The Builder friendly badge
A plan carries the badge only when it meets every rule below. We work it out from the plan's own data; a designer cannot award it to their own plan.
Five rules, all of them
2 plans meet them
- 01The enclosed footprint has 8 or fewer exterior corners
- 02A slab foundation is offered
- 03One main roof form
- 04Fits a lot 60 ft wide or less with typical setbacks
- 05Heated area between 1,000 and 2,600 sq ft
How each one is read
- Corners are counted on the outline of the enclosed ground floor, heated rooms and garage, not open porches. A rectangle has 4, an L has 6. A designer listing without an outline gives the count on the listing and we check it against the floor plan.
- One main roof form means one main roof over the house, such as a single gable or hip, not intersecting wings. Porch roofs do not count.
- Lot width uses the same typical setbacks as every plan page: 5 ft each side, plus room to turn into a side entry garage. Setbacks where you build may differ.
- Heated area is the whole building, so most multifamily plans fall outside it.
What the badge does not say
A simple footprint, one roof and a slab are what builders tend to price and frame fastest. The badge is those facts and nothing more. It says nothing about what a plan costs to build where you are, what it would rent or sell for, or any return. Each plan page has its cost to build range for the counties we publish, and a local builder can price it for your lot.