Creating a house in the house builder

Build the outside shape

The custom house builder creates an exterior model and footprint for your site plan. Explore dimensions and appearance; it does not design rooms, certify living area or calculate a bespoke supplier purchase price.

Open the correct project

Open Custom house from house selection. Starting in a project lets Save to project attach it there. Without a project the studio offers Open my projects. Replacing a selected house changes the project model, so check the target project name.

Measurements and appearance

1. In Shape & measurements, choose rectangular, L-shaped or U-shaped. L and U use preset wing proportions within the outer measurements, not freely drawn rooms.
2. Enter Overall width (m) and depth. Valid dimensions are 0.1–400 m. This is input validation, not a claim that every size is buildable.
3. Choose Pitched or Flat roof and 1, 1½ or 2 storeys. Storey height is 2.8–5 m including floor/ceiling structure, not clear room height. Roof pitch is 10–50° where applicable.
4. Adjust facade, roof, windows, doors and other available appearance controls. Review the exterior. These are planning specifications, not an itemised supplier quotation.
5. Select Save to project, complete sign-in if offered, then continue in Site Plan to place, move and rotate the house.

Illustrative footprint check

A fictional rectangle 12 m wide and 10 m deep has a 120 m² footprint. Two storeys leave the footprint at 120 m²; they do not establish 240 m² of certified living area. At 3.2 m storey height, two full storeys give 6.4 m wall height before the roof. L and U shapes remove part of the bounding rectangle, making the footprint smaller than width × depth.

Save and recalculate

Saving carries the model and finishes into the project. In a browser draft, eligible changes autosave locally. Save to project first preserves that draft; if you are signed out, it opens sign-in and returns through the workspace save flow. A signed-in explicit draft save returns to house placement. Follow the save status: local recovery alone does not confirm an account save. The standalone saved-project action reports account-save success or error. Invalid measurement text prevents saving. Reset restores the saved state. The footprint can change foundation, groundworks and planner quantities. The custom model has no automatic house package price: enter a supplier or user price in the budget and check inclusions.

Common mismatches

If Save is disabled, correct missing or invalid dimensions and wait for a running save. If area seems too small, check the L/U recess. If the roof looks tall, inspect pitch and storey height separately. A flat-roof preview does not make its saved pitch a construction design. If the house is absent from the planner, check the project and successful save status before recreating it.

Tutorial scope

Reviewed against the custom-house model, measurements controls and studio on 18 October 2026. The default envelope is 3.2 m storey height and 35° roof pitch. The builder supplies geometry, not supplier certification; keep drawings and contracts as evidence of delivered construction.