A Bestimate LLC new home plan, or addition and remodel plan, includes a floor plan, foundation plan, cross sections as needed, 3 or 4 elevations that show how it looks from each side, AND a wall bracing compliance report and wall bracing location and instructions on the plan. Basement, overhead door, window and exit door headers, or other structural components as needed are checked in our structural engineering program, Strucalc, to be sure there will be no failures so the plan is complete for construction and building permits. Bestimate LLC also checks that inhabited rooms have 8% of the floor area be natural light windows and doors and 3-1/2% ventilation, i.e. openable windows and doors which must be calculated. Windows in basements and upper floors must allow egress in case of fire, stair treads and risers to code height and width. Usually the HVAC contractor does energy calculations, but if necessary, we can use our Rescheck program to make sure your new home passes energy calculations for code. Residential Drawing Examples: Click to open elevations and additional pages of plan in full size PDFs – large files open slowly. Photos are scaled. Click on image for full size.
I knew when I finished this plan that this new home would be extraordinary, which you can see from the three exterior pictures. It is very fulfilling to see the plan become a beautiful home for my clients. The home is unique in its modern style, based on sketches and pictures the owners gave me, then revised several times to get it right. This house is on a slab with in floor heat, which is more and more common. Two bedrooms and a bathroom are in the loft. The interior pictures are the awesome great room overlooking the water, and the very nice kitchen. When finished, there will be a deck outside the kitchen door, and wrapping around the rear in front of the great room.
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Check out this beautifully decorated cabin overlooking Lake Superior in far northern Wisconsin. It is small, well insulated and cozy for the owners’ vacations and retirement. Many of the lake cabin plans that Bestimate LLC does are awesome, but the owner decorated the interior of this cabin like it was ready for a showing on HGTV, and the lighting is wow. As you can see, the plans are complete with floor and loft plan, foundation plan, four elevations, cross sections as needed, wall bracing calculations, directions and location sketch, and components sized, like headers and columns. Bestimate LLC produces a complete plan for permits, estimating and construction.
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This beautiful home has typical studframed walls and I-joist rafters, with a large master suite in the loft that has natural lighting from the clerestory west-facing windows that also provide natural light to the loft above the large open living space. Notice the custom fabricated steel columns and railings supporting the exposed glulam beams that support the loft and clerestory roof. This house is built on an insulated slab with heat in the floor, and has a masonry storm room for safety.
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Bestimate LLC has designed many lake cabins in ten years in business. This three-level cabin with large deck is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful. This nicely finished cabin gives lots of space for family fun, with lower level walkout to the lake.
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Much of Bestimate LLC’s time in 2018 was spent on the plans for this log cabin sided home, that is unique in many ways: the log cabin siding is molded reinforced concrete about 3/8” thick; the owner did his own steel fabrication drawings and built the steel post framing for the front porch, the powder-coated steel posts and steel stairway inside with heavy steel plate connections that look like steam riveted plates and rivets, notice the custom fabricated woodgrain steel railings and notched handrails; the inside of the exterior walls are covered with hand-hewn wood plank. The loft is finished recreational space with one bedroom and bath, and the finished basement walks out to a view of their new pond. Bestimate LLC has designed many beautiful upscale homes, but this one is the coolest, with nothing less than spectacular finishes inside and out.
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One of my clients earlier this year asked if I could draw a “Shouse” plan, which is a shed with living quarters, something Bestimate LLC is asked for more often recently. “Shouses” are usually built with slab on grade reinforced concrete, and ladder or stud framed depending on the finishes, and most often have a boiler and heat tubing under the concrete floor over 2” of extruded polystyrene rigid foam insulation.
“Shouse” #1 is a ladder frame example of a very nice family home with a cathedral ceiling and trapezoidal windows in the great room, and a nice back porch with stone siding overlooking their property. This “shouse” has corrugated steel roofing and siding and a big shed garage.
“Shouse”#2 is another ladder frame example of a nice functional retirement home for a single person, with spare bedrooms for visiting relatives. It has corrugated steel roofing and siding with a shop and hobby room in addition to the garage.
“Shouse” #3 is a studframe “shouse” because the owner chose shingled roof and vinyl siding. It has a front porch and a nice living quarters with a big master bedroom and a patio door leading out to a ground level patio overlooking the property. The tall garage is big enough to work on large trucks. In the future, the owner hopes to build a new home on the property, and use this living quarters for a family/party/guest room.
The largest home Bestimate LLC has designed that is new and innovative has the “Thermoform Vertical Insulated Concrete Forms” that is a different concept where plastic frames run up and down with polystyrene fillers. If you are looking for a better way to do basements, or whole houses, this may be what you’re looking for. Vertical Insulated Concrete Forms are easy to install to construct solid concrete, energy efficient structures that can be finished inside and out with whatever products the owner likes.
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The original house was built before 1900, nicely remodeled by Palmer Construction for the current owner. The next step was to tear off the old garage and replace with a new, larger garage addition designed by Bestimate LLC, to continue up the existing stairs into a new master bedroom with large walk-in closet. The first picture shows the home before the old addition was removed, the second has the foundation poured, then the framed addition with siding waiting for the master bedroom window and overhead door. Note that half of the second plan page is the wall bracing calculation, sketch and directions that are required for UDC code to get building permits in most of Wisconsin.
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This home was in the owner’s family for decades. They removed the existing addition, and Bestimate LLC designed a new, larger addition for a new kitchen, dining, laundry, and basement stair, to allow a nice large living area in the existing first floor. The top two pictures show the home before the old addition was removed, while the bottom two pictures show the new addition closed in ready for exterior finish as the owner finished the interior.
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A new owner bought the small house in the first two pictures with a vision realized after an addition with exterior and interior remodel, that became a very nice, larger home. The third picture shows the concrete wall poured, insulation and rebar in place, ready for the concrete floor to be poured. The fourth picture shows the first floor and floor truss framing, while the fifth shows the second floor and roof truss framing. In the sixth picture the addition is framed as the existing house gets overhangs, to make it ready for exterior finish completion in the seventh and eighth pictures. Compare pictures one and seven, and two and eight for before and after looks.
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Bestimate LLC drew the building permit plan for Hansen Home Construction, Marshfield, Wisc., who tore down the existing house rebuilding this 1,444SF new home on the existing basement with a crawl space addition. Reusing the existing garage walls and floating slab required a flexible connection detail from the garage to the house, drawn by Bestimate LLC, and stairs detailed to work inside the existing breezeway connection foundation.
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The 4,245 SF Two-story Amish Farm House is a huge home with large living and dining rooms, everyday kitchen and summer kitchen, six bedrooms featuring Amish crafted ash and oak trim, hand-turned spindled stair-work, and hardwood flooring done with excellent workmanship by owner and Amish craftsmen, made of wood cut from their own woods. The beautiful cabinetry is by Ron and Erna Hostetler of Oak Tree Heirlooms in Spencer, Wisc.
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An 845 SF Cabin on the Lake Remodeled with 1,080 SF Addition – Features are large master bedroom and bath with hot tub looking out window wall and door overlooking the lake with a walkout basement future family room below.
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A 3,000 SF Log Cabin with Loft and Finished Basement by Woodland Logcrafters, LLC, Medford Wisconsin – Features real log construction with high vaulted ceilings, open kitchen, dining, and living area with fireplace overlooked by open loft, log screened porch w/ fireplace, and full finished basement. Look closely at the pictures of a log home Joe Strama and his craftsmen have nearly finished hand crafting in their yard. Notice the cabin is hand crafted of random size tapered logs as they come from the woods, flipped end for end, no two the same, not identical Lincoln logs from a factory. Woodland Logcrafters craftsman fit of the corners and the hand fit logs in the door openings using saws and hand tools so you do not find gaps. Notice the V grooves and expansion slots top and bottom of the logs that will be filled with permanent caulk and foam stripping so the wind cannot get through. The hand-crafted log cabin is then disassembled and trucked to the job site to be reassembled and final finish to follow. Impressive workmanship, unique in the area, to my knowledge.
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A 1852 SF 3-bedroom ranch with private master bedroom suite, large kitchen and dining, large living room, good sized 2nd and 3rd bedrooms and attached garage.
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Unusual conversion of 1064sf existing two-bedroom ranch for a growing family by removing the roof and adding a second story to create 2128sf 2 story six-bedroom two bath home.
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2,380 SF “Log” sided Studframe Cabin with covered porches, front and rear, and walkout basement
2,700 SF Two Story Home with partial basement and attached 2,900 SF Ladderframe (modified postframe on concrete) Shop and Garage.
2,100 SF Upscale Ranch House with Fox Block Insulated Basement Walls – Features are a foyer that opens into large open Great room, kitchen & dining; large master bedroom and bath with patio door to open onto a private deck, and warm, comfortable basement with insulated concrete forms R23.
1,433 SF Cabin with Loft with Insulated Block Form Basement and Separate Garage with Loft – Features compact open floor plan with window wall facing the lake and vaulted ceilings open to the loft, and warm, comfortable walkout finished basement with insulated concrete forms R15.
1,427 SF Handicapped Accessible Ranch with Loft – Features compact open floor plan w/ master bedroom in open loft above, handicapped accessibility with garage floor level with house floor and 36″ doors for wheelchair resident, with owner option to use accessible cabinets and plumbing fixtures as needed.
1,568 SF Three Bedroom Ranch – Features open living, dining, kitchen layout, large master bedroom and bath, second bedroom and office upstairs, finished basement with two bedrooms and family room.
2,633 SF Two-story Home – Features large open living room and kitchen with breakfast nook, dining room, large master bedroom and bath, four additional bedrooms, three baths, upstairs office and workout room, and screened porch.