Small House Plans & Floor Plans (2024)

FAQs

How to design a small house floor plan? ›

What size are small house plans? Most real estate and design firms categorize small house plans as 2,000 square feet or less.

Open floor plans are simpler to build as they require fewer materials and are more energy efficient than traditional closed floor plans. Many Modern styles such as Modern Farmhouse, Ranch, and Barndominium typically have open floor plans.

There are several free floor plan creators available, depending on your specific needs and preferences. Some of the most popular free options include Planner 5D, RoomSketcher, SketchUp and Floorplanner.

You can certainly create your own floor plan without being a proffesional as long as you have the right tools and a bit of creative inspiration. Sketching out ideas yourself will help communicate your vision to the architect when you need to have a professional blueprint drawn up.

“One SQM House” designed by a Berlin-based architect Van Bo Le-Mentzel, is probably the smallest in the world. This wooden house measures exactly one SQM flipping the structure changes the function of the space (Into a resting space).

Small homes have enough square footage to incorporate a full bedroom or two (or even three small ones). You'll also have a full-size kitchen, living space, and possibly enough space for two bathrooms (one often being a half bath).

A 1500 sq ft home is not “small” by any means. This amount of space can handle anything from a couple just starting out to a family with three children.

The minimum permitted dwelling size is 100 square feet. Anything below 400 square feet is considered to be a "tiny home."

Ranch homes are the most popular home style in the U.S. They're another rectangular-shaped house, though they come in “T” or “L” shapes, too. A home with a simple and concise layout is the cheapest type of house to build. Ranch homes are typically single-story structures with attached garages.

What is the cheapest style house to build? ›

A ranch-style house is generally more affordable to build because it has an easy, open floor plan and is traditionally available in a rectangular or U-shaped layout.

Rates start at $50 and go as high as $130 per hour for a draftsperson to draw up blueprints or a house plan. Plans for a three-bedroom house require at least 10 hours to complete, and typically cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000.

Draw home floor plans in minutes with RoomSketcher, the easy-to-use floor plan designer app. Create high-quality 2D & 3D Floor Plans to scale for print and web.

Unless your local building code absolutely requires an architect, most residential homes do not need to hire an architect. Part of the excitement of building a new home or doing a major retrofit is spending time creatively designing the space that you will inhabit.