Short answer
Walk the plan as a person, not as a reader. Trace your route from the front door to the coffee machine, from the bed to the shower, from the car to the refrigerator with an armful of shopping. Problems appear immediately.
Check every door swing and every clearance. Doors that hit each other, appliance doors that block aisles, drawers that cannot open under a counter overhang — all visible on paper and all expensive on site.
The most common omissions are electrical. Switch positions, outlet positions, blocking in walls, and light where a task actually happens. None of these are usually drawn, and all of them are cheap now and impossible later.
On this page
Walk the plan as a person
Put a finger on the plan and move it through a normal day. Say each step out loud:
- Arrive with shopping. Car to kitchen. How many doors? Where do the bags land? Is there a surface within three steps?
- Make coffee. Kettle to cup to milk to bin. Are these together, or across the room from each other?
- Cook a meal. Refrigerator to prep to hob to sink. Does anyone cross that route to get somewhere else?
- Unload the dishwasher. Is the crockery stored next to it or on the far side of the room?
- Get ready in the morning, both of you at once. Does the plan allow two people at the vanity and one reaching the closet?
- Come home in the rain with a dog. Where do the wet things go?
- Bring a large piece of furniture in. Front door, hall, stair turn, bedroom door.
Every one of these has caught a genuine planning problem on a set of drawings that looked correct.
Clearances to check with a tape measure
| Check | Look for |
|---|---|
| Kitchen aisles | 42″ minimum, 48″ where appliances open |
| Every door swing | Drawn, and not colliding with another door or a fixture |
| Appliance doors | Refrigerator door clearing an adjacent wall; dishwasher door not blocking the aisle |
| Drawers under an overhang | Can they open fully past a countertop lip or a panel? |
| Bathroom | 21″ clear in front of the toilet, 30″ at the vanity, 36″ minimum shower |
| Traffic paths | 30″ minimum, 36 to 42″ comfortable |
| Furniture | Actual pieces drawn to scale, not generic blocks |
| Wall space | Is there anywhere left to put a sofa or a chest? |
The reference figures across the whole house are in space planning and furniture layout.
A drawing set can be read for its omissions in a single sitting — the missing outlets, the door that will not open, the storage nobody allowed for.
Jan Revels reviews plans for homeowners working with their own builder, and says plainly what she would change.
What is usually missing from a drawing set?
- Electrical. Switch positions, outlet positions, and which fixture is on which switch. Most residential sets show far too little of this, and it is settled on site by an electrician following convention.
- Blocking. Solid backing in the walls for mirrors, towel bars, televisions, floating shelves and future grab bars. Free while the walls are open — see aging-in-place design.
- Storage. Plans show rooms, not what goes in them. Take an inventory before signing — the method is in closets and storage design.
- Lighting layers. Downlights are drawn; lamps, sconces and task light frequently are not. See the lighting design guide.
- Tile setting-out. Where cuts fall, where niches land relative to grout lines.
- Interior elevations of anything that is not a kitchen. Bathrooms, built-ins and fireplace walls all need them.
- Ventilation. Bathroom extraction, and the duct route for a kitchen hood.
- Finish schedule. Which floor, paint, tile and trim goes where, written down rather than remembered.
Reading elevations properly
A floor plan shows position. An elevation shows what you will actually see, and it is where most aesthetic problems are caught.
- Check heights against a person. Are the upper cabinets reachable? Is the microwave above head height? Is the shower head above the tallest person?
- Check alignments. Do window heads line up with door heads? Does the cabinetry meet the window casing cleanly or leave a 2-inch strip?
- Check symmetry where symmetry is implied. Cabinets either side of a range, or panels either side of a fireplace, should match.
- Look for the awkward filler. A 3-inch filler panel at the end of a run is where the arithmetic did not resolve, and it is visible forever.
- Check what happens at the ceiling. Cabinets to the ceiling, or a gap that will collect dust, or a soffit?
- Ask for an elevation of anything you cannot picture. If it is not drawn, it will be improvised on site.
The difference between a plan and an elevation, and how to read both, is covered in floor plans and elevations explained.
Questions to ask about every drawing
- Is this dimensioned? A drawing without dimensions is a picture.
- Is it dated and numbered? Contracts reference specific drawing revisions, and the wrong revision on site is a real problem.
- What is assumed here? Every set rests on assumptions about what is behind the walls.
- What is not shown? Ask directly. A good designer answers this readily.
- Which decisions are still open? Every open decision is a future change order or an allowance.
- What would you do differently if the budget allowed? This question surfaces the compromises already made.
- What is the hardest part of this to build? The answer tells you where the risk sits.
Who should review it?
- You, first. Nobody else knows how you live in the house. The walk-through above is not a professional skill.
- Everyone who lives there. Including anyone tall, anyone short, and anyone who cooks.
- An independent designer, if the plan came from the builder. A builder’s plan is drawn to be built, which is not the same as drawn to be lived in.
- The builder, if the plan came from a designer. Constructability and cost are their expertise.
- An engineer, for anything structural.
The cost of a second opinion is small compared to the cost of finding the problem after the walls are up — and small compared to the change orders it prevents, as described in change orders and budget control.
Key takeaways
- Walk the plan as a person doing ordinary things. Problems appear immediately.
- Check every door swing and every appliance door on paper.
- Electrical, blocking, storage and lighting layers are the standard omissions.
- Ask for an elevation of anything you cannot picture, or it will be improvised on site.
- Look for the awkward filler panel — it is where the arithmetic did not resolve.
- Ask what is not shown and what is assumed. Good designers answer both readily.
- Have a builder’s plan reviewed by a designer, and a designer’s plan by a builder.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check a floor plan myself?
What is usually missing from residential drawings?
Should I pay someone to review my builder's plans?
What does a filler panel tell me about a drawing?
When is it too late to change the drawings?
Jan has practiced interior design in Dallas since 1997 and founded Chateau Concepts in 2001. She holds a BFA in Interior Design from the University of North Texas. She designs and general-contracts residential and commercial projects across the Park Cities, Preston Hollow and North Dallas. Read her full profile →
Written and reviewed by Jan Revels before publicationWork with Chateau Concepts
Jan Revels handles both sides of a project in Dallas and the Park Cities — the design and the build.