Introducing myself
Hi I’m Chris.
I currently work for the University of Tennessee as a Delivery driver transporting documents, like a internal mail service type thing. I have a family, lots of bills and lots of debt. The University job sounds cool but I make 16 an hour, and after after taxes come out and I pay the health insurance, parking, and a few other benefits there’s not much to bring home to my family and when it gets here it goes fast.
I was working part time as a 3d content creator but the money was not paying enough so I had to step down. I hoped 3d content creation would alleviate my financial struggles while allowing me to be home with my family as I worked. I was wrong, I tried, gave it a fair chance working in my spare time, for around two years hoping a project would pay off but no, I was averaging around two bucks an hour.
For the last decade I’ve lived in my current house. I grew up an only child, parents divorced when I was five. I was shuffled for years between both parents and several family and friends. I lived in shack homes in rural areas, old trailers that had floors rotting out, wood stoves for heat, farm homes with leaky tin roofs. In middle school my Mom moved into the projects and I got to go live with her, after 2 years the buildings were evacuated and tore down. 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades were back to being shuffled around but staying in the city so I could attend the same school, living in a few houses but mostly apartments. I didn’t have many friends, I was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to know how I lived. Graduated school, went to work in a factory for about five years. As I worked there I moved around a lot more, living with room mates in apartments, girlfriends and even had an efficiency alone for a year. Quit the factory and became a tree trimmer, done that for about 5 years, during this time I lived in a decent two bedroom apartment; also during this time as a tree trimmer I was at a different house almost every day. The reason I tell you this, I have lived in countless places. I have first hand experience in design layouts. I’ve not just seen a lot, I’ve lived in it. I’m able to look back and remember what worked in layouts and what didn’t. As a tree trimmer I got a good closeup look at thousands of houses exteriors up close, I remember the good, bad, ugly and beauty.
So how did I get here? Recently I started looking for land, hoping to buy something, build something. I’m broke, how can I do this? I desperately need to earn some extra money. I can still look and dream. Hoping to maybe buy small cheap land and start building something small and do some additions I was looking at house plans on https://www.houseplans.com/ Looking at the plans I found myself questioning the designs, I kept thinking this needs to be different, that is not good, why did they do it this way. Then, eureka! I can do this. I can design houses, it’s all inside my head. I know what works and what don’t. I know what looks good and what don’t. I can even build 3d models and UV them. Now on a quest to find the software and knowledge to use it I’ve purchased ( Virtual Architect Home design Software Professional Home Design Version 11.0 ) This software, to my understanding will generate finished blueprints that I can sell on https://www.houseplans.com/ correct?
What’s Included in a House Plan?
https://www.houseplans.com/whats-included
1. Foundation Plan — Plan representation indicating the general design intent of the foundation. The foundation plan will show a slab, crawl space, or basement. Typically this includes the footing layout, post and beams, and extent of structural slabs, depending on what type of foundation is purchased.
2. Floor Plan(s) — Dimensioned plans indicating the layout of rooms, walls, doors, and windows. These plans are an overhead view of the house.
3. Roof Plan — This plan describes the elements that make up the roof. The roof plan typically illustrates ridges, valleys, and hips. It also may indicate the roofing material and slopes of roof surfaces, as well as chimneys and decorative elements.
4. Exterior Elevation– Elevations are a 2d representation of each side of the house. They typically indicate the materials for the walls, roof, and other elements that are part of the home.
5. Building Section(s) — This is a cut-away view through the house that show adjacencies of spaces. It shows the relationship the ground to the house and the roof.
6. Electrical Plan(s) –This drawings indicates the location of lighting fixtures, switches and outlets, showing lighting design intent and layout.
7. Construction Notes and Details\ –These details may include the foundation, interior walls, exterior walls, floors, stairways, and / or roof details.
I need mentors, please help me do this, I am desperate. I would love to see tutorials with say a small simple building, say a simple outdoor bathroom where the program generates these seven typical plan sheet examples. Thank you for reading, I hope to make a few friends, I really need help.
