AboutRichard Taylor, AIA Expertise Ask me about all aspects of house, remodeling. , and room addition design and construction. Ask me about historic homes, renovation, and restoration. Ask me about materials and techniques, and about how you can get the best value for your design and construction dollar. Ask me how you can make your home a very special place. I can't, however, answer specific structural engineering questions in this forum - that's something you'll need on-site observation for.
Experience I own a five-person residential architectural firm, and have been designing custom homes, remodelings, and room additions across the country since 1983. Check us out at Richard Taylor Architects and RTA Plans. I have written and been published extensively on the subject of residential architecture. .
Organizations American Institute of Architects, City of Dublin Architectural Review Board, Past Editor of SPLASH (a CAD program), Past Editor of Open Directory Project, Boy Scouts of America
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) Miami University 1983
For more about home design, check out my blog at Richard Taylor Architects Looking for great Luxury Home House Plans? Try ours at RTA Plans.
Question When purchasing a townhouse where I am buying the walls in and not the exterior of the structure, how should square footage of be determined to base price per square foot on? I am also curious of how square footage of a room is represented from the plans stage to the completed building stage, an example would be looking at the size of a room that on the plans was listed as: Master Bedroom 16'X12', but once finished the room is 11'X15.5' - a difference of 21.5 feet. Is that normal? The size makes a difference to me because of a furniture issue and I'm not sure if I should approach it with the Architect/GC or if this is something acceptable. I feel the finished size should have been represented, am I wrong in this line of thinking? Thank you.
Answer Hi Kelly - thanks for your question!
Everyone in the homebuilding industry measures the area of a home a little differently so it's harder than it should be to compare apples to apples. For a full discussion of the various ways it's done and by whom, check out this link: http://dontbuyahouseplan.com/HowBigIsThatHouse.htm
For the townhouse you're looking at, you should go by the GROSS area; that means everything inside the perimeter of the structure, excluding any attached garage, counting stairs only once, and not counting the upper volume of two-story spaces. Common walls between units should be evenly split between the units.
Ultimately you're buying the whole structure, inside and out, whether or not that's the legal description of the unit. If you only count livable space you're simply making the per-square-foot price higher, not lowering the total purchase price.
You may notice a disclaimer on marketing materials that says the drawing is merely a representation and may not show exactly what's built in the field. There are many reasons for that, but it has mostly to do with the difference between preliminary and final construction drawings; the prelims may have been done many months before the final construction drawings.
You're right to question what the actual sizes of the rooms will be...that's the only number that really counts. In the end you're not buying what's on the marketing drawing, but what's built in the field. Ask to base your purchase on the final "as built" construction drawings.
Hope this helps,
Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtaplans.com
