DESIGNING DIFFERENTLY:
WALK YOUR PLANS
Mary Atchley and partner Mark Brown bring your plans to life BEFORE you build!
Every now and then, one of those ideas come along that makes so much sense you wonder where it has been all this time and why it hasn’t come along sooner. Walk Your Plans is that fresh new concept. Meet Mary Atchley of Walk Your Plans Atlanta. She and her partner, Mark Brown opened their franchise last year in Roswell, Georgia
Mary had been thinking about entrepreneurship for the next chapter in her career after having years of corporate experience in telecommunications. When a Walk Your Plans ad popped up on her phone. It immediately caught her attention. The next thing she knew, she and Mark were flying to Ohio to meet with the founders of the company. A short time later they became the owners of the third Walk Your Plans location in the country.
What is Walk Your Plans, you ask? Well, if you have ever built a home, you know how difficult it can be to envision how everything you are looking at on your house plans will actually work in real life once it is built. Walk Your Plans brings your house plans to life by projecting them onto the floor and walls of their 6,000 sf showroom. It allows you to experience how the space in your new home will flow. You can see which areas are too tight, cabinets that are too high or a room size that isn’t nearly as large as you thought. Most importantly, it helps determine what doesn’t work like you thought it would.
By walking through your plans before you build, you are able to make changes in the design phase instead of during construction. Most projects have 10-20 changes with the average change order cost starting around $2,000. If you make a single change while walking your plans, the session has paid for itself. Most of the time, the session will likely save you thousands of dollars. The value of Walk Your Plans is not just significant, it’s a game changer!
They have become a great resource for me in my work. As a realtor & landscape architect, I send all of my clients who are building new homes to meet with Mary to walk their plans as well as their outdoor space.
Many smart homebuilders, architects, interior designers, developers and others have started incorporating Walk Your Plans into their offerings because it is such a great value and alleviates so many potential headaches.
And don’t think Walk Your Plans is just for residential projects. Mary and Mark have had clients from commercial and office to restaurants, golf clubs and more. They even have a client in the aviation industry walking their plane! One notable story Mary shared was when they had restauranteurs visit with their head chef, kitchen staff and front of house team to walk the plans for their new space. In just one hour, they had completely reconfigured the 1200 sf restaurant from its original design. They saved so much time and money realizing the potential flow issues before construction took place.
Mary and Mark have also gotten connected in the community. They have most recently partnered with Sunshine on a Ranney Day to help better design for accessibility in their projects. The benefits are endless.
Walk Your Plans Atlanta is a great addition to Roswell. Visit them at: http://www.walkyourplansatlanta.com and schedule a tour today!