See how buying a stock home plan from eplans can save you time and money.

So you want a custom home. Is paying an architect thousands of dollars the only way to get what you want? Not necessarily. You've made the decision — you're going to build a home rather than buy an existing or select a specific home. You probably made the decision to build because you want what you want, rather than someone else's idea of what you might want. Understandable. But do you have to have a home designed from scratch in order to get the exact home you want? Maybe not.

Stock home plans offer incredible value for relatively low costs. While a custom architect or designer may charge as much as $10,000 for a full set of working drawings to design the home of your choice, you can most likely get everything you're dreaming of in a stock home plan for less than $2,000. And additional services and products are available to help you understand the building process more completely, simplify the bidding process with general contractors, and finish your home with a professional landscape or deck design.

Besides the cost factor, there is a built-in confidence factor. Builders have come to trust stock plans. They know the plans have been checked and tested and, in most cases, are ready for permitting right out of the package, as most are designed to conform to national uniform building codes. This saves the builders time and money — which translates to savings for you as well.

There is a wide variety of stock plans available. Buying from a reputable stock plan company guarantees that you'll be getting working drawings from the best architects and designers in the business — experienced professionals whose designs have been built hundreds of times. These design experts hail from all over the United States and Canada with each bringing a distinctive regional flavor to the designs. You'll be able to personalize the plans to fit your dreams, by working with the designer or architect (or your own personal design professional) to make changes to the plans, before building begins. Your general contractor can even accomplish some simple changes. It's like getting a custom home without the custom price. However, because there is such a huge variety of stock plans available today, you'll probably find the perfect plan for you and your family without having to make any changes at all.

Finally, if those weren't enough reasons to consider stock plans — think about how much fun it is to browse Web sites and plans books, looking for just the right plan.