Building a New Home - Measurements not Matching up with Floor Plan

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Hi All,

We are in the process of building a new home. The home we are building is in a development with many models and choices, but many of the models are "cookie cutter" with limited customizations.

When we toured the development multiple times, we were able to go into many model homes, but couldnt find the right one for us. We ended up deciding on a model that was "floor plan only", meaning we didnt have the opportunity to walk into it.

On the builders website, there is a tool for all of their homes where you can pick your customizations structurally, and we got the layout to include everything we wanted....we went with it and gave our first round of payments, etc.

We took another trip to the neighborhood this week, and found that there are two other families who are building the home that we chose that are under construction, but all the walls are up and they are essentially about 80% completed, (minus the finishing touches) and we went into those homes while the electricians were there. We were shocked to find out, at least to the naked eye, that all of the rooms felt and looked far smaller than what is in the floor plan itself in the home we went into. The walk in closet in our Owners Bedroom, for example, which is supposed to be 13-14 feet in length, could not possibly have been more than 9-10 feet in length. The walls, which on the builders website, show that you have 4+ feet to hang artwork, only have about 1-2 feet, if that. Even the one car garage, which SHOULD, according to the measuring tool on the site to use with the floor plan, should have an opening which is over 8 feet wide, can barely fit anything beyond a tiny car or a golf cart. There is no way I could ever get my SUV into this garage. Everything just felt and was visibly smaller and tighter than what we were expecting, although we didnt bring measuring tape, as we weren't expecting to have to do that.

This is a link to the floor plan that we were using as our guide and the company we are buying the home from was showing us to sell us the home - https://rifp.ml3ds-icon.com/#/floorplan/395640?floorId=515435

Bottom line is, we don't know what to do now, and have put down unrefundable money -- Do I have a case to "back out" based on the measuring tool and measurements on their website (the main part of what they use to sell this home) being completely inaccurate? If I am buying a home based on having a measuring tool on the website and room measurements that are all WAY off?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice you may have.....

Featured Answer

PRO

Mark Bischak, Architect

2 years ago

“When there is an empty site it looks perfect.

When the hole is dug it looks big.

When the foundation goes in it looks small.

When the first floor sheathing is put on it looks big.

When the stud walls go up it looks small.

When the gypsum board is installed it looks big.

When the furniture goes in it looks small.

When you write the final check it looks huge.”

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Comments (27)

res2architect
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
How do you know the size of the closets if they're not dimensioned on the plans? If you're scaling them, you are making a serious mistake.

Don't rely on room sizes on marketing drawings; there's probably a caveat in the contract fine print. And don't guess at the dimensions of spaces; use a tape measure and write the dimension on the marketing plan and show it to the contact person.

There will be a set of drawings that the builders use to layout the house. That's what you need to see and it should be referenced in the contract.
Brad S thanked res2architect
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
2 years ago
Talk to the builder.
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chispa
2 years ago
Well, the first thing you should do is go over there with a 25 ft measuring tape and get actual dimensions. Most people are really bad at judging distance and space. Don't panic until you have actual data.
anj_p
2 years ago
x2 what @res2architect @Mark Bischak, Architect and @chispa said.

The buildable plans are what you need to go by. You put money down - they should be creating the plans for your house now, and you should have an opportunity to sign off on the construction drawings before they start. At least, that was how our process worked (also a development home). We did finance the build, though - so if you are not paying for the build your involvement may be less. I'm not sure.

Things always look tiny when they're being framed.

BTW, aside from the poor fridge/oven placement, that's one of the best builder kitchens I've seen.
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Mark Bischak, Architect
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
The contractural agreement is what the OP needs to go by.

Edit: . . . the builder too.
User
2 years ago
What Mark said.
Everything in my house looked tiny when framed only. We were freaking out too.
Brad S
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks! The one that we walked into had all the drywalling up... Did it still looks small after the drywalling was up?
anj_p
2 years ago
@Brad S take a measuring tape. My aunt and uncle were in our build last weekend (cabinets had just been installed) and they said "It looks so much bigger with the cabinets in." Your eyes are not to be trusted, nor are online measuring tools. You don't know that the house is being built "so much smaller" than the online plan, and you shouldn't be talking of backing out of a contract based on assumptions.

FYI Standard single garage doors are 8' -9'. If they're using something smaller it's a custom door and I doubt your builder is putting custom garage doors on.
Brad S
Original Author
2 years ago
Yes, our garage doors will be 8 feet high. The problem is with the width of the opening of the garage. Two SUVs absolutely can not fit in there...just frustrating when you are paying your life savings into something like this and only one car can fit.
palimpsest
2 years ago
SUVs keep getting bigger and bigger. The garages on stock house plans don't seem to be. I have been in more than newer garage where the vehicles more or less fit, but you have to squeeze in and out of the doors.
chispa
2 years ago
I am renting while building and the rental house is a spec house with cheap options built 20 years ago. The one car garage door is the standard 8'W x 7'H and I can just fit my large SUV. I actually back into the spot, so that I can just drive out when in a rush to leave the house. My side mirrors barely squeeze through the doors with about 2" to spare on each side.

The new house will have 9'W doors to give me a few more inches on each side. Also went with 8'H so I can drive in with the cargo box on the roof.

I knew all this upfront because I measured what we had before and had my architect draw in the sizes I needed.

Didn't you know you had big vehicles and needed oversize doors? Do you park your SUV in a garage now? Measure that door and compare to the one being built.
res2architect
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I prefer to use a laser measuring device. A simple one shouldn't cost any more than a good wide-blade tape measure. Its faster, only requires one person and you don't get in the way of subs. If they notice you measuring everything, they might think you've assumed responsibility for quality control because you think the GC can't or won't.

Don't give the builder a plan with your dimension notes. Just report in writing which rooms need to be checked for descrepancies greater than a few inches.

Usurping the roles of others on a construction site can lead to unecessary misunderstandings and resentment; everybody should stay in their lanes.
Brad S thanked res2architect
PRO
Kristin Petro Interiors, Inc.
2 years ago
I think you need to stop everything and meet with your builder/developer to better understand the home you are building. Assumptions about your plan will cause issues throughout the build process. The best course is to reference actual build documents and contracts, not marketing websites. There are obviously trade-offs to building a semi-custom or stock plan instead of one that is fully custom, so you should learn what they are before you continue. It looks like this plan offers a 4' garage extension, presumably to accommodate larger vehicles. Did you discuss this option before you signed on to ensure your vehicles would fit? This is standard practice in the custom home process.
PRO
Debbi Washburn
2 years ago
Grab a tape measure - go to the house with the plans like yours. Measure everything you feel the need to. Then go to one of the finished model homes . Even though the layout isn't the same , you can compare dimensions to a finished room to really "see" what you can expect.

Good luck!!
WestCoast Hopeful
2 years ago
Cannot rely on the naked eye for anything! Report back after measuring
User
2 years ago
Did you talk to your builder?

We are building a custom home by a tract builder. Our basement rooms are way off and it’s upsetting. Walk in Closets that are now 4 inches narrower and you can only hang clothes on one walls, which completely defeats the point if a WiC. One bedroom was supposed to be 10x15 and is 9’3” x 14’8”. I’m so upset about this!! We sent a note to the builder but it’s not like they can change the foundation so we are stuck with it.
doc5md
2 years ago
Am I missing something? The OP went into a home being built that was not his/hers, but was the same base model house. For all we know, the owners of this house made some adjustments to the square footage to reduce costs or something. The OP doesn't know what the room sizes are actually supposed to be because we don't have the plans for the house that was built.
vinmarks
2 years ago
There is no way to use that measuring tool on the website to get an accurate measurement of rooms. The rooms in the other houses may in fact be correct but you assumed you measured correctly using an inaccurate measuring tool on a website. You signed a contract without seeing actual plans with real measurements.
User
2 years ago
I don’t know what else to call it. It’s a big builder. They are building us a custom home. We designed the floor plan, etc.
User
2 years ago
It’s a big tract home.
User
2 years ago
It’s not a big home.
I guess I need a definition for these terms. I’m not familiar and trying to use the terminology I’ve read here.
G W
2 years ago
This may be an obvious question/thought to those in the know, but were the dimensions on your plan wall to wall, center of wall to center of wall, or exterior measurements?
WestCoast Hopeful
2 years ago
If you used an architect/designer who designed your home for a specific lot to meet your families needs it’s custom. The builder then builds the plan they are given. What did you do?
K H
2 years ago
I noticed on the floor plan page that you could select 4’ deeper on the garage. I would ask about different doors. Maybe there is an option for that too?
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
Measuring tape and use it and there is no such thing as a custom tract home and you meaure your home since you made adjustmnets to yours maybe nothing like the others did. IMO this is huge house and has many issues that I can see but you planned those .
Brad S
Original Author
2 years ago
Patricia, what issues do you see? please let me know..

Building a New Home - Measurements not Matching up with Floor Plan

Mark Bischak, Architect

Comments (27)

res2architect

Mark Bischak, Architect

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chispa

anj_p

Mark Bischak, Architect

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palimpsest

chispa

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Kristin Petro Interiors, Inc.

Debbi Washburn

WestCoast Hopeful

User

doc5md

vinmarks

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User

User

G W

WestCoast Hopeful

K H

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Brad S
Original Author

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Building a New Home - Measurements not Matching up with Floor Plan

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