Submitted by Needleroozer t3_11y76s3 in LifeProTips
TarondorIX t1_jd6nqw5 wrote
What’s baffling is that blueprints are not part of a home purchase anymore, this should made into a law honestly. Literally every time a someone needs to fix my shit it’s like they are exploring the Amazon for the first time cause they don’t know the layout of anything.
MandBoy t1_jd6y7v4 wrote
We are using a program called Dalux at work which has plans for : Outlets, light fixtures, junction boxes, ventilation and much much more which can all be seen in 3D or as AR using your cellphone.
Sadly I only think we use it for big projects - but would be super neat if it could be simplified to such an extent that anyone was able to create and update projects no matter the size
OneHotPotat t1_jd8gslp wrote
You'd also need to standardize or at least have paper copies of the plans, especially for residential use. Software generally has a notoriously short shelf life, and while some businesses or governments might be willing/able to transition from one digital plan program to another when standards inevitably change, I doubt that most homeowners would do the same.
Imagine having your house's blueprints saved to a floppy disk in a proprietary format only used by a Windows 95 program published by a company that went out of business in 2003.
Not_A-Professional t1_jd7vfg0 wrote
I'm not aware of any businesses that offer it for small residential real estate, but the technology for point clouds is 100% ready to handle stuff like this.
Even with a nicely upper middle class home, the square footage should be low enough to run scans in just a few hours. I'm not a construction guy or handyman, so this just guesswork on my part, but I'd imagine your tolerance are pretty loose, too, which would bring down the time and cost considerably
Assuming they own the equipment, and aren't renting, a local company could easily scan, register, and export a point cloud for 5-10k, maybe less. Maybe set up a nice recurring payment to host the point cloud on a cloud for you in perpetuity, and get some cash on the back end too.
I understand that's not exactly cheap to the average person, but in the scope of purchasing a house it's not a huge additional expense either. I know real estate varies a ton by area, but in the places I've lived, any halfway decent home, even in awful neighborhood seems to pushing half a million, so if you're in an area where you can get a house for like 150k, I understand you might not agree, and that's reasonable
Not_A-Professional t1_jd7wspp wrote
Oh, I do know they have really cheap (relatively speaking) hand held scanners that realtors will use to create online tours, so that could probably be done a lot cheaper. From what I've seen though, they're not nearly as good as the nicer scanners.
Haven't actually worked with them myself, but with what I can remember, rather than actually producing a fully three dimensional digital copy of the site, they produce... More like a set of flat images, that it tries to stretch and add depth to, which causes weird distortions, and you can really only look from set stations, rather than being able to view things from any angle or position in a fully 3d environment
I could be wrong, not my area of expertise, that's just what I half remember from seeing a handful of examples a year or two ago
pghsteelworker t1_jd7b5wp wrote
Just had a house built last year and was still very involved in the process even though we hired a home builder. We have 30 pages of blue prints but things like wiring and plumbing only has fixtures and outlets marked on the prints. The final routing of wires and pipes are decided by the trades running them. You better believe i did exactly this LPT before drywall went up.
kagoolx t1_jd6tvnd wrote
Yeah I was surprised to discover this isn’t a standard thing.
Maybe there should be a standard documentation format and basically if your house has a certified up to date one of those there’s a standard way to evidence that when you sell it, to add value to the house.
No up to date documentation and it’s a black mark on the valuation survey thing. Whenever you get significant work done you can pay a small amount extra to update the document.
IDK just something like that maybe
BerkelMarkus t1_jd7tdnh wrote
Wow. It’s like building architects and software architects should get together and figure out some standards on how to document stuff.
TheLordofAskReddit t1_jd9s939 wrote
I mean we do for large commercial buildings.
Kaymish_ t1_jd7mhi6 wrote
Assuming stuff like that is even on the plans. We generate plans all the time and leave them in the house when finished. 4 copies one for the home owner one for us one for the council and one for the draftsman. But the draftsman only puts where things should go when the electrician/plumber/gasfitter shows up on site he takes one look at the plans and says that's dumb it should go this way instead or the light switch should be here or theres not enough fall on this drain and changes it. We don't do as builts in residential house building.
Needleroozer OP t1_jd8q7x3 wrote
The plans might show where the outlets are, but they don't show where the wires run inside the walls. Same with plumbing fixtures and the pipes. What is inside the wall is a mystery and is not detailed in the plans.
_lickadickaday_ t1_jd73a2o wrote
We asked when we bought our house. They said no. They don't want other builders to be able to steal their plans.
laguna1126 t1_jd7ujti wrote
Lol as if 4 walls and a roof is some patented concept. Like I get that home are slightly more complex than that, but that's such a ridiculous notion.
_lickadickaday_ t1_jd8a28u wrote
You think a house is only "slightly" more complex than 4 walls and a roof?
[deleted] t1_jd76cyv wrote
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frzn_dad t1_jd83dxq wrote
There are likely construction drawings for any new construction. What there aren't and you probably want is asbuilt drawings showing any changes that happened. Those require each sub elec, hvac, plumbers, framers to keep red lines to give back to the engineer or architect and some one to then make all the corrections.
Not uncommon on large commercial jobs, would cost more than the average person would want to spend in residential construction. Also asbuilts usually aren't perfect even after all the time and money spent on them.
[deleted] t1_jd6o4yg wrote
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KamahlYrgybly t1_jd6uhvx wrote
My folder full of blueprints for our house disagrees. Only need it once every few years, but without it certain repairs or alterations would be impossible.
FlyingBearSquid t1_jdacq8h wrote
Blueprints won’t show actual locations of pipes, ducts, conduits, etc. That stuff always ends up being design-build and the construction plans won’t show that unless you have someone create as-built drawings while you are under construction.
drae- t1_jd7i8dr wrote
Just go to the city and request a copy....
calguy1955 t1_jd7u2t1 wrote
This is a myth perpetuated by the movies. You can’t go down to the “hall of records” and look at blueprints for every building to find out where the heating ducts are that lead to the treasure room. Once the city finalizes all of its inspections it gives the plans back to the builder and doesn’t keep a copy.
drae- t1_jd7z2ap wrote
I'm an architectural technician. I literally design and build homes for a living. One of my primary tasks is to submit and obtain approval for planning and permits.
Yes, the city absolutely has a copy of the plans on file. For over a decade I griped and complained about lack of digital submission of plan, physical was required specifically because the city retains copies and didn't have the digital infrastructure in place to store electronic copies long term. My city installed this infrastructure only in about 2018.
Further I have done a number of renovations of old buildings. Our primary focus is infill and intensifying neighbourhoods, usually brownfield sites like old mills and factories. I've gone to the city on a number of occasions for plans. They generally had everything post 1950, and has spotty coverage on stuff between 1910 and 1950.
I literally have a print of an old factory plan framed behind me, and I got said copy from the city.
So unless I'm a movie character and don't know it, you absolutely can get copies from city Hall in any municipality I've worked in.
calguy1955 t1_jd8748p wrote
I suppose it depends on the city or county. I worked doing due diligence for real estate transactions throughout California for over 20 years and the best I could ever find were simple site plans and maybe an elevation. No structural plans were ever saved. Maybe in todays digital world they are available but there’s nothing for the old buildings.
drae- t1_jd8ep67 wrote
>Maybe in todays digital world they are available but there’s nothing for the old buildings.
Again, I literally have a print from a 100 year old factory behind my desk, which I sourced from my municipalities building department.
As I mentioned, I couldn't submit digitally for years specifically because they needed a paper copy for record.
In my experience if a permit was pulled for construction and municipality is organized they have a copy and can generally find it. Bigger cities stored it on microfilm. Of course some cities are shit shows and not organized at all. In my current jurisdiction the government responsible for planning items is the county, but for building items its the Town. One of the factories I renovated the fire department had copies of plans, the factory was old enough to predate the building department but not the fire department. Barking up the correct tree is half the battle.
anch_ahh t1_jdbghen wrote
Architect here. What you said is absolutely untrue. Some counties may not require a permit for residential, but typically non-residential structures require a permit. Your county's permitting or records department has a copy of all permitted plans including structural, mechanical, electrical, and whatever else is required to get the permit. Now, how well they kept the records is another story. I've seen the historical stuff stored on microfiche or microfilm and you need to use a special machine to see it, however I believe some counties are making efforts to digitize their records. Also the accuracy of where things are is a hit or miss due to the nature of construction.
generalducktape t1_jd9iwgn wrote
Lol bold of you to assume there was a plan and that it was actually followed i don't think I've ever been on a job site that has a plan good enough to actually follow asbuilt drawings are better but they still won't show were the pipes/wires are run
kevinatfms t1_jd8uewy wrote
Some counties require as-built plans to be included with the final county building inspector sign off for the building permit. You can check if the plans have been submitted through the county ISD office or permitting office.
I know our county office keeps scanned copies of the original drawings for purchase. You have to provide some information to confirm you are the homeowner and then pay a $45 fee to get them.
[deleted] t1_jd8vuxh wrote
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[deleted] t1_jd8zwb0 wrote
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PokebannedGo t1_jd95fxu wrote
What's always puzzled me was no layout when house shopping.
A simple layout of how the pictures fit together would be so helpful.
Yet no layout
neurotran t1_jd9t8xt wrote
You should be able to get a copy of the prints from the city or county.
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