Step right up

No need to wait for spring blooms. Enjoy your fresh landscaping before the planting by projecting floorplans and renderings in life size.

Writer: Michael Crumb
Photographer: Duane Tinkey

Measure twice. Cut once. And walk through digitally projected blueprints as many times as you’d like.

At a new business called Walk Your Plans, homebuilders can literally walk through full-scale projections of their future homes long before construction begins.

That helps clients feel more confident before they move forward with a project, said Ryan Kauffman, director of homes at Caliber Company. He started working with Walk Your Plans after it opened its Grimes studio in June 2025.

“We have a pretty full-service architectural component to our business, and [Walk Your Plans] allows us to use this when we’re very close to final design and contract for a home build,” Kauffman said. “It can build confidence and get clients to be more comfortable taking the next step.”

He said the studio visits give clients a sense of their project’s size and space. “The clients we’ve brought here have been thrilled with the ability to do that,” he said.

“We might catch something here before construction begins, maybe some clearances around a bathtub or a door frame or kitchen cabinets,” he added. “None of them are necessarily hard revisions to make, but we’ve definitely been able to catch a few things that we were able to improve before the build.”

James Machamer and his wife, Lorie, opened the Grimes office of Walk Your Plans on June 9. Using high-powered projectors and proprietary software, Walk Your Plans lets clients catch design issues that might not be obvious until walls are up — potentially saving tens of thousands in change orders.

Does a door or window need to be moved? Does a room need to be bigger or smaller? Does a floor plan need to be rearranged? If so, the Walk Your Plans program allows users to mark those changes in the plans.

“If something needs to be tweaked before they begin building, it’s better to get in here and get a look at that, get a fresh frame of reference, make those changes before the studs go up,” Machamer said. “Once the studs are up and all the mechanical, electrical and plumbing is in, once you start making changes to that, that’s where it starts getting expensive.”

Machamer said the technology works for everything from homes and offices to retail spaces and remodels. He works with architects, home builders, contractors, interior designers and landscape architects.

He added that the walk-through process leads to greater communication, collaboration and trust between all the stakeholders, from architect and contractor to subcontractors and buyers. It also gives clients a sense of ownership before they even sign a contract.

“Once they walk in that front door, it becomes their home,” he said.

Clayton Garrison, president of the landscape design company Creative Nature, said Walk Your Plans provides a similar benefit to homeowners who are designing or updating landscapes.

“Landscaping is super visual, and it’s difficult when you look at a 2-D drawing to see what your space is going to look like,” he said. “By bringing them here, it helps them visualize how big their space is, what their furniture is going to look like in the space, how they will use their space and what it’s going to look like when they’re living in it.”

Garrison said a good landscape complements the home.

“It’s a major piece of what your home looks like,” he said. “How it presents itself and how you use that space outside, it all has to function together. The landscaping is the first impression. It’s a function of their home, how they entertain, how they host.”

Garrison said Walk Your Plans provides a unique perspective to clients.

“It’s just like a wow factor,” he said. “Just being able to bring a client to literally, as the name says, walk your plans, that helps them better visualize and get excited about what’s to come.”