While our Design Center is always happy to help our clients put together a floor plan from scratch for their custom luxury home in Greenville, South Carolina, we meet with many clients who have already located a floor plan they love… except for a few little (or big) details here and there.

Wondering about whether or not you can ask a builder to alter a floor plan? We’ve got the answer.

The Short Answer is Yes. The Longer Answer is Yes, But…

Copyright law stipulates that floor plans are the property of the home designer, architect, or firm that produced them. If you find your dream floor plan over in Southern Living’s excellent floor plan collection and purchase them, you’re buying the rights to either review the floor plan in better detail, or to use their intellectual property to build a single home.

Most online floor plan collections will include an option to contact the home designer or architect about customizations and alterations, and that architect will often be willing to make your requested changes for an extra fee.

However, since all of this is done online, you’ll be at a disadvantage: it can be much harder to communicate effectively about such a visual process when you’re relying on emails and other digital communications. When it comes to making modifications to existing floor plans, it’s worth giving a local custom home builder a call to have these conversations face to face, where you can describe your vision in greater detail or even throw out a few sketches to help lay out the modifications you need.

Note: it’s important to make sure that the floor plans you’ve purchased include the rights to build the home design! Many sites sell “review only” copies for a smaller price, but those do not include the rights to build the home, only a copy of the plan for review. Please take the time to double-check and ensure that the plans you are purchasing come with the right to modify if needed and build the home.

Can Five Star Construction Modify Existing Floor Plans?

Absolutely! We’d be happy to make modifications to a floor plan you love that help ensure your custom home is designed to be ideal for you and your family.

If you’ve found floor plans you absolutely adore online, but you need either minor or major modifications, our Design Center is happy to help! Make sure the floor plans that your purchase include reproducible rights (for minor modifications) or CAD files (for major modifications). These will almost always be clearly available options when you buy the plans themselves. If you’re not sure, let us know where you located the floor plans you’re interested in, and we’ll help you be sure you’re buying the right set.

At that point, you’ll sit down with members of our Design Center team to discuss the changes you’d like to make. Adding on a bonus room or taking part of the “mudroom” space to turn into a laundry room isn’t as simple as a few new lines on the paper — it also involves considerations about potentially having to move heating and air ductwork or adding new plumbing lines into a space not originally designed to have them.

We’ll work with you to ensure these changes are made safely and still reflect your dream of your perfect custom-built home.

Building a Custom Home in Greenville, South Carolina?

Give Five Star Construction a call! We have decades of experience helping Upstate individuals and families bring their luxury home dreams to life, and we’ll be with you from that first consultation through moving day and beyond. Give us a call at (864) 303-9143 or contact us online at any time to request your consultation with our Design Center Team!