Free Plans for Country Buildings

Free Car Barn Plans from TodaysPlans.com

It’s foolish to build from plans just because they are free. The cost of even the most expensive blueprints are just a tiny fraction of what your overall building cost will be. All stock plans, including the ones that you can download at no cost, need some modification to work perfectly on your site and for your building and zoning code requirements. That means that you, your builder, or an architect or construction engineer who you hire, will have to put in some work time on the plans. Include that, and no plan that you build from is really free.

The most important thing is to find the design that’s just right for your needs, regardless of cost. If you build something that doesn’t look perfect to you, you’ll be regretting it for years, every time you look at it. If you build something that’s just ten square feet bigger than you need, you’ll have wasted the cost of a better set of plans. If you build something that doesn’t add to the appearance and usefulness of your property you’ll be reducing its resale value by way more than the expense of the costliest set of plans. Building anything is expensive, in the cost of materials, in a contractor’s cost, or in the time and labor you put into it. Don’t throw your investment away on poor plans.

The Internet gives you the ability to find just about all of the plans that are available. Take your time and search everywhere. Searches are free. Just a few years back, you’d have to pay a fortune to purchase catalogs and magazines to find a reasonable selection. The Country Home Journal will be presenting new reviews of blueprints and building kits all of the time. So, check back often.

Of course, there’s no reason to exclude free plans from your search. Some are pretty good. There are probably just a couple of hundred of those available, compared to tens of thousands that you can buy. Still, you may just find what you are looking for. It’s easy to search through two hundred plans. Unfortunately, they are scattered across the Internet. Some plan services offer one or two as samples of their offerings. Lumber suppliers and building trade associations have some more. Magazines, like Popular Mechanics and Mother Earth News offer some as “how-to” articles. I’ve compiled a list of links to the free plans that I think are the best, and organizing them into categories, to make it a little easier for you.

Downloadable plan files, like ebooks, are usually Adobe’s PDF file type. That means that you’ll have to have the latest version of the Adobe’s Reader program on your computer. You can download a free copy of that from a link that I placed at the bottom of my list. PDF files also mean that the plans will print on the 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper that’s in your printer. Since most building departments require plans that are scaled to 1/4″ to the foot, most downloadable plans are for small buildings.

You’ll find a lot of sheds and garden structures and some small barns and country outbuildings. You won’t find too many garages, large barns, cabins, houses or passive solar homes, but there are some. Take a look at the list. I hope that it’s of some help. >>>

If you know of good quality plans that I’ve missed, please let me know. Click on the “comments” link above and let me know the name of the web site that hosts them.

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