My mom, Bobbie Jean Swanson, is not unlike most women because she was a good mother, or a standout because she has lived in the Valley since 1945 and remains married to Dad, her high school sweetheart, after 54 years. While those who know Don Swanson might call that an incredible achievement, Mom’s noteworthy accomplishment [...]
There are pros and cons for both a two story house plan design and a single story house plan design. Recently I was hired by some folks who were very serious about building a custom home on their newly acquired property and had researched their choices long and hard before meeting with me. They [...]
The picture above features the open concept that I designed into the Della Dean, a home that I built in Spokane in 2011. This picture is taken from the dining room while looking out across the entry to living room and kitchen. The French doors on the left open to an office. You’ve probably [...]
People are typically confused about who exactly they need to hire to draft their custom home floor plans. Should they Google for a local residential architect or plan drafting company or a home designer? I know because nearly half of my business comes from Google searches and so I am aware of the words [...]
Until only recently, I would not have claimed to be the best choice for someone in our area to select as their custom house plan draftsman. But now experience and the results of that experience have slowly given me the confidence to truly believe that. It is something that has been very exciting to have [...]
There is a simple reason new home construction lacks design innovation. Building a spec home is always a gamble and so builders reduce risk by building homes they speculate have the best chance of selling. That is why the largest portion of new construction homes are three-bedroom, two bath ranchers with a covered porch, preferably [...]
I always love to see the projects that I have drawn blueprints for after they have been completed and are being used for what they were intended to be used for and so recently Elaine and I decided to go on a drive and visit a projects in Central Washington. The home was located in [...]
Give me a description of what you want to accomplish, if you can send some sketches or pictures of something that you want to end up with that will help. Scan any sketches you have made and create jpegs files or pdfs or if you have done your prelim plans in a home planning [...]
Recently I got a phone call from a guy planning to build a house in Electric City. He told me that he would be in town the following Friday and wanted to meet. He also told me that he was going to meet with two local drafting businesses who also produce Spokane house plans that [...]
Are Custom Home Plans a Better Choice than Wholesale House Plans? The short answer to the question about custom home plans versus wholesale plans is that custom home plans are the better choice when you want to have a new home built. The home we live in is not like the clothes we wear [...]
1180 sq.ft. rancher w/ drivethru garage I designed and built this home in 2001 and recently talked to the couple who had lived in it since. They told me they loved everything about the house and felt very lucky to have found it. Its most unique feature is a drivethru garage, but close to that [...]
