CD-ROM Offers Array of House Plans

New houses might look as though they’re built with wood or brick, but they’re really built with money. And the object is to have some of that money left after the home is built.

That begins with the all-important planning, which is where a lot of money can be spent--sometimes as much as 12% of the house’s total cost.

HomeStyles Publishing and Marketing Inc. of St. Paul, Minn. (Web site: https://www.michaelholigan.com) has a Windows CD-ROM that might help cut those planning costs.

Michael Holigan’s Guide to Your New House CD-ROM ($30) is an interactive version of the TV show of the same name. The four-CD set holds more than 5,000 house plans.

After “interviewing” you, the software lets you search this database and then offers plans for you to review--and, HomeStyles hopes, for you to buy.

For example, plans for a house of almost 2,400 square feet are available for $534 for the eight sets of blueprints typically needed: one set each for you, local building authorities, the plumber and the electrician; and two sets each for the builder and the financial source.

Changing or copying the plans violates copyright law. For those who want to make changes, there are “reproducible” plans that cost about 10% more.

You can also buy lists of building materials, important for estimating overall cost.

It should be noted that the software doesn’t turn you into an architect or construction manager, but it’s much more economical in the broad, initial selection process.

The software does offer more than a tool to shill HomeStyles’ core product, however.

There are guides to selecting a builder, financing, construction and other serious issues right down to the final walk-through and move-in.

It’s nicely done, with the look and feel of a good Web page, and it’s complete with appropriate versions of Adobe Acrobat and Quicktime for Windows.

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System requirements: Windows 95-98-NT 4.0, 120 megahertz Pentium and 16 megabytes of RAM (but 200 megahertz and 32 megabytes are “highly recommended”). Your CD-ROM drive should be at least a quad-speed and the monitor SVGA.