cad time to draft house

[eugene thomas]

I am just wondering anyone out there that might have had architectdesign house how many house they were billed for the drafting part of it. I am having a mission style house with loftand master up stairs with full basement. not had any structal changes from start. already got billing for 70 hours with still no plans can take to builder.
thanks Eugene

[Dave Richards]

It's kind of hard to say without seeing the results of the time billed. It doesn't sound out of line to me to have more than 70 hours invested in drawing up plans for a custom designed house. What does the contract indicate you are to get in return for the fee? Are you getting complete building plans with documentation for permitting and so on? Who is doing the work?

[Brian Elfert]

I had a drafter (not an architect) draw up custom house plans in 2001. My cost in 2001 for a two story house with basement including full blueprints ready to build from was $1,500. He still did all his drafting by hand and didn't use a computer. He was also a home builder and after several bids I chose him to build the house. He refunded the cost of the house plans, but I know I still paid for the plans somehow.

[Chris Damm]

That's like asking "How long does it take you to drive?". Way too many variables to give a reasonable answer.

[eugene thomas]

I know was kind of vage on my question. just trying to beable to justify almost two weeks of draftsperson working on my plans on cad..

[Dave Richards]

As I asked before, what are you supposed to get in the package?

[eugene thomas]

I got floor plan for unfinished basement, main floor with vaulted ceiling living room, and loft area with master bedroom suit , elevation plan from four sides of house on to pages, and one set of prints with four different section cuts. so in all have 6 pages. I don't have problem with the architects fees, just trying to get over the time am getting billed for the drafts person.

[Dave Richards]

Are you supposed to be getting full construction plans from the draftsperson? Those should specify things like the windows and doors to be used as well as kitchen cabinets, electrical and plumbing plans and so on.

[David Hawkins]

I did the design and plans for my 5,000 sq ft house and I had a good 200 hours into AutoCad time by the time the wife got through with her changes....

Depending on how much detail you are requiring, how big your house is and how much engineering has been done I'd say 70 hours makes a good start. You might want to sit down with the architect and review the status of the drawings and any problems that are foreseen.

Good Luck with your house! I broke ground in May 2002 and it is now nearing completion

[Ole Anderson]

Keep in mind that you will pay less to have your ideas just drawn up by a CAD operator/designer than you will pay for a full blown professional architectural overview and drafting of a home design where the professional will be held accountable, as in having to seal the plans for permits and construction. Here plans and specs and construction oversight can be in the 5-10% range of the cost of the home for custom designs.

[Scott Perkins47]

For less than $200 you could have purchased your own Home Design Program
and created 90 percent of what you needed to build with in your leisure time
and had plenty of opportunities to make the dozens of changes until you know
you got it all just right in terms of placement and size of rooms, doors, windows
etc etc.

The Chief Architect Home Designer -Architectural version.

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Designer-...+home+designer

This software was designed 15 years ago initially for bored housewives to
sketch their dream palaces .... seriously no training needed and completely
intuitive. Now their product has expanded to full use by architects although
the HomeDesigner version falls short of full professional requirements.

I was a custom home builder/designer in the late 90s using their software
so I know 1st hand. Today I think their pro version products are overkill
but that is irrelevant.

Back to your original post....... since you dont seem to have a fixed price detailed contract with your architect or draftsman, you better solve that problem asap or else you could wind up paying for hundreds of hours

[Stephen Cherry]

I don't know how long it should take, but I can say that someone who knows what they are doing can do very quickly what others would take forever to do. When I was an engineer, good draftsmen (or draftswonmen) were very well respected.

[Dave Sheldrake]

The last architectural design I worked on was a block of flats in London, for a home or personal dwelling I'd say $3k to $5k wouldn't be unusual. What you don't want to be paying for is a lack of drafting experience, two people can do the same job and depending on their archive of blocks and dynamics come up with very different prices.
Window fittings, door fittings and most RSJ / Lintel / I-beam work is available from the manufacturers for no cost to Draughtsmen.
Other than the shell outlines and floors most of the stuff used in a normal house is part of most Draughtsmens library files.

4 Elevations, 3 Cross Sections (horizontal) and possibly some minor detailing shouldn't cost much over $1,000 all in. If you want fittings, trusses , timbers and building control submissions it will go up by quite a bit.

Some of the cost will be the software (AutoCAD) annual licenses and upgrades cost a lot

70 hours for a pro and no drawings for you yet sounds excessive.

cheers

Dave