As 2025 wraps up, we’re taking a moment to look back at what we improved at Architectural Designs, and why it mattered. This year wasn’t just about adding new house plans (though we did plenty of that). It was about making the home building process clearer, faster, and more confidence-building from the moment you start browsing to the moment you’re ready to build.
If you’ve been saving favorites, comparing floor plans, or budgeting for a future build, the updates we rolled out this year were designed to help you move forward with fewer question marks.
Plan Shopping Got Easier
Finding the right floor plan takes time. So this year, we focused on making browsing faster, visuals clearer, and comparisons simpler, especially when you’re narrowing down a short list.
Bigger, Better Plan Images
Earlier this year, we launched a
brand-new image viewer on plan pages, giving you larger, higher-quality images that make it easier to better visualize the plan. You can scroll through available graphics and sort them by images, floor plans, and, when available, videos and interactive 360° tours.
More Thumb-Friendly Browsing on Mobile
We also improved mobile navigation by moving the main menu to the bottom of the screen. That small change makes it easier to browse plans, save favorites, and check your cart—in a way that feels natural on your phone.
New Search Filters That Match Real Life
As your needs get more specific, the right filters matter. This year, we added new feature filters so you can find plans that fit how you live:
A Faster Way to Browse and Save Plans
In November, we rolled out
refreshed plan preview cards to help you access house plans faster while you browse. With the updated cards, you can:
And if you don’t already have an
Architectural Designs account, this is one of the many features that make it worth it. Favorites are the easiest way to compare floor plans later, share options with family, and come back when you’re ready to take the next step. Check out the plan card below.
Loading plan...
Budgeting Got More Reliable
Budget questions are some of the most important questions in the home building process—so we spent real time this year improving the tools that help buyers plan with clarity.
Cost to Build Reports Upgraded
As of July 2025, all new Cost to Build Reports on our site are powered by StartBuild, an industry leader in residential construction cost estimating with over 20 years of experience.
This upgrade brought meaningful improvements:
Faster delivery (typically 1–2 business days, often sooner)
Expanded coverage (including single-family, multi-family, garage plans, and ADUs)
More control with 60+ editable line items so you can adjust labor, materials, finishes, and more
Built-in support from StartBuild if you need help understanding or customizing your report
If you’ve ever wondered what it could cost to build a specific plan in your location, this is one of the most useful planning tools we offer.
New: Cost to Furnish Reports (Powered by Kassa)
This year, we also launched a new service that helps buyers plan for a major part of the total investment that often gets overlooked early: furnishing.
Through our exclusive partnership with Kassa, you can now generate a Cost to Furnish report built specifically for your Architectural Designs house plan. Kassa analyzes your floor plan—room types, dimensions, layout, and circulation—to create a furnishing plan and budget guidance that’s based on your actual spaces.
You’ll get:
A room-by-room list of what each space needs (furniture, décor, lighting, textiles, rugs, accessories, and more)
Adjustable quantities so you can tailor the plan to your lifestyle
Tiered pricing guidance with vendor recommendations to help you plan with a more complete picture
Seeing the Plan Got More Real
Even the best floor plan can feel abstract until you truly understand scale and flow. That’s why one of our biggest additions this year focused on helping buyers experience a plan in a way you can’t get from drawings alone.
Walk Your Plans: Full-Scale Walkthroughs (Exclusive Through Architectural Designs)
This year, we launched an exclusive partnership with Walk Your Plans, a full-scale walkthrough experience that lets you step inside your floor plan before construction begins.
Using advanced projection technology, Walk Your Plans displays your plan on the ground at true size—so you can experience how rooms connect, how hallways feel, and whether the layout works for your day-to-day life.
Buyers use Walk Your Plans to:
Get a real sense of scale and flow before building
Spot modifications early (before changes get expensive in the field)
Collaborate with a builder or designer with notes and real-time planning tools
Walk Your Plans has 20 locations open (with more coming soon), and Architectural Designs customers receive special pricing through this exclusive partnership.
Getting Help (and Staying Connected) Improved Too
Behind every plan purchase is a customer navigating the planning process—and we made meaningful improvements this year to make support easier to access.
A Better Contact Us Experience
We redesigned our
Contact Us page to help you find answers faster. You’ll now find:
An email form and phone number to reach our Customer Success team
Live chat for quick questions while you browse
A new Quick Help section where you can browse FAQs and access helpful resources (including our Plan Options page)
We also refreshed content across key pages like Modifications and Shipping & Delivery, so information is easier to find and clearer to navigate.
New Leadership and a Growing Team
We also welcomed a new CEO in January, along with new team members throughout the year to better support our customers. As our community continues to grow, we’re committed to making Architectural Designs a place where you can browse with support at every step and get help when you need it.
4,500+ Five-Star Reviews
And as we headed into the end of the year, we passed a milestone we don’t take lightly: 4,500+ five-star Shopper Approved reviews. If you’ve ever taken a moment to leave feedback—thank you. It helps other buyers feel confident as they shop, and it helps our team keep improving the experience.
Thank You for a Great Year
Whether you’re early in the browsing stage or getting close to breaking ground, thank you for letting Architectural Designs be part of your planning process. We’re proud of what we improved in 2025, and we’re excited to keep making it easier to find the right floor plan, and move forward feeling supported. Ready when YOU are!
