Small House Plan Companies

The following is an annotated list of kit home companies that build small house kits that are available in sizes smaller than 1200 square feet.

Company	Location	Notes
Architectural Designs	Wilton, CT	A variety of mostly traditional home plans. This link goes to the smaller house plans, though some are not really small by our SHL standards.
Architectural House Plans	Sausalito, CA	This company doesn't have many small plans, but they do have some interesting ones. Construction includes strawbale. (They have some truely ostentatious plans of 7000+ feet.)
BC Mountain Homes	Victoria, British Columbia, Canada	Plans, some of which look very livable, and what we can see of the custom plans looks promising.
The Bungalow Company	Bend, OR	Of course we like the Bungalow Company, which has some of the nicer bungalow-style plans available.
CountryPlans.com	Langley, Washington	Lots of plans, photos, a forum, ideas, inspiration, and other useful information. Secondary site focuses on small houses: http://www.jshow.com/
Cusato Cottages, LLC	New York	We're pretty sure you've heard about the Katrina Cottages designed by Marianne Cusato. They are elegant, small houses with classical proportions amd a little bit of sass. Very cute. We also love her book!
ehouseplans	Beaufort, SC	Database of plans and publisher of sundry books. Strident article about copyright ... some of which is correct, but much of which is misleading.
Family Home Plans	Chantilly, VA	The Garlinghouse Company has been in the plan business for decades. Most plans are conventional and fairly traditional. Quite a few cabin and small house plans.
House Plans.com	Novato, CA	Lots of house plans in a variety of styles with a fairly decent selection of interesting smaller home plans.
Insite Builders	Archer, Florida	Insite has a variety of books with abundant drawings and plans for small, sustainable structures. The website also has one of the best link lists available for various small house topics.
Rick Thompson, Architect	North Carolina	These are traditional small home plans including some contemporary bungalow styles. We like their simplicity and the architect's laid back (but firm) business approach.
Ross Chapin Architects	Langley, Washington	In conjunction with the Cottage Company, Chapin's architectural firm has created a number of "pocket neighborhoods" which are small developments of custom-crafted small cottages that are less than 1200 sq. ft. We're particularly fond of the Betty series.
Sheldon Designs	Skillman, NJ	Several plans for small houses. We like the Micro Cottage with 524 sq. ft. of cuteness, a real bathroom, and brick chimney.
Small House Oregon	Portland, OR	Builder of small houses with a nice design aesthetic perfect for infill, a granny flat, or tiny house.
Stock House Plans	Hattiesburg, MS	This company has a lot of standard house plans, some of which are small. Our link goes directly to the plans under 1000 sq. ft. which are billed as weekend getaways.
Stone Mountain Cabins	CO (but you won't find that on his website)	Beautifully rendered designs with some unusual features like the three-faced fireplaces. If you are looking for a modernized bungalow that is really a Craftsman, start here.
Straw Bale House Plans	Planet Earth	Excellent small straw bale house plans with a page of links to international sites on straw bale construction. For a Dr. Geiger's intro to building with straw bale, see the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building.
TightLines Designs	North Carolina	TightLines blends sustainable design with a small footprint. Most of their plans are based on bungalow and vintage residential architecture.
Tumbleweed Houses	California	One of the premier small house plan and kit home companies. This is more than a business ... it's a life mission. The plans and kits are so nicely done, it's easy to forgive the cost which runs between $100 and $200 per sq. ft. They have a cool book with all the designs ... nice.
Washington Timberframe Co.	Washington	Traditional craftsmanship in timberframe designs. Rebbecca's Cottage is the only model small enough to work for us; it's a pretty little house designed with tons of Arts & Crafts appeal. (We'll say nothing more about the behemoths.)

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Small House Plan Companies