How does payment work?
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You pay 50% of the $1,950 (via Paypal) to initiate the service (our sales team will work with you on this and relevant terms and conditions). Once you have agreed to your renderings and floor plans (see work process below), you will pay 25% of the remaining fee to initiate the the development of construction drawings. Once construction drawings are complete you will receive a review set. After the review set is approved, you will need to pay the remaining 25% of the fee to receive your house plan in PDF, CAD, & Revit formats.
What is the design process like?
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The first thing to note about this design process is that it will occur all over e-mail, web, and other forms of electronic communications. It is important to note that to deliver a custom house plan product for such an attractive price we need to work very efficiently. In general the design process will occur over three phases:
Phase 1 – Design
This phase begins after you have submitted your initial 50% payment. Once the deposit is accepted, a FreeGreen designer will reach you via e-mail and collect your thoughts, dreams, requirements, and of course related documents necessary for your home design. Some of this information will be collected via a proprietary FreeGreen Questionnaire, and some will be collected via e-mail communications between you and a FreeGreen Designer. You can give as much or as little information as you wish; the key is to be to-the-point and direct about your design goals and needs.
Once the designer receives the needed information, they will begin to design your home. You will work with them through three rounds of iterations. The first round will focus on floor plan development. The second two rounds will focus on floor plans and exterior elevations. In each iteration you can give as much feedback as you like, and take as much time as you like. At the end of the third iteration you must decide if you want to continue on to the next phase or stop the process.
Phase 2 – Construction Drawings
This phase begins after you have submitted Design Phase approval and 2nd payment (25% of total). In Phase 2 FreeGreen will use its knowledge and extensive green building detail library to develop a house plan that is optimized for your design requirements and project build location (climate). These construction drawings will come with the rigor and detail that you have come to expect in FreeGreen plans. At the end of this a review construction drawing set will be sent to you for your approval.
Phase 3 – Final Approval & Delivery
This phase begins once you have received your construction drawing review set. Once received, you can review this set to assure it is correct. Once you give your final approval, and pay your remaining 25% fee FreeGreen will send you your full house plan in PDF, AutoCAD, and Revit formats.
Is this a house plan or a custom designed home?
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This is a house plan. This is not a full custom design service, and for that we would always recommend using a local Architect for your design work. Buying a FreeGreen Custom House Plan is like buying a Dell Computer. You are still buying a product, but you are getting it customized to your needs and specifications. A FreeGreen Custom House Plan allows you to obtain a house plan that actually fits your needs and goals, for a reasonable cost.
What file formats do you deliver house plans in?
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PDF, AutoCAD, & Revit. We deliver your custom house plan in editable formats so that you may easily work with local builder, building departments, engineers and others on your home building project.
Do I get an energy report with my house plan?
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Although FreeGreen will use our extensive knowledge to implement proper building science and energy efficient details into your custom house plan, we will not include a predictive energy report with your house plan. You can pay an additional $1,000 to have us develop a custom energy report for your house plan (in your location) to see the energy predicted energy performance of the house that we design together.
Do I get a full color 3D rendering with my house plan?
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Although FreeGreen provides wire frame images of your home through the design process, and a full 3D rendering of your home with your construction documents, a full 3D color rendering (like you see in the FreeGreen House Plans) is not included with the base service. That said, we can create a full 3D rendering of your home with your chosen materials, colors, and external features for $500 after your construction documents are completed. The main reasons that we do not do color renderings during the design and construction document process is that our efficient design process needs to be all about your homes design and your needs. Once you get into color coordination many issues arise, and discussions occur that really should happen outside of the house plan creation process.
