Construction planning and preparation play a very important role in today’s construction. The effectiveness of the planning and preparation lead to the success of a project including the quality and time consumed in completing the project. A good and properly planned construction site can improve the efficiency and even the safety of the construction operation. Therefore, to construct a good building, the step of planning cannot be eliminated or skipped in order to save the construction time and money. One key thing that you will need is the building plan to help you in the planning process.
Most people do not know the importance of having a house plan. To many lay people (by lay I mean non-technical people) they believe that a house plan is just a drawing, just like the ones they used to draw in pre-school with a sun and tree at the side. A house plan is not just a drawing of a house, a house plan has many factors and many roles it plays in building and construction.
I have had many clients coming to me and asking me to just sketch for them a house plan so that their masons can have something to look upon or some sort of vision of how the house will be like. None of them take the house plan any serious due to the culture of how people just wake up one morning and decide to build a house from something they saw somewhere on T.V or somewhere they visited.
In my 5 years of experience as an architect I always get the same problem of trying to explain to clients why it is important to have a house plan, before, during and after building your house. A house plan is not just a drawing that shows where the rooms in the house shall be located, a house plan covers all aspects of man and his environment.
I shall list down a few and basic factors;
- The importance of a house plan is to design a space/environment suitable for human occupation. It factors in essential aspects like natural light, ventilation, acoustics (sound) and comfort.
- To be in harmony with nature e.g if you build a house on a hill, it’s never advisable to level the hill by hacking off the soil in-order to make a flat terrain. Stepping the house is a more suitable solution and it avoids extra expenses of building a retaining wall or future unforeseen disasters like landslides.
- To be in harmony with the environment e.g if you want to build in a wet land (which is not allowed by environmental laws) how will this house affect the Eco-system in that environment and how will the environment affect your house say like the rising water table during the rainy season.
- To help in urban planning. Most people do not know that their submitted house plans are used to aid in urban planning and development of towns and cities. These house plans are used to prepare urban improvements like installing public utilities of water and electricity, building new roads, arranging the city to accommodate more people etc.
- To help plan for future development on your land. Having a house plan will enable you to make future plans on how, what and where you will add on your piece of land.
- A house plan can also be used as back up or security in-case of future urban developments. Many people have been scrapped off the road reserves because they do not have house plans. This plan can help you in court and the local council can compensate you in case of such evictions. But this only works if you submitted in your house plans before the construction of your house or immediately after building. (But it’s more advisable to submit in your plan before building)
It is not advisable to also copy house plans from people and use for your building. Contact professionals to draw your plans for and let a certified Architect or Engineer look through the drawings and approve it by stamping it. These professionals are experts in designing hence are authorized by institutions to approve such drawings. If you borrow a plan from someone, you cannot use it to obtain a permit unless you had it drawn and approved for you before it can be used.
If you will like us to help you design a building plan for you, we shall be delighted to be of service to you.
You may contact us for your construction projects of any kind via WhatsApp/call on 0302907912 OR 0242085281 or visit us at our office at GICEL Estates, Block J4/58. Near Weija DVLA and directly opposite to the New Weija Community Clinic.
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