Professionally drafted pergola, deck and ADU plan sets — dimensioned drawings, framing plans, and complete material lists. If your project is standard, you don't need custom design. You need good drawings, right now, for the price of a nice dinner.
Most backyard projects are not architecturally special. They're a 12×16 deck or a 600 sq ft garage conversion — the same structure thousands of people have built. Paying custom design fees for a standard structure is like commissioning a tailor for a t-shirt.
The plans floating around online are undimensioned, uncredited, and frequently wrong. A contractor can't build from them and a plan checker won't accept them.
Consultation, site review, drafting, revisions. That's the right process for a complex project — and complete overkill for a rectangular deck you already know the size of.
A 14×20 raised deck has been engineered ten thousand times. You shouldn't fund the eleventh from scratch just to get a drawing you can hand a builder.
The fastest, cheapest structures to build yourself — and the ones where paying a custom design fee makes the least sense.
5' x 14¾'The cheapest set in the store and the fastest weekend build. Perfect for a hammock or climbing vines.
10' × 8'The simplest pergola we sell. Four posts, two beams, rafters. If you have never built one, start here.
10' × 10'Square cedar pergola sized for a bistro set or reading nook — small enough on many lots to keep the permit conversation simple.
10' × 12'Clean modern lines using moment post bases instead of bulky diagonal bracing. Includes the hardware schedule that makes it work.
12' × 16'Solid-roof cover attached to the house, including the ledger connection and flashing detail most plans skip entirely.
17' × 25'A statement structure sized for full dining plus lounge. Beam sizing and footing layout worked out for the long spans.
Every set includes dimensioned plans, framing and footing layout, connection details, and a full material and cut list.
10' × 12'The simplest build in the catalog. Low platform, no stairs, no guards — the fastest path from bare yard to usable outdoor room.
12' × 16'The most-built deck size in America. Includes stair framing, guardrail details, and the ledger connection detail most DIY plans skip entirely.
14' × 20'Sized for real entertaining — full dining plus a lounge zone. Beam sizing and footing layout worked out for the larger span.
Two-TierTwo connected levels stepping down a slope. Solves the problem every sloped backyard has, without a custom design fee.
16' × 16'A freestanding platform that touches nothing — no ledger, no house attachment, and often the simplest permit conversation you can have.
14' × 16'A low deck with an integrated overhead structure. Both elements detailed together so the posts land where the framing can actually carry them.
Complete plan sets for the six most-built ADU configurations in California — floor plans, elevations, framing, and fixture layouts.
~400 sq ftConvert a standard two-car garage into a studio. Includes wall framing, insulation detail, egress window sizing, and a kitchenette layout that fits.
500 sq ftA detached studio at the size threshold where fees are often lightest. Efficient layout, full bath, kitchenette, and a real closet.
750 sq ftThe rental workhorse. Separate bedroom, full kitchen, full bath, and a living area that actually seats people — the layout tenants pay the most for per square foot.
1,000 sq ftFamily-sized. Two bedrooms, full kitchen, one and a half baths, laundry. Designed for multi-generational living as much as for rent.
~450 sq ftCarved from inside your existing home. Efficiency kitchen, separate entry, and the interior wall changes detailed — the cheapest route to a rentable unit.
600 sq ftKeep the parking, keep the yard, add an apartment above it. Includes the stair structure and the floor system over the garage bay.
These are real drafted sets, not a picture with a shopping list stapled to it.
What a typical 12×16 deck set contains
| Sheet 1 | Cover, general notes, material specs |
| Sheet 2 | Site plan & deck location |
| Sheet 3 | Dimensioned plan view |
| Sheet 4 | Footing & framing plan |
| Sheet 5 | Sections & connection details |
| Sheet 6 | Stair & guardrail details |
| Sheet 7 | Elevations |
| Sheet 8 | Material list & cut list |
We'd rather lose a $79 sale than sell you a set you can't use. Here's the honest line.
Every plan set we sell is unstamped, and we do not offer stamping. These are stock reference drawings, not a sealed permit submittal. Permit requirements and any requirement for a locally licensed professional to review or stamp drawings vary by state, county, and city. Depending on your jurisdiction and project, you may need a licensed engineer or architect to review, adapt, and stamp plans before submittal — and site-specific conditions like soil, slope, wind, and seismic zone always require local verification. Check with your building department before you build. If your project needs custom work, tell us and we'll credit 100% of your plan-set purchase toward it.
Four steps, and three of them take under a minute.
Browse the catalog and choose the set closest to what you want to build.
PDF hits your inbox immediately. No waiting, no consultation call.
Confirm permit requirements and whether local review or stamping is needed.
DIY from the material list, or hand the set to contractors for real comparable bids.
100% credited toward custom design if you upgrade
Contractors and builders: ask about a multi-seat license for using these sets across client projects.
"I was quoted $1,400 for a deck design. Bought the 12×16 set for seventy-nine bucks, showed it to three contractors, and their bids came in within about six percent of each other."
"The cut list alone saved me two trips to the lumberyard and probably four hundred dollars in over-ordering. Best money I've spent on a project."
"I bought the garage conversion set to see if the layout would even work before committing to the whole project. It did, and they credited the whole purchase when I upgraded to custom."
Eighteen sets is a lot to scroll. Answer three questions and we'll point you at the one.
Narrow 18 sets down to one
We'll reveal your recommended set and email you a free sample sheet from it, so you can see the drafting quality before you buy.
Not a list of features. The specific structural reasons the outcome is different.
| BestHouse plan sets | Free plans online | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | Fully dimensioned, drafted to scale | Missing or wrong |
| Connection details | Drawn, called out, and specified | None |
| Material list | Complete material and cut list | Guess at the lumberyard |
| Contractor usable | Hand it over and get real bids | No |
| If you need custom later | 100% of your purchase credited | Start over |
Eighteen drafted sets across pergolas, decks, and ADUs. Buy the one you need, or take the whole shelf and decide later.
Buy a set, decide you need custom design instead, and we credit 100% of your purchase toward the design fee. You cannot waste money here. And we say plainly what these are: unstamped reference drawings. If your project needs a stamp, a locally licensed professional has to seal it — we will not pretend otherwise to make a sale.
Tell us what you're building and we'll point you at the right set — or tell you honestly that you need custom design instead.
Drawings, measurements, photos, an inspection report, a marked-up plan — whatever you have. The code ties your files to this exact enquiry so nothing gets separated.
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