Fridays are not always the same…  This one, is a particular “positive Friday” !  Since I was very busy and out of the office most of the week, I decided to go through my e-mails and found this one who really made my day !

“Dear Mr. Girouard (Dan Girouard is our production manager),

I would like to express my thanks for the efforts Johnny Graziani did on changing our house plans.

While the modifications to our plans were not much out of the ordinary, we ran into some unexpected administrative discussions with our town in getting the needed permits. This required additional modifications to the plans with a very quick turnaround time. Johnny made sure that he understood our needs, worked within the limitations of his staff and assisted us in getting preliminary versions of the needed changes so we could work with the town as quickly as possible. Johnny could easily just told us that his schedule was fixed and we would have to wait until his team could complete the work efforts. But instead, he worked with me to understand what the minimum we needed was and how he might be able to get this done quickly.

It was truly a pleasure working with Johnny and the resulting plans match our needs perfectly. I hope all the people in your organization are as pleasant as Johnny to work with.

Kind Regards / Viele Grüße,

Thomas Voshell
Director Industry Solutions
Constituent Services
SAP Labs
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004 USA
www.sap.com “

We can get recognition from our industry partners but nothing matches that kind of comments to me !  Thanks for your e-mail Mr. Voshell and I want to congratulate our modification team, Johnny, and Dan who does a great job managing all the production team.

To answer your question, Mr. Voshell, I am sure all the people in our organization are as pleasant as Johnny !…  Except myself, sometimes !!!   ;o)

Have a great week-end everyone !

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Dear future homeowners, home builders, home renovation builders,

Come and meet Drummond House Plans‘ residential design expert Mr. Richard Martin, at these 2009 Home Shows in British Colombia, Canada:

March 27-29: Comox Valley Spring Home Expo, Sports Center

April 3-5: Tri-City Spring Home Expo, Port Moody Arena

April 17-19: Victoria Spring Home Expo, Juan de Fuca Recreation Center

April 24-26: Langley Spring Home Expo, George Preston Recreation Center

May 1-3: Campbell River Spring Home Expo, Strathcona Gardens Arena

May 8-10: Powell River Spring Expo, Recreation Complex Arena

Drummond House Plans - Home Expo

Drummond House Plans will also be attending these great home shows in New-Brunswick, Canada:

March 20-22: The 2009 Moncton Home Show, Moncton Coliseum. Come and meet Mr. Denis Cormier from the new Drummond House Plan Agency in Moncton.

April 24-26: Salon de l’Habitation Richelieu d’Edmundston, au Palladium.  Come and meet Mr. Daniel Lepage and Mrs. Annie Lajoie from our new Drummond House Plan Agency in Edmundston.

We’ll see you there!  And until then… take a minute to have a look at our new website: www.drummondhouseplans.com and give us your comments!  Take advantage of our free house plan search!  Send us your criterias, and we’ll get back to you with a plan selection that will meet your requirements!  Send your request to: searchrequest@drummondhouseplans.com and if you place your order before April 30, 2009, you’ll get 20% discount on your plan purchase!

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For family reasons (keeping the family together without sacrificing independance) or for economical reasons, you might be thinking of investing in a multi-family construction and build a townhouse or a semi-detached homes, a duplex,  a triplex, a multi-family building (4 or more units), or simply a home with a basement apartment with a separate entrance.

Below, I will share with you my favorite Drummond ready-to-build Duplex House Plan, Triplex House Plan, TownHouses (Semi-Detached Home Plan) and a House with a basement apartment.  However, click on the link above to access the entire collections, depending on what you are looking for or directly on the house below to see my favorite multi-family picks!  If you have something specific in mind or haven’t found the ideal multi-unit design yet, contact Drummond’s Custom Design Dpt. to get your FREE house plan cost estimate.

Drummond 4-units Multi-family plans no. 3006 which ia a Beautiful Country Style 4 unit residential building.  Each unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. 

www.DrummondHousePlans.com 4-unit Multi-house plan #3006

Drummond House Plans Duplex House Plans no. 4096 which is an Affordable Country Style Duplex with two nice 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom units.

www.DrummondHousePlans.com Duplex House Plans no. 4096

Drummond House Plans Triplex House Plans no. 3029 which is Drummond’s most popular European / Traditional Style Triplex, with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom per unit.

Drummond House Plans Duplex House Plans no. 3029

Drummond House Plans Country Style Semi-detached House Plans no. 6014 is among our top-selling One-level Semi-Detached Floor Plans, with a one-car garage.

www.DrummondHousePlans.com Semi-detached house plan #6014

Drummond House Plans Houses with Basement Apartment Plan no. 2795B, which is the most charming 4-bedroom Country Style, plus a one-bedroom basement apartment!  Interesting for young families and first-home buyers.

www.DrummondHousePlans.com Home with Basement Apartment - House Plans#2795B

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Drummond House Plans, a house design firm specializing in residential architecture since 1973, recently created a collection of multigenerational house plans, for multi-generational, bi generational or extended families.

Are you thinking of inviting the grand-parents (baby-boomers!) to share a new house with your family, and want to make sure they have their own private areas?  Do you have young adult children moving back home to save money and want to offer them (and you!), private spaces?  Are you a blended family with many children in need of extra bedrooms and more than one kitchen and /or family rooms?

The Multigenerational Drummond house designs and floor plans are designed as one home containing two separate units.  The main unit is generally larger, offering three and even four bedrooms to accomodate a young family with children, while the other unit offers all the comforts of a full apartment with one bedroom, a kitchen, dining and living rooms, as well as a full bathroom and laundry facilities.  For security purposes, both units are usually accessible to one another from inside the home, but both have their own individual / independant access to and from the outside. 

I’d like to share with you three of my favorite multigenerational homes (or bi generational, what is your favorite word fo it?)  Each one caters to the various styles and sizes required by you.  These three beautiful homes all offer large units for the family including very well organized apartments for the grand-parents!  All within the same house!  Which ones are your favorites?  Have a look at all of Drummond’s multigenerational house plan collection and send me your feedbacks! 

Drummond Multigenerational Floor Plans no. 2821: Beautiful 2-storey Spanish / Florida Style, offering a one-bedroom apartment on one side (on the first level), and a large  3-bedroom home on the other side (for the family) with two private balconies on the second level!

www.DrummondHousePlans.com Multigenerational House Plan #2821

Drummond Multigenerational Affordable House Plans 2278:  Charming and Affordable Bungalow Style House Plan, offering on the same level (on the same floor!) a one-bedroom apartment, and a well designed 3-bedroom house. 

www.DrummondHousePlans.com Multigenerational House Design no. 2278

Drummond House Plans - Multigenerational Floor Plan no. 2278 (Main Level)

Multigenerational Designs Plan 3039: Spectacular (and yet affordable) Traditional House Plan Style, on two-levels, offering the grand-parents suite on the first level, and the large 4-bedroom unit on two-levels.

Drummond House Plans Multigenerational House Plan #3039

These multigenerational house designs are offered in many styles and sizes and can be order easily online or by phone: 1-800-567-5267.  All house plans in the Drummond House Plans collection, including any design from the multigenerational house plan collection,  can easily be modified to suit your needs by using the Drummond online house plan modification /customization service, to make sure they answer all your needs. 

I’d also like to recommend a great site I found, that has an article on “How to function in a multigenerational household“.  It is one thing to build a house and another to learn to all live together!

Drummond House Plans’ design team is planning on creating more multigenerational and multi-family house plans, so any comments or suggestions are welcome!

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Drummond House Plans’ philosophy is that beautiful vacation designs, cabin plans and top quality house plans can be created for small budget, and still be so charming! And, that’s exactly what you’ll find in our home design collection.  Drummond Plans created hundreds of great, affordable home designs available in many sizes and styles such as

www.DrummondHousePlans.com no.2939

Country style and Traditional, and very cool house plans for baby boomers and first-home buyers. Browse our top quality, budget-conscious and affordable house plans collection if you are searching for a primary affordable house and review our 4-Season Vacation House Plans on a Budget collection for if you are looking to build a secondary home.

Sparkling your imagination is one of the first steps before you begin building!

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Interesting questions we receive from customers can be of great interest to future homeowners or people who will make additions or renovation to their existing home. 

Here are some answers provided by Drummond House Plans‘ senior home Designer, Denis Chamberland, to questions from a customer wishing to build a garage,  and how to make a great garage construction planning.

Q:  What is the width required for a garage in order to park two intermediate vehicles while still being able to fully open the vehicles’ doors?
By attributing six feet of width for each vehicle and three feet for each of the doors when wide open, we come to 24 feet wide inside the walls.  Considering the three feet in between as being common to both vehicles, we can also say 24 feet width to the exterior walls.

Q:  What is the depth required for these two same vehicles, considering I want to build a workbench in front of them?
In general, the suggested depth is 20 feet but, since you want to add a workbench (two feet deep), I would suggest you go once again with 24 feet in order to give you room to work in front of the vehicles.

Q:  If I want to add a garage door, where should I place it and what width should it be?
When one single door gives access to a garage containing two vehicles, it must be a minimum of 16 feet wide; and here I would suggest two doors rather than just one, in case the mechanism fails; then, you would have the possibility of using the other door.  Here, I recommend two 9 foot wide doors, positioned at 10 feet minimum or 11 feet maximum center to center of the doors.

When considering building such a garage, it becomes very interesting to think of the possibility of integrating storage space in the roof area which can be accessed by pull-down stairs.  This space would then allow you to use the garage area for its intended purpose, to accommodate your vehicles.  The pull-down stairs can be located in a corner, or right in the center of the garage which gives more room to maneuver at the top of the stairs.

www.DrummondHousePlans.com - Garage Plan no.3980

For great detached garage plans, garage with apartment and VR garage plans, please visit the “detached garage designs” section of our Drummond House Plans website.  Many architectural styles are available for garage designs such as Country style & Craftsman style.  Drummond can also create the perfect Custom Garage Design that will match you homestyle & colors, don’t hesitate to contact our customer service to get more information!

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Insulated formwork is an interesting option for residential foundations.  As the formwork remains in place after the cement hardens, it assures a superior energetic performance.  Moreover, the cement poured into this formwork is maintained in better curing conditions which improves its quality and limits the number of cracks.

Starting from the foundation’s footing, the walls of the foundation are mounted by superimposing hollow blocks made of polystyrene.  In order to ensure the base of the formwork is leak proof urethane is projected beneath the first row.  Steel armature composed of vertical and horizontal bars is inserted in the blocks, which gives the foundation a superior resistance to cracks.

Once the wall is mounted, the cement is poured.  Leak proofing is assured by a waterproofing membrane placed on the exterior insulation beneath soil level.

The choice of insulated formwork is certainly a step in the direction of lasting development.  Among the causes of deterioration of cement, humidity is at the top of the list, while a bad curing is responsible for the appearance of cracks.  Leak proofing and curing the cement in such conditions increases the longevity of the foundation.

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Dear Readers,

It is with much joy that I wish you all very merry and joyous holidays on behalf of all of us at Drummond Designs.

May your new construction or renovation projects be filled with success in the new year.  We hope to be able to support and help you in any way possible.

And above all, I wish you warmth, joy, love and good cheer in this season of gathering with your loved ones.

Regards,
Jessica

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Reducing the energy consumption of a home can equally be done by opting to use household appliances having an optimal energy return, from the refrigerator to the range to the dishwasher, without forgetting the washer-dryer duo.

Products displaying the ENERGY STAR symbol are certified to comply with the program’s specifications.

Purchase of these products instead of the classic models can allow a reduction of electric bill thus contributing in protecting the environment; consuming less energy effectively reduces the quantity of electricity produced and, by doing so, limit greenhouse gas emissions.

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Is there something more motivating for a company, especially for the Customer Service people, than receiving positive comments from a customer who bought one of our house plans ?  I want to congratulate our team for this one:

Hi Doreen,
We did receive the plans this morning. I am attaching the packing slip as instructed by Teri. The parcel was sent “Expediated Parcel” which they have told me means a 6 day delivery time from Quebec. What a mix- up by Canada Post . Anyway, we have the designs safe and sound. Thank you so much for all your help. I have never dealt with a company so courteous and prompt at responding to customer concerns. You will be highly recommended to anyone who may be considering ordering plans. Your representative in Penticton,Teri, was also a delight be work with. In a way I’m glad this happened as it has restored my faith that there are a few companies left who actually care that the customer is happy with the product and service they offer. You should be commended .

Thank you again
Kent and Linda Vincent

As you know, these days, it is always hard to find a company who will be dedicated to his customers.  We are and we always will ! 

Congratulations, Doreen, and keep on the good work !

Yves Carignan, CEO, Drummond House Plans

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