Copyright 2005 Empower Business Solutions

House Plans

If you want to make your own wood shelves, please do yourself a favor and get some wood shelf plans before you start!

When you take the time to track down a good set of plans, you will get a materials list that will explain all of the tools and supplies you will need, step by step directions for carrying out the building process, and drawings that will illustrate how to perform each of the steps.

If you’re really considering building your own wooden shelves, it’s important to remember that if you’re new to carpentry, there is going to be a learning curve that you will have to adjust to. This is OK. Think about this for a moment – everyone needs to learn how to do everything. It’s true. You had to learn how to walk and talk, right? People are not born knowing how to build shelves, they need to learn it! The same goes for you. If you want to make shelves, it’s important to remember that you aren’t going to just “get it” overnight – it will take a bit of effort. But with anything, you get what you put in!

Business Plans do work, but you have to make them work. It is not a one-off exercise. If you buy a ‘Business Plan in a Box’, you need to understand that you are responsible for maintaining the plan. You also need to satisfy yourself that the product you buy is not just a fill in the blanks product. These plans always end up on the bottom shelf. They don’t show you how to do your strategic analysis (which is never a fill in the blanks exercise- no matter what someone tells you).

Before you start a business we encourage you to prepare a business plan. Without it your business has a 92% chance of failing within the first 12 months. Sometimes your business plan tells you that you should not go into business at all!

Get Things Off The Floor

If you are not sure what a predrawn house plan is it is basically an off-the-shelf product that has been drawn by a home designer or architect that is for sale to many different individuals. This is unlike other plans that have been drawn specifically for an individual which has also a customized with their features and design specifications. Generally a house plan that has been designed for an individual can be quite expensive. Many custom home design requires a lot of them which also tends to drive the price up. Choosing to purchase a pre-drawn off the shelf plan can work out more cost effective.

The next issue is whether you go to a building designer or architect to design your own home or search for the right one in the plan magazines or on the internet. Either way, you can achieve an acceptable result – it just depends on your budget and the degree of individuality that you want expressed in your new home design. There are some very good “off the shelf plans” it really is a matter of weeding your way through the myriad of options to be able to identify the one best fitting your needs.