Copyright: Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.


Contents
Help on using AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM)

Introduction

Your Best Decision

Your Worst Mistake

Congratulations!

Blue Print Information:

How To Order Blueprints

Information About Blueprints

Special Offers:

You Earn $10 By Saving Others $10

Special Offers on Future Releases

Using This Software:

How to Gain 3 to 6 New Customers Each Year

How to Use this Software

Getting Down To Business

About...

Technical Support:

Problems & Solutions

Press F1 for help on using help.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Order plans...How To
How to order

Provides phone numbers and mailing addresses to use for ordering your blueprints.

For more information please read:

How To Order Blueprints

Information About Blueprints

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Order plans...Billing/Shipping
Billing/Shipping

If you want to fax or mail in your order, use this tab to fill out your information.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Order plans...Order form
Order form

Shows how much the blueprints cost. You can also print or fax your order from this screen by clicking on the Print or Fax buttons.

For more information please read:

How Many Sets Of Plans Will You Need?

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Navigation

To change areas, click on tabs that are at the top of the screen:

File

Search

View

Order

Help

To begin your search, click on the 'Search' tab. Then you will see several sub-tabs you can click on to choose your search criteria:

Criteria --	choose your main search criteria

Features --	choose rooms and additional features

Architecture --	select architectural preferences

Designers --	select your favorite designers

Other --	search by plan number, or find all homes

After you have entered your search criteria, Click on the View tab to see the homes that satisfy your search criteria. In the view screen, click on the buttons at the bottom of the screen to change homes or view different pictures.

To print plans, click on the printer button at the bottom of the View screen.

After you find a home plan, click on the Order Tab to see information on how to order the home's blueprints.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Search

Click on the Search tab to search for homes. When you click on the search tab, you are shown several sub-tabs. Click on these sub-tabs to choose your search criteria:

Criteria

Features

Architecture

Designers

Other

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


View plans
View

When you click on the View tab, you are shown the homes that satisfy your search criteria. From the View screen, you can also:

Bookmark your favorite homes.

Zoom in on pictures to magnify them.

Print plans

Shown below are the buttons you can use in the View screen.

 First home plan

Button takes you back to the first plan.

 Tour of homes slide show

Displays homes, and has special animated effects and acoustical guitar music. Promote your business using this feature!!

 Outline of homes

Shows a list of plans you are viewing. You can also use the feature to jump to another plan by clicking on the plan number in the outline. When viewing the outline, you can also adjust the size of the columns in the outline. While viewing the outline,  if you scroll to the left, you'll see other details such as the design firm.

 View bookmarked plans

This button will cause your bookmarked plans to be shown in the view screen.

 View matching plans

This button shows you all plans which meet the current search criteria.

 Next plan

Shows the next home.

 Previous plan

Shows the previous home.

 Bookmark current plan

If you like a home, use this button to put a bookmark on it.

 Unbookmark current plan

When you see this button, you know the home has been bookmarked. If you click this button, the bookmark is removed from the home.

 Front view

Shows a home's front exterior picture.

 Rear view

Shows a home's rear exterior picture.

 Side view

Shows a home's side exterior picture.

 Main floor plan

Shows a home's main floor plan. The main floor is the ground level floor.

 Upper floor plan

Shows a home's upper floor plan.

 Lower floor plan

Shows you the lower floor plan. The lower floor is usually partially underground, or for multi-level homes it's the bottom floor of the home.

 Third floor plan

Shows a home's third floor plan.

 Interior view

Shows picture of a home's interior.

 Alternate plan

Shows options or alterations available for a plan.

 Details

Shows a home's description.

 Specifications.

Shows a home's specifications (square feet, number of rooms, garages, etc.)

 Turn two picture view on

Lets you view 2 pictures in the viewing window. You can adjust the size of each viewing window by dragging the separator bars between the windows. To change pictures, click on viewing buttons (such as front view, rear view, etc.) When you change pictures, the picture is displayed in the active window.

 Turn single picture view on

Changes viewing back to a one-picture viewing window.

 Turn reverse on

This button shows mirror images for the current home's pictures.  This is helpful to see how the home would look if you want to reverse the plan.

 Turn reverse off

Resets the pictures back to normal picture display.

 Print plans

Lets you print feature sheets or full page pictures for a home. You can also print reverse pictures for a home. If you experience printer problems, then click Printer problems & solutions or Technical Support for assistance.

 Order plans

This button shows you pricing information for a home's blueprints. You'll need to purchase blue prints before constructing the home. This software shows you simplified drawings to help you visualize the home. The blueprints for the home provide much greater detail and will help your builder when constructing the home.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Search Criteria

You can click on the criteria tab to enter your main search criteria:

Type of home:

Single family homes are occupied by one family

Multi family homes are shared by 2 or more families (such as condos, duplexes, or townhouses)

Style:

The style criteria determines your home's layout. A 'story' is an above-ground floor. Some homes have floors below ground level (such as a finished basement), but those floors aren't considered a story.

Hint: If you are looking for a 2-story home, remember to also look at the 1-story homes. Some 1-story homes may have finished basements that might suit your needs (or you could finish the basement to create a home with 2 floors).

1-story homes have one floor above ground level.

2-story homes have 2 floors above ground level.

3-story homes have 3 levels of windows above ground level (when viewed from the front of home). A 3-story home might only have 2 floors, but it has the appearance of 3 floors when viewed from the front. Many of these homes could also be considered 2-story homes. Because of this, if you search for 2-story homes, we will also show you 3-story homes.

Multi-Level homes have floors at varying levels. Common names for multi-level homes include: quad-level, tri-level, bi-level, split foyer, split-level.

Number of:

You can choose how many rooms you want:

Bedrooms are the rooms used as sleeping quarters. Sometimes a home might have rooms that could easily be converted into a bedroom (such as a den) and those  rooms may be considered potential bedrooms.

Full baths are bathrooms that have a shower or bath tub.

Half baths are bathrooms which don't have a shower or tub

Car Stalls are garages or carports. A stall is a place to store one car. For example if you want a 3-car garage, then you would search for 3 stalls. Remember, sometimes you can customize a plan to change the number of car stalls. Because of this, you may want to broaden your search range. For example if you want a home with 2 car stalls, you may want to search for homes that have 1 to 3 car stalls. By doing this you may find a home that is perfect for you once you modify its garage.

Room Location:

You can pick your floor preferences for the master bedroom and the laundry room

Hints: Laundry rooms are small areas. You can often customize a plan to accommodate your laundry room preference. Because of this, you might want to avoid searching for the laundry location.

If you are searching for a multi-level home, you should avoid using room location criteria. This is because the varying floor levels in multi-level homes may have desirable room locations that you might not find when using this criteria. Also it's difficult to define 'locations' in multi-level homes and you might misinterpret this search. We recommend you avoid searching for room locations in multi-level homes.

Your search can look for these locations:

Main floor is the home's ground level floor. (Note: multi-level homes usually have lower floors and upper floors but no ground-level floor.)

Upper floor is the floor above the main floor (or the top floor in a multi-level home)

Lower floor is typically below ground or partially below ground level (or the bottom floor in a multi-level home)

Main & Upper floor indicates you want two master bedrooms (one on each floor)

Dimensions:

This criteria lets you search for the size of your home.

Total finished square feet is the total square footage of all finished areas of the home.

Main floor square feet minimum: Most people should leave this criteria set to zero. You might use this criteria if your subdivision's covenant requires homes to have a minimum main floor square footage. If so, input the minimum square footage needed to satisfy your subdivision's requirements. Remember, you can often customize a plan. You may want to use a number that is lower the your covenant's requirements. If you find a home you like but it's too small, you may be able to enlarge it to satisfy your covenant requirements. If you use this criteria, the homes found will have a floor with square footage that is equal to or larger than the square footage you entered. Usually a home's largest floor is considered the main floor. However, once you find your home, you should double check the square footage specifications to be sure the home satisfies your needs.

Building site area: If you already own a piece of land, you can search for homes that will fit on your land. Remember, your land's buildable area might be reduced by easements and setbacks. After you've determined the buildable area, you enter the maximum area you have for building the home.

Width is the maximum land size available for building a home (measured from one side of the home to the other side).

Depth is the maximum land size available for building a home (measured from the home's front to back).

Hints:

If you don't have land yet, then make the width and depth large (such as 150 feet by 150 feet).

You may want to round up your width and depth. (For example if your buildable width is 40'3" you might want to enter 41 feet in the depth. If you enter only 40 feet, you might eliminate some homes that would still fit on you land. Also, you may want to have your search range be a few feet larger than your buildable area, because you can sometimes customize a home plan. A home that is too large for your land might still be suitable if you reduce the size of the home.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Search Features

You can click on the Features sub-tab to search for rooms and additional features. You will use slider dials to choose features that interest you.

Hint: When searching for features, only make features a Must if it is required (choosing a Must might eliminate homes you would really like -- you'll find more homes if you pick wants instead of Musts). Also, many home plans can be customized. You may be able to modify a plan to suit your requirements.

Rooms:

Living Room is a formal room for entertaining guests. Sometimes living rooms are called other names such as the "parlor" or "receiving room." Also, you may be able to customize a plan and use the living room for another purpose, such as a den, an extra bedroom, or even a formal dining area.

Family Room is an informal entertaining room. Generally homes with a living room also have a family room. If a home doesn't have a living room, then usually the informal entertaining area is larger and is known as a Great room.

Great Room is an informal entertaining area of a home. Homes with Great rooms usually don't have living rooms. Sometimes people consider a large family room to be a 'Great room.' Because of this, a search for Great rooms will sometimes show homes with large family rooms. Great rooms are sometimes called other names such as Media Rooms or Recreation room.

Dining Room is the formal dining area of a home. Sometimes you can customize a plan to add or change the dining room area. For example you may be able to change the living room into a dining room.

Breakfast Room is the informal dining area of a home.

Nursery/Den is a room that is typically on the main floor or near the master bedroom. Sometimes you can customize a plan and convert another room (such as the living room or bedroom) into a Nursery/Den. The Nursery/Den is sometimes called other names such as: study, library, or guest room.

Additional Features:

Balcony/Loft are locations in which an upper floor overlooks another floor. Sometimes these areas are called "bridges." Balcony/Lofts are often located near stairways and often overlook entry foyers or Great rooms

Double staircase refers to having 2 or more separate staircases in a home or a staircase that has multiple stairways leading to it.

Fireplace is a device for burning wood. If a plan doesn't have a fireplace, you can often customize a plan to add a fireplace.

High Ceiling: Standard Ceilings are 8 feet high. If any room has a ceiling that is 9 feet tall or higher, then the home has a high ceiling.

Porch is an area located towards a home's exterior and is sheltered by a roof. Most porches are open, but some have screens. People who like large porches often like Country homes or Victorian homes. (You can search for those styles in the Architecture screen.)

Separate bath and shower means that the home has a bathroom that contains a separate bath tub and a separate shower. Usually, the bathroom has a large tub such as a garden tub or whirlpool bath.

Side garage means the home's garage doors are less visible (or even hidden) when viewing the front of the home. Remember, you can sometimes customize a home and change its garage into a side garage (for example move the location of the garage doors to a different wall of the garage).

Sloping ceiling: refers to homes that have ceilings with unique angles, such as cathedral ceilings, tray ceilings, or arched ceilings.

Walk-in closets are larger closets that have enough room for a person to walk into it.

Wall of windows are walls where the majority of a wall has windows, or a wall that has windows stacked above windows. Also, large bay windows are sometimes considered a wall of windows.

Wheelchair accessible homes typically have wider hallways and doorways. Also, the bathrooms and kitchens have extra room for maneuvering a wheelchair. You may be able to customize a home to make it wheelchair accessible.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Search Architecture

Click on the Architecture tab to search for your home's exterior appearance. You will use slider dials to choose your architectural preferences.

Note: Architecture sliders only allow you to specify a 'want' priority. (1= low priority, 9 = high priority, a zero means no preference.)

Hint: Many home plans can be customized. If you like a plan, but want a different exterior look, this can often be accomplished by making changes to the windows, roof line, and exterior details. The most important part of a home plan is the floor plan. Remember, you'll spend 90% of your time on the inside of your home. The floor plan should be the main thing you look at when shopping for a home plan.

Shown below is an example of two homes that have the same floor plan. As you can see, major changes can be made to a home's exterior without affecting its floor plan. After you find your ideal plan, you can often customize its exterior to suit your tastes.

If you want to find all of the homes with a particular architecture style, you might want to use the maximize criteria button found in the Other tab.

Here are the styles you can search for.

Contemporary homes have a more modern look.

Country homes have porches, and are sometimes called farm houses. If you like large porches, you may also want to look at Victorian homes.

English homes typically have Tudor accents.

European homes include: French, Italian, or other styles characteristic of European homes

New England  homes have styles characteristic of homes found in North-Eastern United States. This includes: Cape Cods, Salt boxes, and Early American designs.

Sloping Lot homes are designed for sloping land or hill sides.

South Western homes often have: stucco exteriors, tile roofs, arched openings, and court yards. This architectural category includes these styles: Mission style, Santa Fe style, and Spanish architecture.

Southern style homes include: Georgian style, plantation style, and Federal style homes.

Vacation homes are designed for scenic locations, or are smaller homes suitable for weekend get-aways.

Victorian homes are known for their ornate exteriors and large wrap-around porches. Sometimes these homes are known as 'Ginger Bread' homes because of their detailed exterior accents. If you like large porches, you may also want to search for Country style homes.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Search Designers

Lets you search for homes that created by your favorite designers.

Hints: Often, plans from the same designer have a similar style to them and you may find a home you'll love simply by reviewing other plans from your favorite designer.

You can determine which designer created the plan, by looking in the specifications window. Also, you can see the designer of a plan by clicking on the plan outline button and scrolling to the right-most column in the outline.

You will use slider dials to choose designers that interest you.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Search Other

The 'Other' tab lets you do special searches such as:

Plan number search -- If you already know the plan numbers for homes you want to view, you can type a list of plan numbers and then hit the Find button. Then the software retrieves those plans and you can click on the View tab to see them.

Maximize Criteria button is used to find everything. This is helpful if you want to find all homes that have a particular feature. For example, let's say you want to see all Victorian homes. To do this, you would click the Maximize Criteria button and then go to the Architecture Tab and search for Victorian homes.

Restore Default Criteria button resets all criteria to the normal starting values. This button is helpful for resetting criteria after you've done a Maximize Criteria search.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


File

The 'File' tab lets you save your search criteria and bookmarks. Then the next time you run this software, you can easily load your criteria and bookmarks into the software.

This feature is especially helpful for Realtors® or Builders. For example, you can use this feature to create a preference file for each customer. Also, if you typically sell certain types of homes, you can save your typical search criteria and then open your criteria when you use this software (instead of having to re-enter your search criteria each time).

Also you can Promote your business using this feature!! You can put bookmarks on the types of homes you like to sell. Then you can save your bookmarks and load them before giving a sales presentation. You can show customers your bookmarked homes from the view screen or create a powerful multimedia presentation with the Tour of Homes slide show. Also, the slide show is a great way to attract attention to your business at trade shows, home shows, or anyplace where you want people to notice you.

To save a file, type a file name in the file name field,  and then click on the Save button. (This causes your search criteria and bookmarks to be saved in that file).

To open a file, type the file's name in the file name field and click on the Open button.

Clear Bookmarks button causes your current bookmarks to be removed. This button won't affect any bookmarks you've saved to a file (unless you overlay the file by saving it again).

Turn Music On/Off button allows you to play music while finding your dream home.

Exit Plan Finder button causes the program to exit.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Order plans
Order

When you click on the Order tab you see pricing information for the home that is currently shown in the View screen.

The Order also has several sub-tabs you can click:

How to Order

Billing / Shipping

Order Form

Blueprint Info

Close:  Click on the Close tab to exit the order screen and return to the View screen.

If you enter information in the Billing/Shipping screen, your name and address information are saved so that you will not have to re-enter it on future orders. However, remember to always enter your credit number and shipping preference because that information is not saved by the software.

For information about blueprints read the article called

Information About Blueprints.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Your Best Decision

An important message from Ken Katuin, President of AbbiSoft, Inc.

A few years ago, I designed a home. I never realized how much work it would take to design a blueprint.  I had to pick out the dimensions, the roof pitches, the window locations, and thousands of other details.

It takes hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to design a blueprint. This is necessary because blueprints determine the quality of your home. Every aspect of your home, from the foundation to the roof, is influenced by blueprints.

Professionally designed blueprints are very important. Here's why:

They increase your life span, reduce stress, and they may save your marriage.   (I'm just kidding.)

You will have more free time and fewer worries when an experienced designer creates your blueprints.

Competitive bids reduce your home's cost. When you provide builders with detailed blueprints, you help them by reducing the unknowns. This can help you receive more accurate and competitive bids. This reduces the chance of unexpected costs and you will know what you are getting. Also, it is easier to compare bids when each builder's price is based on the same specifications.

Professional blueprints can reduce the cost of building your home. Sometimes, people think a plan that is drawn by a lumberyard or builder is the same as a blueprint from a professional designer. However, there may be many differences. A professional designer creates detailed blueprints and their business depends on the quality of their blueprints. Detailed blueprints can reduce the cost of building a home. Often, lumberyards and builders do not have enough time or resources to create detailed blueprints.

Professional blueprints reduce decisions. Professional blueprints usually have 8 to 12 pages of detailed information. A great deal of thought goes into these blueprints. A well-designed blueprint helps reduce the decisions you'll have to make when building your home.

You can start building sooner and reduce the time needed to build your home. You can order blueprints for any of the homes on this CD-ROM. In a few days you will receive professional blueprints and can start your home. Also, construction can proceed faster when you have fewer decisions. This is very important during times of rising lumber prices or unstable interest rates. A delay of a few months can easily add thousands of dollars to the cost of your home.

You help feed a designer. The cost of these blueprints is shared by many customers. Because of this, you can own professional blueprints for a very reasonable price. A blueprint's value comes from the hundreds of hours a skilled designer invests when creating it. By sharing their skills, these designers help you create a home for your family. You help a designer take care of their family by purchasing a blueprint.

You receive a license. When you buy a professional blueprint you receive a license. A license lets you legally build or modify a plan. Unfortunately, some people don't realize this. When a person builds or modifies a plan without buying the blueprints, they miss out on the benefits the blueprints would provide. They also violate copyright laws. Most importantly, they hurt the designers and their families. Violating copyright laws is a serious offense and can result in penalties of up to $100,000 per violation.

Many of these blueprints have already been used to successfully build other homes. The designers on this CD-ROM create blueprints that conform to national building codes. Building codes help make sure a home is safe to live in and is properly built.

You can create a custom home. It usually costs less to modify an existing plan than to design a new plan. By starting with these blueprints, you can design a custom home at a fraction of the normal design cost.

A well-designed home has a better resale value. These designers have years of experience. They know what people want in a home. This CD-ROM contains some of the nation's best-selling home plans.

A well-designed home is more comfortable and enjoyable. Professional designers think about many things when designing a home such as: aesthetics, traffic flow, and energy efficiency.

As you can see, a professionally designed blueprint can quickly pay for itself.

Your home is the biggest investment you will ever make. It only makes sense to protect your investment by starting with a quality blueprint. One of the best decisions you can make is to create your home from a professionally designed blueprint.

The pictures on this CD-ROM will help you visualize the homes. To build a home, you will need the blueprints. The blueprints provide hundreds of additional details needed to build your home.

For important information about homes, please read my article Your Worst Mistake.

You can learn more about building a home by looking inside the booklet that came with your CD-ROM or by reading the article: Information About Blueprints. Those items also show examples of the drawings that come with professionally designed blueprints.

Please read: You Earn $10 By Saving Others $10. Please print that coupon and give it to others. We will send you $10 for each customer who buys our software using a coupon that you have given out. You will also receive $5 for customers who use a coupon for our plan search service. Our plan-search service helps people who don't have computers. If you know anyone who is shopping for a home, please give them a coupon.

If you know anyone whose occupation involves selling homes or land, or designing homes, then please show them the article: How to Gain 3 to 6 New Customers Each Year.  Also, please give them a coupon.

Thank you for purchasing AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM).

Sincerely,

Ken Katuin,

President, AbbiSoft, Inc.

An important note: These professionally designed blueprints conform to one or more of the industry's major national building standards in effect at the time they were drawn. However, due to the variety of local building regulations, your blueprint may need to be modified to comply with local requirements such as snow loads, energy loads, seismic zones, etc. Fully check the blueprints and consult with your local building officials. We recommend you work with a qualified builder when creating your home. The information in this document is believed accurate but is not warranted. AbbiSoft, Inc., shall not be liable in any way for this information.

This document helps people who are shopping for a home. You have permission to reproduce and distribute this 3 page document in whole or in part as long as you include the following phrase:

AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM) has 2,300 house plans on CD-ROM, 65 search criteria, 12 design firms.

To order: call 800-345-HOME, FOR MORE TIPS GO TO: http://www.abbisoft.com/  ©1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Your Worst Mistake

And How To Avoid It

John is a Realtor®.  He once had a customer who made a big mistake.

John was helping Susan find a home. He found a house that met all of her requirements. He felt sure she would like it. When they drove to the house, Susan looked out the car window and said "I don’t like this house. Let’s look at another one." John tried to persuade to her to look inside, but she refused. They spent several months looking at houses, but Susan never found a home.

A few years later, Susan was invited to a dinner party. The party was at the house that she had refused to consider. When Susan walked inside, she felt immediately at home. As she walked through the house she thought "This house would have been my perfect home!"

You might find the right home and not realize it. This can happen if you don’t understand what to look for in a home. This guide helps home buyers avoid 8 common mistakes. You may want to share this with others.

How To Find The Right Home By Avoiding Common Mistakes

Mistake #1: Beauty Is Skin-Deep And Cosmetic Surgery Is Available

Some people will only look at a house if they like its appearance. Experienced designers know that a house’s exterior can easily be changed. In fact, the changes can be so dramatic that you won’t realize you are looking at the same house. To change the exterior, designers can use different windows, modify roof lines, and change exterior details. Shown below are two houses that have the same floor plan. As you can see they look nothing alike.

You can often customize a house’s exterior to suit your tastes. Don’t judge a home by its appearance. It’s the inside that really counts. After all, you’ll spend 90% of your time on the inside of your home.

Mistake #2:  People Think They Know What They Want

It’s important to be open-minded when looking at houses. By doing this, you’ll learn things you never realized. Over time, your ‘ideal’ home will evolve and change. If you are like most people, you will probably buy a home that is different from what you thought you wanted. Don’t quickly discard houses. You will have a better understanding of what you want by taking a close look at many houses.

Mistake #3:  Overlooking Hidden Potential

You might discard the right home because you don’t see its hidden potential. For example, say you don’t like living rooms and you avoid houses that have living rooms. Did you know a living room could serve another purpose? It could become a den, a nursery, or an additional bedroom. It could also be an excellent dining room. Changing the location of a doorway or adding a wall may convert a room into something you would really love. Sometimes all you need to do is rename a room. When looking at houses, look for the hidden potential.

Mistake #4:  Trying To Find The Perfect Home

 Some people spend years searching for the perfect home. However, they never find it because the perfect home is an imaginary dream found only in their mind. Their perfect home is a fantasy. It doesn't really exist.

It’s important to be realistic when shopping for a home. Ask yourself what are features you must have and what are features you want to have. When you find a house that meets your requirements, it may not have all of your wants. However, if you hold on to your dream of a perfect home you might pass up the right house and regret it later.

Mistake #5:  Misinterpreting Yourself

It’s important to understand the reasons for your preferences. By doing this you may discover things about yourself. For example, say you prefer older houses. Perhaps the reason you like older houses is because you like larger trees. If so, maybe you would like a newer house in a wooded area. In fact, maybe you would prefer a newer house because it needs less maintenance and is more energy efficient.

Mistake #6:  Champagne Tastes And A Beer Budget

Two of the main things that affect a house’s price are its size and features. Some people look for a large house with many features. Because of this, they are unable to find a home they can afford.

It is possible to have a comfortable home with many features. Designers can make a house feel larger than it actually is. They accomplish this with efficient use of space, open floor plans, high ceilings, and good traffic flow. Effective window placement and sunlight can also make a house feel larger. It’s not the size of a house that matters. What’s more important is how comfortable your home feels. Perhaps you should consider houses that are smaller than what you think you want. By doing this you may find a comfortable home with the features you want.

If you build a house, you will probably make changes to the floor plan. Changes can increase the size of a house. If you start with a smaller plan, it is easier to make changes and stay within your budget. Because of this, you may want to consider plans that are smaller than what you think you want.

Mistake #7:  The Static House

Remember, a house can be changed. For example, say you find a house you like but wished it had a fireplace. You can often add a fireplace to a house.

If you are considering new construction, it’s even easier to modify a plan. For example, perhaps you’ve decided that your home’s garage must face a certain direction. You can sometimes move the garage door to a different wall. By doing this, a house with a front garage can become a house with a side garage.

You can also change the size and location of rooms. For example, you can often increase or decrease the size of a garage. You can also reverse a plan to change the placement of its rooms. For example, say you found a plan with the garage on the left side and you want it on the right side. The plan’s mirror-reversal may suit your needs.

Mistake #8:  The Under-Utilized CD-ROM

AbbiSoft’s Home-Plan Finder(TM) is a powerful tool for quickly finding house plans. However, if you only search for what you think you want, then you might not discover what you really want. You will more likely find your home if you experiment with different searches. Try searching for houses using different square footage ranges. Search for different styles of homes. Search for different rooms or features. Search for plans from your favorite designers. When searching, be flexible and set more of your criteria to be wants rather than musts. This way, your favorite houses are shown first, but you won’t rule out houses you may like.

Take advantage of the software’s features. For example, the reverse button shows you how a house looks if you reversed its plan. Read the descriptions for the houses. Bookmark your favorite plans. Magnify the pictures. Compare various parts of a house using the multiple-picture view. Study your favorite houses by using 3 styles of print outs including: feature sheets, full-page pictures, and reversed pictures.

This guide helps people who are shopping for a home. It also helps people who sell homes.

You may want to give copies of this guide to your customers and business associates. You can print that document from this on-line help. However, if you have Microsoft® Word for Windows you’ll want to use the document found on the CD-ROM under   \document\WorstRea.doc You have permission to reproduce and distribute this document, as long as you do not change it and you include the following phrase:

 AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM) has 2,300 house plans on CD-ROM, 65 powerful search criteria, 12 leading design firms.  To order call: 800-345-HOME (800-345-4663).

For more tips go to: http://www.abbisoft.com/

Distributor inquiries welcomed (call 309/662-0901) ©1996 AbbiSoft, Inc., PO Box 743, Bloomington, IL 61702, USA (Homes shown: plans 89595 & 89596, ©WD Farmer)

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Information About Blueprints

Blueprints are available for any of the homes on this CD-ROM.

The pictures on this CD-ROM help you visualize the homes. To build a home, you will need the blueprints. The blueprints provide hundreds of additional details needed to build your home. You can save time and money buy purchasing these professionally designed blueprints. Best of all, you'll only pay a fraction of the original design cost because the design cost is shared by many people.

Quick Overview Of All Topics.

Construction Drawings Included With Most Blueprints:

Exterior Elevations

Wall Sections

Kitchen & Bath Cabinet Details

Detailed Floor Plans

Fireplace Details

Foundation Plan

Roof Plan

Cross Section

Schematic Electrical Layouts

Stair Details

Options & Extras:

Customizing A Plan

Reversed Plans

Materials List

Reproducible Masters

Home Building Details

Answers to Common Questions:

How Many Sets Of Plans Will You Need?

Shipping & Payment Information

Building Codes

Copyright Laws

Your Best Decision

Questions? Call our customer service number at  1-800-235-5700  (or 1-860-343-5977).

FREE Gift With Your Order

To Order, call: 1-800-235-5700 or call: 1-860-343-5977

Or fill out an order-form in the Order tab of this software and fax your order to: 1-860-343-5984

Or mail order-form to:

Garlinghouse

PO Box 1717

Middletown, CT 06457   USA

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


You Earn $10 By Saving Others $10

If you know anyone who is shopping for a home, then please print this coupon and give it to them. Also, please give this coupon to Realtors®, builders, designers, and developers.

When you give this coupon to others, write your information in the "Referred by" section. We’ll send you a $10 check for each customer who uses your coupon to purchase a CD-ROM and $5 for customers who purchase our plan search service (see below). We have a 30-day money-back guarantee on our CD-ROM. You will receive a check when your referral keeps the software. Your referral bonus will be sent 45 to 60 days after the shipping date of your referral’s order. Thanks for your help.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Gain 3 to 6 New Customers Each Year
How to Gain 3 to 6 New Customers Each Year

How To Sell Existing Houses:

How many hours a year do you spend showing people homes they're not interested in?  If you saved that time, how many new customers could you help each year? Our software helps you quickly determine your customer's interests. By qualifying your customer, you can avoid showing them houses that won't interest them. Our CD-ROM contains 2,300 house plans and 65 powerful search criteria. By using our CD-ROM, your customers can quickly show you examples of homes they like.

Our software lets your customers prioritize their interests. Because of this, their favorite homes will likely be the first homes they are shown. They can also put bookmarks on their favorite homes. You can save your customer's criteria and bookmarks. This information is a valuable reference when other homes come on the market. For example, you can compare those homes with your customer's criteria and view the homes they've bookmarked. This helps you determine if a house suits their interests.

How To Sell Land:

Sometimes, a customer loves a certain lot, but can't visualize what type of home could fit on the lot. You may close a sale by showing the customer homes that can be built on the land. You can easily find houses that will fit on a lot by using our software to search on the lot's dimensions. Our software can also base searches on subdivision covenants (such as main floor square footage).

How To Sell New Construction:

You can't sell new construction unless you find a plan your customer likes. Using our software, you can do a comprehensive search on 2,300 plans from 12 leading design firms. The 65 powerful search criteria will help you quickly find a plan. Also, our software lets you prioritize the customer's needs.  By doing this, their favorite home will likely be one of the first homes you are shown. You can print feature sheets for homes and share them with your customers. Blueprints can be purchased for any of these homes.

How To Attract New Customers:

Our software has a spectacular feature called the " Tour of Homes Slide Show". This is a multi-media presentation uses animates special effects and music while showing various homes. This is a great way to attract attention at public events such as open houses and home shows.  Sometimes the best way to gain a new customer is to show them your knowledge. Imagine how they'll feel when you find houses they like in a matter of minutes. Who knows, maybe you'll pick up a new construction sale while you're demonstrating the software.

How To Create Effective Marketing Literature:

Our software prints documents which can help your customers. For example, the document called Your Worst Mistake teaches your customers how to shop for a home. That document overcomes common objections that interfere with sales. In addition, you can print feature sheets for any of the homes on the CD-ROM. These feature sheets may help you sell a home.

For specific details on using this software see Getting Down To Business

To order: call 800-345-HOME, FOR MORE TIPS GO TO: http://www.abbisoft.com/  ©1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.

AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM) has 2,300 house plans on CD-ROM, 65 search criteria, 12 design firms.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Congratulations
Congratulations!

You Found Your Dream Home!

You can already see it standing on your lot... you can see yourselves in your new home... enjoying family, entertaining guests, celebrating holidays.  All that remains ahead are the details.  That's where we can help.  Whether you plan to build-it-yourself, be your own contractor, or hand your plans over to a builder, we can provide the blueprints needed to create your home.

We even make it simple for you to make modifications. Our professional designers can customize a plan for you. We can also provide a materials list for your home.

My grandfather started a tradition of quality when he founded the Garlinghouse company in 1907.  For almost 90 years, homeowners and builders have relied on us for accurate, complete, professional blueprints.  Our blueprints help you get fast results and will save you money.  This software provides all the information you need to order your blueprints.

So get started now -- I know you are going to love your new home!

Sincerely,

Whitney Garlinghouse,

President, Garlinghouse

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Getting Down To Business

Attracting New Customers

Selling Land

Selling Existing Houses

Prospecting Customers and Generating Sales

Selling New Construction

Creating Sales Presentations

Creating Marketing Literature

Marketing Architectural And Design Services

Marketing A Subdivision

Earn $10 By Saving Others $10

The topics (shown above) have information which may be useful for training purposes, trade publications, or newsletters. You have permission to reproduce and distribute those topics in whole or in part as long you include the following phrase:

AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM) has 2,300 house plans on CD-ROM, 65 search criteria, 12 design firms.

To order: call 800-345-HOME, FOR MORE TIPS GO TO: http://www.abbisoft.com/  ©1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Problems & Solutions

This section describes solutions to problems. Many of these problems rarely occur. We've mentioned these problems just in case you have them.

Click on a category related to your problem:

Installation Problems

Printer or Reports

Program Won’t Run

Music

Memory

Screen / Monitor

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


How to Use This Software

This software is powerful. However, if you only search for what you think you want, then you might not discover what you really want. You will most likely find your home if you experiment with different searches. Try searching for homes that are larger or smaller than what you want. Look at different styles of homes. Look at all the plans from your favorite designers. Don't be afraid to play.

By experimenting with many searches, you will see more homes and you will learn more about what you want. This will also increase the chances of finding your dream home.

Before using this software, be sure you read the article called Your Worst Mistake. That article has important information that will help people who are looking for a home.

When using the software, you can get help on your current task by pressing the F1 key.

Click on these topics for more information:

Navigation

File

Search

View

Order

Help

How to order Blueprints

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Installation Problems

Couldn't install a file: You need to shut down all other programs before running the install. Other programs might be using files we need to update. Try shutting down all other programs and then re-install this software. If the error is because of the file 'THREED.VBX' and shutting down all programs and rerunning install doesn't solve the error, then you'll need to do this:

Your computer has an older version of THREED.VBX that won't allow itself to be replaced while Windows is running. To correct this problem you will have to exit Windows and copy the THREED.VBX from our CD-ROM into your system directory. Here is how you do this:

Shut down Windows.

At the DOS prompt, type the following commands (Note for these instructions, we are using 'C:' for your hard drive and 'D:' for your CD-ROM drive, if your drive letters are different then use the appropriate letters for the following instructions. Also, if your Windows System directory is not called 'WINDOWS\SYSTEM' then substitute your directory name in these instructions...

C:

RENAME  \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\THREED.VBX  THREED.OLD

COPY  D:\THREED.VBX  C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\THREED.VBX

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Music

Music sounds choppy - On some computers, the music in the Tour of Homes slide show may occasionally be interrupted. This occurs when there isn't enough resources available to handle the graphics and music. To reduce or eliminate this problem you can:

Lower the resolution of your monitor. For example set your monitors resolution at 640 x 480, or at 600 x 800. The higher resolutions take more computing power and can interfere with the music. Also closing other programs may help. If you are using a laptop computer, try having the screen display go to a monitor instead of using the laptop's LCD display.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Memory

Sometimes you may see an 'Out of Memory' error. This message is a warning to tell you we weren't able to finish a task because your computer doesn't have enough memory to do that task. You can free up memory by shutting down other programs.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Printer or Reports

Partial prints, unreadable prints, printer error messages: If you are using a laser printer, these problems probably occur because your printer doesn't have enough memory to print the page. You may be able to solve this problem, by reducing the resolution of your printer (to 300 dpi or 150 dpi). (go into printer setup to change the dpi settings). If that doesn't solve the problem, try printing Full page pictures instead of Feature sheets ( Full page pictures need less printer memory). If your printer isn't a laser printer, then make sure the printer's ink cartridge or ribbon is working.

Delays in printing or slow printing: try going into Window's Printer setup and turn Print Manager off. This should speed up the printing. Also, lowering the resolution of your printer will help it print faster.

No prints: Be sure your printer is turned on, it's on-line, and has paper. Also, sometimes a previous print error or problem can cause a printer to stop working. Try turning your printer off and then on again. If that doesn't work, try rebooting your system.

Plans not in proportion: We print the plans as large as possible in the space available on a page. We do this so that the plans are easier to read. However, because of this, the floor plans might not be in proportion to each other.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Program Won't Run

Try rebooting your system.  If that doesn't solve the problem, please try re-installing this software to fix this problem.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Screen/Monitor

Colors look strange: Strange colors occur because your monitor doesn't have enough colors to correctly display the images (you probably have your monitor set at 256 colors). You can improve the colors by changing your monitor settings to use more colors (such as 32,000 colors). Also, redisplaying a picture (by clicking on the button that displays it) will often correct the colors.

Screens don't seem doesn't fit properly on the monitor: Some monitors or video cards may have difficulty displaying or resizing screens. Try shutting down this program and re-running it. If that doesn't solve the problem, try changing your monitor's resolution and then rerun this program.

Screen locks up. If you change your monitors resolution while the application is running and the screen locks up, you can hit Ctrl + S to switch to another screen. In general, it is better to close programs before changing your monitor's resolution.

Screens are missing pieces, starting to break up or becoming chopping. You are probably running out of memory. Shut down other programs to free up memory. If this doesn't solve the problem try restarting the program, or reboot your system and then rerun this program. Also, if you are running Windows '95 and have the Task bar displayed, you may want to try closing or hiding the task bar. (The task bar causes the screen to get scrunched a little).

Plans not shown in proportion: We display plans as large as possible so that it is easier for you to read them. Because of this, the plans may not be in proportion to each other on your screen. If you want, you can adjust their proportion when using two-picture view. To do this, move the separator bar between the pictures to adjust their sizes.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


How To Order Blueprints

To Order blueprints for any of the homes on this CD-ROM call

1-800-235-5700    or    1-860-343-5977

When calling, please have these items ready:

1) Credit Card Number

2) Plan Number

3) Order Code

To Order by fax, fill out an order-form (click on the Order tab of this software) and fax your order to:

1-860-343-5984

To order by mail, print an order-form (click on the Order tab of this software) and mail it to:

Garlinghouse

PO Box 1717

Middletown, CT 06457   USA

For more information please read:

Information About Blueprints

Your Best Decision

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Help

The Help tab shows you documentation on how to use this software. The documentation also provides helpful information about shopping for a home.

Hint: When using this software, you can get help on your current task by pressing the F1 key.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Quick Overview Of All Topics

This overview shows the information for all blueprint topics. When using this overview, you can see illustrations by clicking on the underlined words.

Construction Drawings included with most Blueprints:

Exterior Elevations

Exact scale views of the front, rear and both sides of your home, showing exterior materials, details, and all necessary measurements.

Wall Sections

Detailed views of your exterior walls, as sliced through from top to bottom.  These drawings clarify exterior wall construction insulation, flooring, and roofing details.  Depending on your specific geography and climate, your home will be built with either 2x4 or 2x6 exterior walls.  Most professional contractors can easily adapt plans for either requirement.

Kitchen & Bath Cabinet Details

These plans show the specific details and placement of the cabinets in your kitchen and bathrooms as applicable.  Customizing these areas is simpler beginning with these details.  Kitchen and bath cabinet details are available for most plans.

Detailed Floor Plans

Show the placement of all interior walls, the dimensions of rooms, doors, windows, stairways, and other details.

Fireplace Details

When your home includes one or more fireplaces, these detailed drawings will help your mason with their construction and appearance.  It is easy to review details with professionals when you have the plans for reference.

Foundation Plan

With footings and all load-bearing points applicable to your home, including all necessary notation and dimensions.  The type of foundation supplied varies from home to home.  Local conditions and practices will determine whether a basement, crawlspace or a slab is best for you.  Your professional contractor can easily make the necessary adaptation.

Roof Plan

All information necessary to construct the roof for your home is included.  Many blueprints contain framing plans showing all of the roof elements, so you'll know how these details look and fit together.

Cross Section

A detailed, full cross-sectional view through the entire house as if the house was cut from top to bottom.  This elevation helps a contractor understand the interconnections of the construction components.

Schematic Electrical Layouts

These drawings show the suggested locations for your switches, outlets and fixtures.

Stair Details

If stairs are part of the design you selected, specific plans are included for their construction.

Options & Extras

Reversed Plans

"That's our dream home... if only the garage were on the other side!".

You could have exactly the home you want by flipping it end-for-end. Check it out by simply using the reverse button in the View screen.

The Reverse button shows you how the blueprints will look if you order a "reversed" blueprint. We'll send you one full set of mirror-image plans (with the writing backwards) as a master guide for you and your builder. The remaining sets of your order will come as normally shown by this CD-ROM so the dimensions and specifications are easily read on the job site... and they will be specially stamped "REVERSED" so there is no construction confusion. We can only send reversed plans with multiple-set orders.

Some reversed plans have "Right reading" letters.  This means the picture is reversed but the letters are not reversed. If the plan has a Right-reading reverse, the order screen will say "Right-reading" reverse.

Customizing A Plan

You can often customize a plan to be just right for you. If fact, many plans have options and services to help you customize it.

Easy modifications to your dream home, such as minor non-structural changes and simple material substitutions, can be made between you and your builder and marked directly on your blueprints. However, if you are considering making major changes to your design, we strongly recommend that you purchase reproducible masters and use the services of a professional designer or architect. For additional information call the Garlinghouse at: 1-860-343-5977.

Many of the design firms offer a customization service and will customize their plans for you. This service is provided for an additional charge. In the specifications you will see the phrase "can be customized" if the design firm offers a customization service for the plan. For more information about customization service, please call the Garlinghouse at 1-860-343-5977.

Reproducible Masters

With reproducible masters (such as vellums), a professional designer can alter the drawings for you. Then you can use the masters to print copies of the modified plans as you need them. By starting with the completed detailed plans, the cost of professional design services may be significantly less.

Reproducible masters are only sold under the terms of a license agreement that you will receive with your order. Should you not agree to the terms, then the masters may be returned unopened for a full refund.

To see if a home's plan is available in a reproducible master you can click on the Order Tab, and look at the Order Form. If a master is available, then the Order Form will have a 'Reproducible Master' price. Also, the Order Form tells you what type of material is used for the master (such as vellum, mylar, etc.)

Materials List

It'll help you save money. Available at a modest additional charge, the Materials List gives the quantity, dimensions, and specifications for the major materials needed to build your home. You will get faster, more accurate bids from your contractors and building suppliers — and avoid paying for unused materials and waste. Materials Lists are available for most home plans and can only be ordered with a set of home plans.

Due to differences in regional requirements and homeowner or builder preferences... electrical, plumbing and heating/air conditioning equipment specifications are not designed specifically for each plan. However, non-plan specific home-building details can be purchased.

Home Building Details:

Because local codes and requirements vary greatly, we recommend that you obtain drawings and bids from licensed contractors to do your mechanical plans. However, if you want to know more about techniques — and deal more confidently with subcontractors — we offer some remarkably useful detail sheets. These details sheets are excellent tools that will enhance your understanding of these technical subjects:

Construction Details

Eight sheets that cover the essentials of stick-built residential home construction. Details foundation options - poured concrete basement, concrete block, or monolithic concrete slab. Shows all aspects of floor, wall, and roof framing. Provides details for roof dormers, eaves, and skylights.  Conforms to requirements of Uniform Building code or BOCA code. Includes a quick index. only $14.95 per set

Plumbing Details

Nine sheets packed with information detailing pipe connection methods, fittings, and sizes. Shows sump-pump and water softener hookups, and septic system construction. Conforms to requirements of National Plumbing Code. Color coded with a glossary of terms and quick index. only $14.95 per set

Electrical Details

Nine sheets that cover all aspects of residential wiring, from simple switch wiring to the complexities of three-phase and service entrance connection. Explains service load calculations and distribution panel wiring. Shows you how to create a floor plan wiring diagram. Conforms to requirements of National Electrical Code. Color coded with a glossary of terms and a quick index. only $14.95 per set

Answers to Common Questions:

Building Codes

All plans are drawn to conform to one or more of the industry's major national building standards in effect at the time they were drawn. However, due to the variety of local building regulations, your plan may need to be modified to comply with local requirements — snow loads, energy loads, seismic zones, etc. Do check them fully and consult your local building officials.

A few states require that all building plans used be drawn by an architect registered in that state. While having your plans reviewed and stamped by such an architect may be prudent, laws which require plans to be redrawn force you to pay unnecessary fees. If your state has such a law, we encourage you to contact your state representative and protest.

How Many Sets Of Plans Will You Need?

The Standard 8-Set Construction Package

Our experience shows that you'll speed every step of construction and avoid costly building errors by ordering enough sets to go around. Each tradesperson wants a set — the general contractor and all subcontractors; foundation, electrical, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, drywall, finish carpenters, and cabinet shop. Don't forget your lending institution, building department and, of course, a set for yourself.

The Minimum 5-Set Construction Package

If you're comfortable with arduous follow-up, this package can save you a few dollars by giving you the option of passing down plan sets as work progresses. You might have enough copies to go around if work goes exactly as scheduled and no plans are lost or damaged. But for only a few dollars more, the 8-set package eliminates these worries.

The Single-Set Decision-Maker Package

We offer this set so you can study the blueprints to plan your dream home in detail. But remember... one set is never enough to build your home... and they're copyrighted.

Copyright Laws

All of the plans on this CD-ROM are protected by copyright laws. You cannot build or modify these plans unless you purchase the construction drawings (such as blueprints or reproducible masters). When you purchase the drawings, you receive a license that lets you legally build or modify a plan.

A plan's value comes from the hundreds of hours a skilled designer invests when creating it. This value is often called 'intellectual property'. When you purchase the drawings, these designers give you permission to use their intellectual property and benefit from the skills and work they invested to develop the plan. This permission is known as a 'license'.

Anyone who builds a home or modifies a plan without purchasing the drawings is in violation of copyright laws. Violating copyright laws is a serious offense and can result in penalties of up to $100,000 per violation.

Professionally designed blueprints are very important because every aspect of your home, from the foundation to the roof, is influenced by blueprints. In fact, a professionally designed blueprint can quickly pay for itself. Please read: Your Best Decision for information on how these blueprints can help you.

"Borrowing Ideas" From A Plan:

Creating a plan (even a changed plan) from a copyrighted plan is illegal unless you have permission to do this. When you purchase the drawings, you receive a license which lets you modify the plan.

Copying Blueprints That You Have Purchased:

If you purchase a reproducible master, then you will be able to make copies of the master. If you purchase blueprints, then you cannot make copies of the blueprints. Please purchase the number of blueprint sets you will need. Usually, most people need at least 8 sets of blueprints to build a home. Also, it usually costs less to buy extra sets at the time of your order, rather than buying them later.

Most design firms stamp their blueprints with colored seals. This is done to notify people the blueprints are copyrighted and that a non-colored seal indicates the blueprint has been illegally reproduced.

Building multiple homes from the same plan:

If you want to construct multiple homes from the same plan, you may need to buy a license for each home. This condition varies among the design firms. Check the plan's license for details, or call our customer service center if you have a question about this.

Shipping & Payment Information:

Your order is processed immediately. Allow 10 working days from our receipt of your order for normal ground delivery. Save time with your credit card and our "800" number. Our delivery service must have a street address or Rural Route Box number — never a post office box. Use a work address if no one is home during the day.

Orders being shipped to Alaska, Hawaii, APO, FPO or Post Office Boxes must go via First Class Mail. Please include the proper postage.

Payment Information:

Only Certified bank checks and money orders are accepted and must be payable in US currency. For speed, we ship international orders Air Parcel Post. Please refer to the chart for the correct shipping cost.

FREE Gift With Your Order

Free Specifications And Contract Form provides the perfect way for you and your builder to agree on the exact materials to use in building and finishing your home before you start construction. This is a must for homeowner's peace of mind.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Exterior Elevations

Exact scale views of the front, rear and both sides of your home, showing exterior materials, details, and all necessary measurements.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Wall Sections

Detailed views of your exterior walls, as sliced through from top to bottom.  These drawings clarify exterior wall construction insulation, flooring, and roofing details.  Depending on your specific geography and climate, your home will be built with either 2x4 or 2x6 exterior walls.  Most professional contractors can easily adapt plans for either requirement.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Kitchen & Bath Cabinet Details

These plans show the specific details and placement of the cabinets in your kitchen and bathrooms as applicable.  Customizing these areas is simpler beginning with these details.  Kitchen and bath cabinet details are available for most plans.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Detailed Floor Plans

Show the placement of all interior walls, the dimensions of rooms, doors, windows, stairways, and other details.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Fireplace Details

When your home includes one or more fireplaces, these detailed drawings will help your mason with their construction and appearance.  It is easy to review details with professionals when you have the plans for reference.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Foundation Plan

With footings and all load-bearing points applicable to your home, including all necessary notation and dimensions.  The type of foundation supplied varies from home to home.  Local conditions and practices will determine whether a basement, crawlspace or a slab is best for you.  Your professional contractor can easily make the necessary adaptation.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Roof Plan

All information necessary to construct the roof for your home is included.  Many blueprints contain framing plans showing all of the roof elements, so you'll know how these details look and fit together.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Cross Section

A detailed, full cross-sectional view through the entire house as if the house was cut from top to bottom.  This elevation helps a contractor understand the interconnections of the construction components.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Schematic Electrical Layouts

These drawings show the suggested locations for your switches, outlets and fixtures.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Stair Details

If stairs are part of the design you selected, specific plans are included for their construction.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Reversed Plans
Reversed Plans Can Make Your Dream Home Just Right !

"That's our dream home... if only the garage were on the other side!".

You could have exactly the home you want by flipping it end-for-end. Check it out by simply using the reverse button in the View screen.

The Reverse button shows you how the blueprints will look if you order a "reversed" blueprint. We'll send you one full set of mirror-image plans (with the writing backwards) as a master guide for you and your builder. The remaining sets of your order will come as normally shown by this CD-ROM so the dimensions and specifications are easily read on the job site... and they will be specially stamped "REVERSED" so there is no construction confusion. We can only send reversed plans with multiple-set orders.

Some reversed plans have "Right reading" letters. This means the picture is reversed but the letters are not reversed. If the plan has a Right-reading reverse, the order screen will say "Right-reading" reverse.

Here's a picture of a reversed plan (to see the non-reversed picture, compare this picture to the Exterior Elevations picture.)

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Customizing A Plan

You can often customize a plan to be just right for you. If fact, many plans have options and services to help you customize it.

Easy modifications to your dream home, such as minor non-structural changes and simple material substitutions, can be made between you and your builder and marked directly on your blueprints. However, if you are considering making major changes to your design, we strongly recommend that you purchase reproducible masters and use the services of a professional designer or architect. For additional information call the Garlinghouse at: 1-860-343-5977.

Many of the design firms offer a customization service and will customize their plans for you. This service is provided for an additional charge. In the specifications you will see the phrase "can be customized" if the design firm offers a customization service for the plan. For more information about customization service, please call the Garlinghouse at 1-860-343-5977.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Reproducible Masters
Reproducible Masters Make Modifications Easier

With reproducible masters (such as vellums), a professional designer can alter the drawings for you. Then you can use the masters to print copies of the modified plans as you need them. By starting with the completed detailed plans, the cost of professional design services may be significantly less.

Reproducible masters are only sold under the terms of a license agreement that you will receive with your order. Should you not agree to the terms, then the masters may be returned unopened for a full refund.

To see if a home's plan is available in a reproducible master you can click on the Order Tab, and look at the Order Form. If a master is available, then the Order Form will have a 'Reproducible Master' price. Also, the Order Form tells you what type of material is used for the master (such as vellum, mylar, etc.)

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Materials List
Remember To Order Your Materials List

It'll help you save money. Available at a modest additional charge, the Materials List gives the quantity, dimensions, and specifications for the major materials needed to build your home. You will get faster, more accurate bids from your contractors and building suppliers and avoid paying for unused materials and waste. Materials Lists are available for most home plans and can only be ordered with a set of home plans.

Due to differences in regional requirements and homeowner or builder preferences... electrical, plumbing and heating/air conditioning equipment specifications are not designed specifically for each plan. However, non-plan specific home building details can be purchased including:

Construction Details

Plumbing Details

Electrical Details

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Home Building Details

Because local codes and requirements vary greatly, we recommend that you obtain drawings and bids from licensed contractors to do your mechanical plans. However, if you want to know more about techniques and deal more confidently with subcontractors we offer some remarkably useful detail sheets. These details sheets are excellent tools that will enhance your understanding of these technical subjects:

Construction Details

Plumbing Details

Electrical Details

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Construction Details

Eight sheets that cover the essentials of stick-built residential home construction. Details foundation options - poured concrete basement, concrete block, or monolithic concrete slab. Shows all aspects of floor, wall, and roof framing. Provides details for roof dormers, eaves, and skylights. Conforms to requirements of Uniform Building code or BOCA code. Includes a quick index. only $14.95 per set

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Plumbing Details

Nine sheets packed with information detailing pipe connection methods, fittings, and sizes. Shows sump-pump and water softener hookups, and septic system construction. Conforms to requirements of National Plumbing Code. Color coded with a glossary of terms and quick index. only $14.95 per set

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Electrical Details

Nine sheets that cover all aspects of residential wiring, from simple switch wiring to the complexities of three-phase and service entrance connection. Explains service load calculations and distribution panel wiring. Shows you how to create a floor plan wiring diagram. Conforms to requirements of National Electrical Code. Color coded with a glossary of terms and a quick index. only $14.95 per set

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Building Codes
An important note:

All plans are drawn to conform to one or more of the industry's major national building standards in effect at the time they were drawn. However, due to the variety of local building regulations, your plan may need to be modified to comply with local requirements — snow loads, energy loads, seismic zones, etc. Do check them fully and consult your local building officials.

A few states require that all building plans used be drawn by an architect registered in that state. While having your plans reviewed and stamped by such an architect may be prudent, laws which require plans to be redrawn force you to pay unnecessary fees. If your state has such a law, we encourage you to contact your state representative and protest.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


How Many Sets Of Plans Will You Need
How Many Sets Of Plans Will You Need?

The Standard 8-Set Construction Package

Our experience shows that you'll speed every step of construction and avoid costly building errors by ordering enough sets to go around. Each tradesperson wants a set — the general contractor and all subcontractors; foundation, electrical, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, drywall, finish carpenters, and cabinet shop. Don't forget your lending institution, building department and, of course, a set for yourself.

The Minimum 5-Set Construction Package

If you're comfortable with arduous follow-up, this package can save you a few dollars by giving you the option of passing down plan sets as work progresses. You might have enough copies to go around if work goes exactly as scheduled and no plans are lost or damaged. But for only a few dollars more, the 8-set package eliminates these worries.

The Single-Set Decision-Maker Package

We offer this set so you can study the blueprints to plan your dream home in detail. But remember... one set is never enough to build your home... and they're copyrighted.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Copyright Laws
Blueprints And Plans Are Protected By Copyright Laws

All of the plans on this CD-ROM are protected by copyright laws. You cannot build or modify these plans unless you purchase the construction drawings (such as blueprints or reproducible masters). When you purchase the drawings, you receive a license that lets you legally build or modify a plan.

A plan's value comes from the hundreds of hours a skilled designer invests when creating it. This value is often called 'intellectual property'. When you purchase the drawings, these designers give you permission to use their intellectual property and benefit from the skills and work they invested to develop the plan. This permission is known as a 'license'.

Anyone who builds a home or modifies a plan without purchasing the drawings is in violation of copyright laws. Violating copyright laws is a serious offense and can result in penalties of up to $100,000 per violation.

Professionally designed blueprints are very important because every aspect of your home, from the foundation to the roof, is influenced by blueprints. In fact, a professionally designed blueprint can quickly pay for itself. Please read: Your Best Decision for information on how these blueprints can help you.

"Borrowing Ideas" From A Plan:

Creating a plan (even a changed plan) from a copyrighted plan is illegal unless you have permission to do this. When you purchase the drawings, you receive a license which lets you modify the plan.

Copying Blueprints That You Have Purchased:

If you purchase a reproducible master, then you will be able to make copies of the master. If you purchase blueprints, then you cannot make copies of the blueprints. Please purchase the number of blueprint sets you will need. Usually, most people need at least 8 sets of blueprints to build a home. Also, it usually costs less to buy extra sets at the time of your order, rather than buying them later.

Most design firms stamp their blueprints with colored seals. This is done to notify people the blueprints are copyrighted and that a non-colored seal indicates the blueprint has been illegally reproduced.

Building multiple homes from the same plan:

If you want to construct multiple homes from the same plan, you may need to buy a license for each home. This condition varies among the design firms. Check the plan's license for details, or call our customer service center if you have a question about this.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Shipping & Payment Information

Your order is processed immediately. Allow 10 working days from our receipt of your order for normal ground delivery. Save time with your credit card and our "800" number. Our delivery service must have a street address or Rural Route Box number - never a post office box. Use a work address if no one is home during the day.

Payment Information

Only Certified bank checks and money orders are accepted and must be payable in US currency. For speed, we ship international orders Air Parcel Post. Please refer to the chart for the correct shipping cost.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


FREE Gift With Your Order

Free Specifications And Contract Form provides the perfect way for you and your builder to agree on the exact materials to use in building and finishing your home before you start construction. This is a must for homeowner's peace of mind.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Attracting New Customers

The "Tour of Homes slide show" is an excellent way to attract attention at public events such as trade shows, parade of homes, home shows, or other public events. The music and special effects will attract people's attention and draw them into your booth. To use this feature, click on Tour of Homes button in the View screen.

Motivating Potential Customers To Contact You

For information on how to generate sales leads and encourage contacts from new customers, read the article called: Prospecting Customers And Generating Sales.

Promotional Assistance

AbbiSoft, Inc would like to help you promote your business. Sometimes, we'll provide a free CD-ROM to be used in a drawing at public events. This encourages more traffic to your booth and you'll benefit by having a record of the potential customers who attended your booth. To see if your event qualifies for this offer, please do the following:

Write a letter to AbbiSoft, Inc with this information:

 Description of the event

 Date of event

 Approximate number of people attending event

Your letter or business letterhead should also have this information about your business:

 Person to contact & their title

 Business name

 Phone number

 Mailing address

 Fax number

 Email address (if you have one).

Send your letter to:

ATTN: PUBLIC EVENT PROMOTIONS

ABBISOFT, INC

PO BOX 743

BLOOMINGTON, IL 61702-0743  USA

Or fax your letter to: 309/663-2601

You'll notice our software license grants you the " Right of public display and public performance". This gives you permission to use our software at public events. We believe our software will be a valuable tool for promoting your businesses.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Selling Land

Sometimes you may have a customer who loves a certain lot, but they are afraid to buy the lot because they can't visualize what type of home would fit on the land. Imagine how your customer would feel if you showed them wonderful homes that are perfect for the lot. You can use this software to find homes that will fit on a lot. Here's how to do this:

1) Click on the Search tab

2) Click on the Other tab

3) Click on the Maximize Criteria button

4) Click on the Criteria tab

5) Enter the Width & Depth criteria for the land. Remember to subtract the setbacks and easements, when entering the land's buildable area.

6) Click on the View Tab

7) Click on the printer button

8) In the Printer window, select "Print All Matching" The printouts generated will show homes that will fit on the land

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Prospecting Customers and Sales
Prospecting Customers and Generating Sales

Finding a new customer can take a great deal of work. Wouldn't it be nice if new customers would just call you on the phone and ask for an appointment?  This could happen if you use creative marketing techniques. Here is a story about a creative marketing campaign:

John is a builder and he needed more customers. In the past, John had tried promoting his business. However, he didn't have much success.  Then one day, John had an idea. He was so excited that he announced his idea by sending out press releases. He sent press releases to the local paper, radio station, and television station. Here is a copy of his press release:

Press Release	For more information contact:

For Immediate Release	John Smith, President

September 27, 1996	Smith Construction Company,

phone: 309/555-1234

Find Your Dream Home In 3 Minutes

Back in the olden days (about 2 years ago), finding the perfect home was time-consuming.

Fortunately, new technology can help people find their dream home.  Smith Construction

Company is providing a free service to help people find the perfect home plan. They will

help you use a powerful computer program known as 'AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM)'.

This CD-ROM contains 2,300 house plans from 12 leading design firms. Finding a home is

easy because you can choose from 65 criteria to find homes you would like. The software

quickly searches through 2,300 house plans and finds all the homes which suit your needs.

You can even prioritize your criteria and the software sorts the plans based on your

priorities. Because of this, your favorite home will likely be one of the first homes you see.

After doing a search, you can view the homes on the computer screen, and print feature

sheets to take with you.

There is no cost or obligation for using this service and it only takes a few minutes.

According to John Smith, company president "We enjoy helping others.  It's really fun

seeing the reactions of the people we help. Some people have spent months looking through

house plan books and when they use our service they are astonished. Within a few minutes

we can usually find a home they like. The service can also help people who have already

decided on a plan because a plan search can help people be more confident about their

decision". To schedule your free plan-search appointment, call Smith Construction at:

309/555-1234.

 ###

John was surprised by the response his press release generated. Within a week he had 23 potential customers schedule appointments for a plan-search. When people came to his office, John showed them how to use the software and answered their questions. While looking at their favorite homes, John offered ideas to help people when building a home. He shared his knowledge with the client, but was careful he wouldn't make them feel like they were receiving a sales pitch.

When people were finished searching, John saved their search criteria and bookmarks in a computer file. He explained the file would help him in case they had any questions about the homes they had found. He also told them he would be receiving new versions of the software with hundreds of new plans. He said he would be happy to call them and let them know when new versions of the software came in.

Some people found plans they liked and John printed them on the backs of paper which had his business letterhead. As people left he told them to call if they had any questions about building homes and suggested they tell others about his plan search service. He also handed them a folder which contained useful information about building homes. One of the documents in his folder was a document called "Your Worst Mistake". That document provided useful information on how to shop for a home plan.

AbbiSoft, Inc has tested a press release that is similar to the one shown above and had a very good response. You may want try this press release to promote your business. Best of all, it will only cost you the price of a few postage stamps to try this. You will have the best response if you are one of the first businesses to use this press release in your city. Send out your press releases today. You have permission to use and modify our press release as long as you do not charge people for using our software.

You also have permission to use the artwork found in the AbbiArt directory of this CD-ROM for the purpose of creating press releases, brochures, advertisements or other literature to inform people of your plan search service.

There are 2 ways you can copy the press release into your word processor. If you have Microsoft® Word for Windows then you can use the file found on the CD-ROM in:  \document\PressRel.doc. Otherwise, you can copy the press release from this help file and paste it into your word processor. To do this, click on the Edit menu shown at the top of this help window and then select Copy. Then highlight the press release and click the copy button. Then go to your word process and paste the text into a document. You may want to send your press-release to newspapers, television stations, and radio stations. The more places which carry your press release, the better the response will be.

John used several creative marketing techniques. First, he attracted interest to his business by creating a newsworthy story. Research has shown that a news story can be up to 12 times more effective than an advertisement. People buy newspapers to read news. They are more likely to read information that is newsworthy. John presented his story in a way to make it interesting by using humor, stories, and specific facts. This increased the chances the media will use his story. It also increases the chance that people will read his story. He was also careful to make his story "news" and avoided things that would make the story look like an advertisement.

In the press release, John used several key words to increase his response -- you'll notice his service is "free" and there is "no obligation". Sometimes the fastest way to kill a sale is to make a customer feel like they are receiving a sales pitch. Nothing about John's press release or his interactions with the prospects made them feel this way. Instead, John gains their confidence by providing them with useful information.

John has done several other things. He has gotten people to visit his office and meet with him. Some of these people might not be looking for a home right now, however they will likely know other people who are and by meeting John they may recommend him to others.

John is also collecting information about his prospects. As they use the software, he learns about their interests and saves the results of what he has learned in a computer file. Plus, as new versions of the software become available, he can contact the prospect to arrange future meetings. Over time these prospects will get to know John and benefit from the knowledge he shares with them. This also increases the chance that those prospects will become customers.

You may want to subscribe to this CD-ROM. Approximately every 6-months we will come out with a new version which will have hundreds of new plans. Also, you'll save money by becoming a subscriber. For more information, please read: Special Offers on Future Releases

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Creating Sales Presentations

AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM) provides many features for creating effective sales presentations.

Here is information on the presentations available and how to use them. Also, details are provided for creating presentation, saving presentations, and electronically distributing a presentation.

Creating Multi-Media Presentations With Music And Animated Special-Effects

You can create multi-media presentations to attract attention at public events such as home shows or trade shows. For details read the article: Attracting New Customers

Improving Your Sales By Using Effective Marketing Literature

You may want to print the following documents and share them with your customers:

Your Worst Mistake (This document explains what to look for when shopping for a home and it overcomes common objections that interfere with sales).You can print that document from this on-line help. However, if you have Microsoft® Word for Windows you'll want to use the document found on the CD-ROM under   \document\WorstRea.doc

Your Best Decision (This document provides helpful information about building a home)

Creating Feature Sheets

You can create feature sheets for any of the homes on this CD-ROM. These feature sheets may help you convince a customer to build the home. Also, if you build a spec home for one of the homes you found on this CD-ROM, then the feature sheet may help you market the home. To create a feature sheet, click on the View tab and then click on the printer button.

Creating Interactive Sales Presentations

In a matter of minutes you can create a presentation that is customized to the interests of your customer. To do this, you simply search for homes based on their criteria and save the results in a file. When you meet with your customer, open your file and show them all the homes you found. Your presentation could use the Tour of Homes slide Show to have the computer show homes to your customer. Or your presentation could be a "hands-on" presentation where your customer uses the software to view plans, magnify plans, reverse plans, and view various parts of the homes. Your customer can even bookmark their favorite homes and do their own searches.

We recommend the "hands-on" approach because it helps you learn more about your customer's needs. This also saves you time because you can let your customers create their own presentations. You can even save your customer's searches and bookmarks for future reference. These presentations are useful for many situations:

If you are a builder you can bookmark the types of homes you like to build and then show them to your customers.

If you are selling land in a subdivision, you can bookmark the types of homes that are be suitable for the subdivision and it's convenants. Also, if you have some narrow lots, you may want to create a file showing homes that will fit on specific lots and show them to customers who like the lots. For details on doing this, read the article called: Selling Land.

When selling homes, you need to show homes to your customers to determine their interests. You could learn their preferences by driving them around to many homes. However, you can save time by using your computer to show your customers examples of homes and qualify their interest before driving them to see homes. Also, you can save a file on your customer's searches and bookmarks. Later you can review this information and compare it to other homes that come on the market. This makes it easy to determine if a home might interest your customer.

How To Create And Save Presentations

To create a presentation, first you will do a search to find homes. You can also bookmark your favorite homes. Then when showing your presentation you can show homes that met the search criteria or just show homes you've bookmarked. Here's how to do this:

Step 1:

1) Click on the Search tab

2) Enter the search criteria

3) After the search criteria is entered, click on the View tab to view the homes

4) You can put bookmarks on homes by clicking on the Bookmark button:

5) When you are finished, save your criteria/bookmarks. To do this, click on File tab and enter the name of your presentation in the first field. Then click on the Save button.

Step 2:  Now you have saved your presentation. Later you can open your presentation and view the bookmarked homes and search criteria. Here's how to open a presentation:

1) Click on the File tab

2) In the first field, choose the name of the presentation you want to open.

3) Click on the Open button

4) Now the software's search criteria is set to the search criteria you had saved and the bookmarks are put on the homes you had bookmarked. To view or change the criteria, click on the Search tab. The search screen will show the criteria that you saved in your presentation.

5) To view the homes you had bookmarked: click on the View Tab, Then click on the View Bookmarks button:

6) Now, all the homes shown are the homes you bookmarked.

Hint: The bookmarks stay on homes when you change your search criteria. You may want to try many searches and save your bookmarks when you are done searching. This will help you find more homes to bookmark.

How To Distribute And Share Your Presentation

You can distribute your presentation on a floppy disk or send your presentation using email. This makes it easy to put your presentation on another computer or share it with somebody else. To use these files, the destination computer needs to have a copy of AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM) CD-ROM and the CD-ROM should be the same version as your CD-ROM. Here's how to share a presentation:

When you save your bookmarks and criteria (in the File tab screen), two files are created in the AbbiSoft directory. Those files have file extensions of 'bmk' and 'cri' and those files contain your presentation and need to be copied to the computer you want to run your presentation on.

For example, say you create a presentation on your desktop computer for a customer named Mr. Smith. Then you want to show him your presentation on your laptop computer. You saved his presentation using the name 'SMITH'. To copy his presentation to your laptop computer, you first copy his files from the AbbiSoft directory (on your desktop computer) onto a floppy disk. These are the files you would copy for the Smith presentation:

smith.bmk

smith.cri

Then you copy those files from your floppy disk and into the AbbiSoft directory on your laptop. When you run the CD-ROM on your laptop, click on the File tab and then open the Smith file.

You may want to subscribe to this CD-ROM. Approximately every 6-months we will come out with a new version which will have hundreds of new plans. Also, you'll save money by becoming a subscriber. For more information, please read: Special Offers on Future Releases

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Special Offers on Future Releases

Approximatly every 6 months, we will be shipping a new version of our CD-ROM with new plans and features. If you are on our mailing list, you will receive discounts and special offers for future releases of our CD-ROM. To be put on our mailing list, please send your name and mailing address to us. Here is how to contact us:

Email:

abbisoft@aol.com

please put ‘Special Offers’ in the subject of your email

Or mail your information to:

Attn: Special Offers

AbbiSoft, Inc

PO Box 743

Bloomington, IL 61702  USA

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Selling Existing Houses

It takes time to learn what a customer is looking for in a home. To do this, some real-estate professions spend many hours driving customers around to look at homes. However, there is a faster and easier way to learn about your customer's interests.

You can use this software to quickly qualify your customer's needs. Also you can save information you've learned about your customer so that you can refer to this information later. Here is how to you can use this software to sell homes:

Step 1: First you may want to help you customers understand how to shop for a home. This can simply your sales process. Feel free to print these documents and share them with your customers:

Your Worst Mistake (This document explains what to look for when shopping for a home and it overcomes common objections that interfere with sales).You can print that document from this on-line help. However, if you have Microsoft® Word for Windows you'll want to use the document found on the CD-ROM under   \document\WorstRea.doc

Your Best Decision (This document provides helpful information about building a home)

Step 2: Next, you create a preference file for your customer. To do this:

1) Click on the Search tab

2) Have the customer enter their search criteria

3) After they enter their criteria, Click on the View tab to see the homes that were found

4) Whenever the customer sees a home they like, have them put a bookmark on the home. You do this by clicking on the Bookmark button:

5) After they are finished viewing the homes, save their criteria and bookmarks in a file. To do this, click on File tab and type their last name in the first field. Then click on the Save button.

6) You may also want to have them experiment with additional searches. This may help your customer see other possibilities and learn things about what they really want in a home.

Step 3: When new houses come on the market, you may want to review your customer's preferences to see how they compare with the homes that are available. The file you saved (in step 2) keeps track of the homes your customer bookmarked. Here is how to use files you save for a customer:

1) Click on the File tab

2) In the first field, choose the name of the customer's file

3) Click on the Open button

4) Now the software's search criteria is set to your customer's preferences. To view their criteria, click on the Search tab. The search screen will show the criteria that your customer had entered

5) To view the homes your customer had bookmarked: click on the View Tab, Then click on the View Bookmarks button:

6) Now, all the homes shown are the homes your customer had bookmarked. Compare these homes to the homes that are for sale. This makes it easy to see if a home might interest your customer.

As an added benefit, you may sell a new construction to a customer who finds a plan they liked. Complete blueprints can be purchase for any of the homes on this CD-ROM and within a few days your customer can start building their home. For more information about blueprints, please read: Your Best Decision

You may want to subscribe to this CD-ROM. Approximately every 6-months we will come out with a new version which will have hundreds of new plans. Also, you'll save money by becoming a subscriber. For more information, please read: Special Offers on Future Releases

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Selling New Construction

To use this CD-ROM for selling new construction, have your customers use the software to search for home plans. Also, you can simplify your marketing effort by helping the customer understand how to shop for a home. You may want to print these articles and give them to your customers:

Your Worst Mistake (This document explains what to look for when shopping for a home and it overcomes common objections that interfere with sales).You can print that document from this on-line help. However, if you have Microsoft® Word for Windows then you'll want to print the document found on the CD-ROM in:  \document\WorstBui.doc

Your Best Decision (This document provides helpful information about building a home)

If your customer doesn't find a home, you may still be able to generate a future sale. To do this, you'll need to save their criteria and bookmarks. Then when you get your next version of this CD-ROM youcan redo their search on a CD-ROM containing additional plans. For details on doing this read the article called: Prospecting Customers and Making Sales.

You may want to subscribe to this CD-ROM. Approximately every 6-months we will come out with a new version which will have hundreds of new plans. Also, you'll save money by becoming a subscriber. For more information, please read: Special Offers on Future Releases

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Marketing A Subdivision

If you are selling land in a subdivision, you may want to have plans showing customers of the types of homes suitable for your subdivision. You can provide these examples by printing feature sheets or you can show a sales presentation on your computer..

To create feature sheets, click on the print button in the View screen.

For creating and showing presentations on your computer, read the article Creating Sales Presentations.

This software can also help you sell land. For details, read the section called Selling Land

For creating multi-media presentations to attract attention at public events such as home shows or open houses, read the article: Attracting New Customers

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Creating Marketing Literature

Improve Your Sales By Using Effective Marketing Literature

You may want to print the following documents and share them with your customers:

Your Worst Mistake (This document explains what to look for when shopping for a home and it overcomes common objections that interfere with sales).You can print that document from this on-line help. However, if you have Microsoft® Word for Windows then you'll want to print the document found on the CD-ROM in:  \document\WorstRea.doc

Your Best Decision (This document provides helpful information about building a home)

Creating Feature Sheets

You can create feature sheets for any of the homes on this CD-ROM. These feature sheets may help you convince a customer to build the home. Also, if you build a spec home for one of the homes you found on this CD-ROM, then the feature sheet may help you market the home. To create a feature sheet, click on the View tab and then click on the printer button.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Marketing Architectural Services
Marketing Architectural And Design Services

One of the first steps of marketing your services is to help the customer understand the value of your services. You may want to print a copy of the article called Your Best Decision and give it to new customers. That document explains the importance of professionally designed blueprints.

When designing a home for someone, one of the first steps is to find out their needs and interests. Our CD-ROM can help you quickly determine your client's interests.

Sometimes, you may have a customer who wants a professionally designed home, but cannot afford the design services they need. For these customers, you may want to suggest they buy an existing plan and hire you to modify the plan. Reproducible masters (such as vellums) can be ordered for many of the homes on this CD-ROM. Then you can customize the masters to suit your clients needs. Because you have started with an existing plan, you may be able to create a 'custom' home for someone who normally could not afford design services. One of the best ways to gain new business is referrals from satisfied customers. By starting with reproducible masters you may be able to help more customers and gain more future business from referrals.

You may want to subscribe to this CD-ROM. Approximately every 6-months we will come out with a new version which will have hundreds of new plans. Also, you'll save money by becoming a subscriber. For more information, please read: Special Offers on Future Releases

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


About
About...

Copyright 1996, AbbiSoft, Inc., All rights reserved

House plans copyrighted by the following companies or their licensors, all rights reserved:

Design Basics, Inc.

Garlinghouse

Home Planners, Inc.

WD Farmer

Piercy & Barclay Designers, Inc.

Carmichael & Dame

National Plan Service USA, Inc.

L.M. Bruinier & Associates

Select Home Designs

Norris Plans Co.

Archway Press, Inc.

SunRidge Design.

Music, Copyright Michael Hogan, All rights reserved.

Portions of the imaging technology of this product are Copyrighted by AccuSoft Corporation.

Copyright (c) 1996 AbbiSoft, Inc.  All rights reserved


Glossary

A

AbbiSoft, Inc.

Active window

B

Bookmark

C

Covenant

Customize

E

Easements

F

Feature sheets

Finished

Full page pictures

L

Laundry room

M

Master bedroom

Maximize criteria

Multi-level

Musts

P

Plan Ordering Service

Potential bedrooms

Printer problems & solutions

Promote your business

R

Reproducible masters

Restore default criteria

Reverse

Right of public display

S

Setbacks

Slider dials

Specifications

T

Tour of Homes

W

Wants

Z

Zoom


AbbiSoft, Inc.

Contacting AbbiSoft:

AbbiSoft Inc.

PO Box 743

Bloomington, IL 61702

Email: abbisoft@aol.com

Internet: http://www.abbisoft.com/

Technical support: 309/662-4492

Corporate Office: 309/662-0901

Software sales: 800-345-HOME

Fax: 309/663-2601


Active window

Is the last picture window you clicked inside of. The active window is where pictures will be displayed when you change pictures in a split view window.


Bookmark

Bookmarks can be put on homes you like. Bookmarks help you find or print homes you like. In the View screen you bookmark a home by clicking on the bookmark button.

You can unbookmark a home by clicking on the unbookmark button.

You can view your bookmarked homes by clicking the view bookmarks button.

Also, when you print plans, you can select an option to print all of your bookmarked plans.


Covenant

Rules that specify requirements of homes built in a subdivision. Covenants protect the value of existing homes and influence the type of homes that are built in a neighborhood.


Customize

Customized plans are available for many of the homes on this CD-ROM. Many of the design firms will customize their plans to suit your needs (for an additional fee). If the designer offers a customization service for a plan, then the home’s specifications will say "This plan can be customized." You can also buy reproducible masters and have your own designer or builder customize a plan. For details on customization, call our Plan Ordering Service.


Easements

Portions of land reserved for utilities (such as gas, electric, sewer) or for other purposes such as roads. When determining the buildable area of your land, remember to subtract the easements.


Feature sheets

Have several pictures printed on one page. Feature sheets also have additional information such as feature summaries, and specifications.

Note: We print the plans as large as possible in the space available. Because of this, the floor plans might not be in proportion to each other.


Finished

Refers to floor space that is livable area. Usually, finished areas have floor coverings (such as carpet, wood, linoleum, tile). A garage or unfinished basement is not considered finished square footage.


Full page pictures

Are reports where each page has one picture, and the picture is enlarged to take up the whole page. Full page pictures make it easy to see the details in a plan.

Note: We print the plans as large as possible in the space available. Because of this, the floor plans might not be in proportion to each other.


Laundry room

Is the area where the washer and dryer is kept. Laundry areas are small and plans can often be customized to change the location of the laundry room. If a laundry area isn’t shown on a plan and the home has a basement, then this software assumes the lower floor will be the location of the laundry room. Also, some homes (such as vacation homes) might not have laundry areas.


Master bedroom

These bedrooms usually have attached full baths and are larger than the other bedrooms of a home.


Maximize criteria

Button is used to quickly find all homes. This is helpful if you want to find all homes that have a particular feature. For example, let’s say you want to see all Victorian homes. To do this, you would click the Maximize Criteria button and then go to the Architecture Tab and search for Victorian homes. The Maximize Criteria button is found in the Other tab.


Multi-level

Have floors at varying levels. Common names for multi-level homes include: quad-level, tri-level, bi-level, split foyer, split-level.


Musts

When you make an item a 'Must' then only homes that have the item are found. If an item isn’t required but is something you would like to have, then make it a 'want'. Remember, many home plans can be customized. In general, it's better to search for wants instead of Musts because Musts might eliminate homes you would like.


Plan Ordering Service

To order plans, or for questions about plans, call:

800-235-5700 or  860-343-5977

or fax inquires to: 860-343-5984

Or write to:

Garlinghouse

PO Box 1717

Middleton, CT 06457


Potential bedrooms

Rooms or areas that could easily be converted into bedrooms (such as den, lofts, bonus rooms, and sometimes formal living areas). Also, some homes might have alternate plans that would offer additional bedrooms. When a home has the potential for other bedrooms, the home's specifications will show a range of bedrooms. For example: "3 - 4" means the home has at least 3 bedrooms and a potential for 4 bedrooms.


Printer problems & solutions

Partial prints, unreadable prints, printer error messages: If you are using a Laser printer, your printer likely doesn’t have enough memory to print the page. You may be able to solve this by reducing the resolution of your printer (to 300 dpi or 150 dpi). If that doesn’t solve the problem, try printing Full page pictures instead of feature sheets. If your printer isn’t a laser printer, then make sure the printer’s ink cartridge or ribbon is working.

Delays in printing: try going into Windows Printer setup and be sure print manager is turned off. This should speed up the printing.

No prints: Be sure your printer is turned on, it is on-line, and has paper.


Promote your business

The "Tour of Homes" slide show is an excellent way to attract attention to your business at trade shows, parade of homes, home shows, or other events. The music and special effects will attract peoples attention and draw them into your booth. Also, we'd like to help you. Sometimes we’ll provide a free CD-ROM to raffle off at your event. This would encourage even more traffic to your booth and you'll benefit by having a record of the potential customers who attended your booth. For more information, read the article Attracting New Customers found in the Getting Down to Business section of this Help.


Reproducible masters

Are home plans that can be reproduced. Also, masters can be modified to customize the plan and the be used to create blue prints. Masters are typically printed on clear, more durable materials (such as vellum or mylar). To see if reproducible masters are available for a home, click on the Order tab.


Restore default criteria

Button resets all criteria to the normal starting values. This button is helpful for resetting criteria after you've done a Maximize Criteria search.


Reverse

Plans are available for homes if you want to build a plan in mirror image.


Right of public display

For copyrighted materials, a person or organization needs written consent to publicly display copyrighted materials (such as pictures) or publicly perform copyrighted materials (such as music). Our software license has granted this written consent to our customers. Because of this, our customers can publicly show and use AbbiSoft's Home-Plan Finder(TM). This lets our customers use our software for trade shows, open houses, home shows, seminars, kiosks, educational purposes, television broadcasts, training videos, newsletters, trade publications, and other public uses that may help our customers (please refer to the software's license agreement for details). We believe our software will be a valuable tool for promoting businesses.


Setbacks

Minimum distances a home must be built from the edges of its property. Often, building codes have rules specifying setbacks from the street or setbacks from neighboring property. Remember to subtract setbacks from the buildable area of your land.


Slider dials

These controls are used to choose wants and Musts. To use a slider dial, click on the dial and while holding down your mouse button, move the dial to the right. After moving the dial, the dial will show the significance of its current setting. If the dial displays a number, then the number is the priority of your want (1= low priority, 9 = high priority, a zero means no preference). If the dial shows an 'M' then you have set a "Must."

If you 'Must' have an item, then slide its dial all the way to the right. For example:

If you 'want' an item, then slide its dial to set a priority of your want (1 = low priority, 9 = high priority).

If the item doesn't matter to you, then let its priority stay at zero. For example:


Specifications

Is a summary of information about the home. This information can be seen by printing a report for a home. You can also see more detailed specifications in the View screen by clicking on the specifications button.


Tour of Homes

The "Tour of Homes" slide show is an excellent way to attract attention to your business at trade shows, parade of homes, home shows, or other events. The music and special effects will attract peoples attention and draw them into your booth. Also, we'd like to help you. Sometimes we'll provide a free CD-ROM to raffle off at your event. This would encourage even more traffic to your booth and you'll benefit by having a record of the potential customers who attended your booth. For more information, read the article called Attracting New Customers found in the Getting Down to Business section of this Help.


Wants

When an item is a 'want', then the item is something you would like to have but the item isn't required. We sort the homes that are found based on your wants. Homes that have more ‘wants’ and higher priority 'wants' will be shown to you first. Because of this sorting, your favorite home will likely be one of the first homes you are shown. If an item is required you can make it a Must instead of a want.


Zoom

You can magnify pictures in the View area by clicking your left mouse button on the picture. Also, to zoom into a specific area, you can draw a box around that area while holding down your left mouse button. To zoom out, click on the right mouse button.