Buying a Home Plan - What You Need to Know

• What's Included
• Customization
• Pricing
• The Fine Print
• Copyright

What is included?

Our construction drawing sets, at appropriate scales on 18” x 24” sheets, include the following:

• Cover Sheet

• Foundation Plan Sheet
  The foundation plan sheet shows the layout of the building foundation.

• Floor Plan Sheets
  Each floor plan shows the location of interior and exterior walls, doors, windows, stairs, closets, as well as the layout of cabinets, appliances, and plumbing fixtures.

• Elevation Sheet
  Exterior elevations show all four sides of the house, including the roof pitches, window and door layout, siding and trim materials, building height, and finished grades.

• Building Section Sheet
  Building sections are vertical slices through the house from the roof to the foundation. The sections show the Passive House building assemblies for the foundation, floor, walls, and roof. Materials and dimensions are specified.

• Window and Door Schedule
  The size, height above finished floor, operator direction, and specifications are provided.

• Passive House Detail Sheets
  Construction details for Passive House assemblies include: foundation, connections between building assemblies, windows and doors, and details for air-sealing.

• Mechanical and Electrical Sheets
  Overlaying the floor plans, these provide the ventilation duct, mechanical, and electrical equipment, and layouts.

Your package will not include:

• Site plan - must be completed specifically for your building lot and comply to local planning office requirements.
• Structural engineering as required.
• Cabinet and mill-work.
• Room-by-room finish selection.
• Permit applications.

Customization

No design can be perfect without input from you and knowledge of your site.

We recognize that everyone has a different lifestyle and set of priorities for their home. While we have created our home plans with many styles and a focus on timeless appeal, we know that you will have great ideas for how they can be modified to fit you better. We will work with you to add these great ideas into your home!

Here's what to look for to know if the design is a good starting point:

• Is the street entry on the right side for your site?
• Is south pointing the right way for your site?
• Can you build this home in your region within your budget?
• Are there enough bedrooms, and does it have the right number of stories?

Here are some examples of what we can customize to fit your vision:

• Changes to the floor plan - flipping or mirroring to fit the site
• Adding a basement to a two-storey plan
• Adding a garage, screen porch, or carport
• Changing the exterior style to make it more traditional, modern, craftsman, etc.

Even with extensive changes to the interior, we find that if the plan is oriented properly for your site and is roughly the right size, we can make it work. It's generally more cost effective for us to customize a stock plan than to engage in full custom design services.

Please contact us with a list of your changes, and we will provide an estimate to customize a plan for your needs.

If you are looking for something uniquely tailored to you and your site, consider our custom design service. We love working with people to make their dream homes a reality!

Pricing

Standard Package: $6,495
6-Set-Plan Package, Single-Use License with non-exclusive right to build a single home.

The single-use license package includes 6 complete sets of 1/4” scale construction drawings, allowing for the construction of a single residence, and a single digital permit set. This price includes standard shipping costs.

Additional Printed Sets:
Ordered with the initial purchase: $35
Ordered at a later date: $35 plus shipping

Mirrored Plan: $295
Have you found a home plan you like but the garage, road, or solar south, etc. is on the wrong side for your lot? In some cases, this can be resolved by mirroring the plan. With the Mirror option, we reverse all the drawing layouts so that they are flipped over making them work for your site.

Plan Customization Changes: $150/hour
We provide stock plan customization on an hourly basis. Please select your plan and contact us with your requested changes. We will provide a time estimate for the changes to get your plan working for you. If the changes requested are drastic, we may recommend a custom design by our team. We love working with clients to adapt our designs to help people achieve the Passive Home they are looking for!

Multiple Use License for Builders
We work with builders to provide stock plan licenses with non-exclusive rights to build multiple homes and also provide custom designed passive home plans for exclusive rights by the builder.

Builder Coordination
We include a phone consultation with you and your builder to discuss the Passive House details and construction methods. We can also answer any questions you or your builder may have during pricing.

The Fine Print

Passive Design Solutions (“PDS”) is a registered business name of 3131891 Nova Scotia Limited. PDS is the copyright owner of all designs and house plans on it's website and in it's catalogue.

All PDS house plans are designed to comply with the Canadian National Building Code. Some provinces and local jurisdictions have additional building codes, zoning requirements, and other regulations that may apply to your project. All Federal, Provincial, and local ordinances, etc., shall be considered as part of the specifications for this design and shall take precedence over anything shown, described, or implied, if and when variances occur.

For building permits in Ontario, plan sets require a sign off by a designer with a BCIN number. This is not included in the PDS packages but can be provided as an option.

The builder is responsible to check and verify all dimensions on the plan, confirm all municipal zoning and building requirements, and report any discrepancies prior to commencing construction.

Plans using a slab-on-grade foundation require engineering calculations stamped by a Professional Engineer licensed in your province.

Manufactured wood structural members, including floor joists, roof trusses, beams, columns, and lintel, require design and engineering for local snow loads and building codes, therefore, are not included in the construction drawings of our plan sets. Typically, truss suppliers provide this engineering free of charge. PDS construction drawings assume a depth of floor trusses that may change for local design conditions and affect building dimensions.

Our plan drawing sets do not take into account site conditions such as soil bearing capacity, water tables, depth of bedrock, buried structures, etc.

No person shall use the Passive Design Solutions name or logo when publishing any photos or information about our designs without our express written consent.

Copyright

Copyright is the right of an author to make copies of their original work. In Canada, the Copyright Act applies to architectural works. Home designs and drawings are subject to copyright protection in Canada. These original home designs are a product of the knowledge, expertise, skills, and judgment of PDS.

Copying any part of the PDS designs is illegal. Using our designs to redraw, redesign, or modify without purchasing a license is in violation of the copyright laws. Unauthorized use of these designs or a derivative work of PDS designs is copyright infringement.

Purchase of a plan set from PDS, provides a non-exclusive right to build a single home. Building more than one home is an infringement of the Copyright Act.

The drawings cannot be reproduced, modified, reused, published, presented, or shared in any part or whole without written consent from PDS.

Home plans cannot be copied or reproduced without written permission from PDS. If additional sets are required for estimating or construction, please contact PDS to purchase additional sets or to obtain a letter of permission to make additional copies. It is illegal for print shops to make copies of PDS home designs without written permission from PDS.

Reproducible plans (Vectorworks files, PDF files) sold to builders may include a written license to make modifications to the plans. The license includes permission to make up to 6 sets of the home plans. Only one home can be constructed from the purchase of a plan set, either in original form or as modified, unless permission is otherwise granted.

Everyone has a responsibility to avoid copyright infringement including designers, architects, engineers, homeowners, builders, contractors, developers, and real estate agents. It is the responsibility of the individual to clarify the copyright ownership of the drawing set prior to using them.