NOVA NEWS EDITORIAL 06 JUNE 2021

FLOOR PLANS

Floor plans are an integral part of the selling agents presentation of your property for sale through their agency. You can have 3D or 2D model, myself, I prefer the 2D as it is less fussy. It give prospective buyers a feel for the outlay and flow of the house from room to room and helps buyers plan their room settings.

I try to take care in the presentation of the plans which I produce, accuracy of information is paramount. Doors should open the right way, windows and radiators need to be in the right position and more importantly the right size, especially windows. Many agents don’t include fittings within their plans so you will have a kitchen, En suite or bathroom shown as a room without fittings. This of course saves the agent time but it does not help a prospective buyer when they are trying to get a feel for the property. Door widths generally range from 65cm to 85cm and kitchen work tops from 60cm to 70cm deep. These are not necessarily apparent on a plan but they do help to make the plan look better within the property details. Another important part of the plan is the North point which will give an indication which parts of the property and garden will get sunlight at different times of the day.

I do my utmost to ensure accuracy, little points such as a stench pipe being boxed in in the corner of a room may look strange on a plan but if the buyer is trying to envisage how their furniture will fit into a room with a square corner then that boxing may just be more than a slight inconvenience.

Recently I undertook a private Energy Performance Assessment for a client and when he showed me the floor plan on the internet there were a considerable number of inaccuracies. There will be a time when Trading Standards start to sit up and take notice of these issues, there are already guidelines as to accuracy but little or no policing of the matter.

With my energy assessors hat on the floor plan is an important part of the assessment and when it comes to retrofit assessments accuracy and detail is vitally important in order that the retrofit coordinator can get an accurate picture of the property so doors walls, window and radiator sizes become extremely important as they all have a bearing on energy efficiency within an upgrading project.