plan. Visit the Liberty House Plans website today to browse our plan options and the options of our other collaborating architects.