Floorplans are a fairly new estate agent tool and were, at first, used for larger and grander properties. Nowadays, however, even tiny flats and cute miners’ cottages have floorplans. In fact, many house hunters feel frustrated if they find that an attractive online listing doesn’t feature a detailed floorplan.
What’s in a floorplan?
The three basic elements of a floorplan that make it, well, a functional floorplan are:
The measurements
In the olden days, property listings simply set out the dimensions of each room in feet and inches – and words… This meant that prospective buyers had to get out the tape measure and use their imagination to work out how big the place was. While this is possible, of course, it’s not as good as a pictorial representation with everything in proportion.
A compass pointer
Knowing exactly how southerly the garden is facing is important to many people, especially if the buyer plans to install solar panels or water heaters on a roof or two.
The overall square metreage
It’s all well and good knowing how many bedrooms and reception rooms a house has, but exactly how much space are you getting for your money? A floorplan will tell you just that. Houses and flats have become smaller in the UK in recent decades and a newly-built three-bedroomed house might be smaller than you expect when you go to view it in person. A well-executed floorplan will help you to weed out any properties that are simply too small to consider before you book any viewings.
Other advantages of using a floorplan
A good floorplan will also help you to see how the house fits together. Is the smallest bedroom just that fraction too small? Does the kitchen flow nicely into the dining room? Does the layout of the bathrooms and bedrooms “work” for you and your family?
An in-person viewing can’t be beaten, but it can be hard, once you get home, to remember which rooms were next to each other or if the pantry wall could be knocked through to extend the kitchen. Having a floorplan to hand helps you to make decisions and reflect on what you’ve seen, as well as compare it with similar-but-not-quite-the-same properties.
A floorplan can also remind you of the little nooks and crannies, storage spaces and corridors that you can turn into useable space once you’re in. Every single square centimetre is included in a detailed, professionally-prepared floorplan, so even smaller properties can show themselves off to their fullest.
If you’re about to go to market, make sure you have a floorplan, both in your sales brochure and on your online listing, so that potential buyers don’t just keep scrolling past.
