The Value of a Floor Plan

Most often, floor plans, or layout plans, are used for renovation purposes and people don't generally think to make one, or have one made, for any other reason. Having floor plans can be beneficial to residential and commercial property owners, as well as to tenants, in many ways:

• Take it with you when you go shopping for new furniture to eliminate the guess-work about the right size desk, table or sofa to buy.
• Use it as a sales tool to help sell your property or to find the right tenant. It can be put on-line with the property listing (see the photo section of this property listing) or a paper copy can be given to potential purchasers or tenants.
• Make furniture pieces for your floor plan so you can rearrange as often as necessary until you find the right layout without hurting your back or damaging the floors.
• Start to visualize renovation options before calling in a designer, architect or contractor. On paper you will see your space very differently.

 If you are going to make your own floor plan, the easiest way is to use graph paper. Figure out a reasonable scale based on the size of your graph paper and the size of the space you are going to be drawing; while a single room can be drawn with 4 squares representing one foot (or 1 square = 3 inches), an entire building would have to be drawn at a smaller scale, such as 1 square = 1 foot.

Having a floor plan done professionally is quick and simple. Depending on the space, it may take anywhere from an hour to several hours for a pro to measure the space including doors, windows, and so on. Within 10 days you should have the completed floor plan. Costs for professionally drawn floor plans vary depending both on the professional you hire and on the size of the space to be measured and drawn, but for a small average home you should expect to pay approximately $240.