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Floor Plan Templates
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Floor Plan Examples & Templates
Edraw content team, do you want to make your floor plan .
EdrawMax specializes in diagramming and visualizing. Learn from this article to know everything about floor plan examples and templates , and how to use them. Just try it free now!
A floor plan is a 2D schematic drawing that visually represents the layout and structure of rooms, traffic patterns, and living spaces at a single level of a structure in an overhead view like a scaled diagram. EdrawMax is the best floor plan maker as it gives you free professional templates that you can customize to create a personalized floor plan for your house or building. A floor plan examples and templates can help you design a space-effective floor plan that optimizes the usage of available space. Here, we will tell you about the types and methods of using floor plan templates.
1. Free Floor Plan Examples & Templates
Easily create a beautiful and efficient floor plan using free floor plan templates on EdrawMax. A floor plan is similar to blueprints essential when building, renovating or designing a house. Floor plans depict the relationship between the spaces, rooms, and furniture layout of a house that helps you create a nice flow on how people will move through the property and how it will look after completion. With a floor plan example , you can specify the wall structure and position of doors, windows, and furniture in your house. EdrawMax gives you 15 types of floor plan templates for various structures, properties, public areas, and homes.
- Home Plan Examples
- Office Layout Examples
- Store Layout Examples
- Public Area Floor Plan Examples
- Garden Design Examples
- Seating Chart Examples
- Evacuation Plan Examples
- Security & Access Plan Examples
- Reflected Ceiling Plan Examples
- HVAC Plan Examples
- Plumbing & Piping Plan Examples
- Elevation Plan Examples
- Wardrobe Plan Examples
- Floor Plan Examples for Word/PPT/PDF
1.1 Home Plan Examples
Home plan templates help you create a proper floor plan of your house with construction documents about the structure and layout, the required materials, and detailed blueprints. A home plan illustrates every detail, physical feature, and design of your house. EdrawMax gives you home plan examples and templates to create 2D home plans, apartment home plans, one-floor home plans, two-floor home plans, and flat home plans.
Example 1: House Plan Example
A house plan is a set of construction or working drawings that define all the construction specifications of a residential house such as the dimensions, materials, layout, installation methods, and techniques. The colored house plan usually provides a set of blueprints drawings like site plans, floor plans, elevations, sections, foundation plan, framing plan, sub-floor plan, roof plan, interior elevation, structural layouts, and others. A color house plan can also be an open floor plan which is made possible by curtain wall technology, engineered lumber, and truss systems, and thoughtful structural design which allows for larger clear-spans than formerly possible in residential constructions. Instead of creating a house plan for your clients from scratch, try using EdrawMax’s features and create color house plans with fewer efforts.
Example 2: House Blueprint
Here is a house blueprint, from which you can see how the rooms are arranged, and the exit route also. Floor plans are one such tool that bond between physical features such as rooms, spaces, and entities like furniture in the form of a scale drawing. In short, it is an architectural depiction of a building. Learn more details from this blueprint, or try to make yours with ease.
Example 3: House Plan Template
Here is a house plan which contains a swimming pool. Floor plans are one such tool that bond between physical features such as rooms, spaces, and entities like furniture in the form of a scale drawing. In short, it is an architectural depiction of a building. A floor plan helps plan and decide how to form rooms in the available space and organize it to give it an impressive look on the whole when seen from the top. Floor plans are quite constructive for office, home, and real estate. Learn more details from this floor plan, or try to make yours with ease.
1.2 Office Layout Examples
An office layout visualizes the structure of walls and arrangement of furniture, electrical products, and the division of workspace in an office. Office floor plan templates help you create a perfect office layout that divides the workplace between employees with various jobs to give them the maximum benefit of the available workspace. EdrawMax gives you office layout examples and templates to create basic office layouts (single-bund, two-bund, three-bunds), cubicle office layouts, open office layouts, co-working office layouts, hybrid offices, and home offices.
Example 4: Office Layout Sample
Your company's corporate statement is reflected in the workplace layout. More than that, it provides a healthy environment in which everyone may feel at ease while also being productive. As a result, it's ideal to design your office floor plan around the ambiance you wish to create. The word "office layout" refers to how an office is designed and decorated. It considers all of the necessary equipment, supplies, and accessories, as well as the layout and style of an office. All operations and staff may function efficiently and effectively because they are contained inside the given floor area.
Example 5: Office Layout Example
Office layout refers to the arrangement and placing of office employees and equipment within each department or section of the office with a view to making the best possible utilization of the available space. The below diagram shows an office layout where the meeting room, conference rooms, pantry areas, and the CEO's room are aligned in a way that the proper space is utilized.
Example 6: Office Layout Template
An office floor plan is a type of drawing that shows you the layout of your office space from above. An office floor plan will also show the layout of offices, meeting rooms, and office furniture. An office floor plan is the layout of a space from a top view. It allows the office owner to know how to use the space, irrespective of its area, correctly. The office layout or office floor plan may have areas like elevators, stairs, and more, placed along with the rooms, conference area, and furniture. Learn more details from this office floor plan, and try to make yours with ease now.
1.3 Store Layout Examples
A store layout maps the floor space and the position of items in a store. We use these layouts to illustrate the traffic flow, checkout area, item displays, and store lighting. Store floor plan templates make it easier to create efficient and cost-effective store layouts. EdrawMax gives you free store layout templates that help you optimize the use of your space, engage customers to come and buy from your store, and highlight significant brands.
Example 7: Restaurant Seating Chart
This is an illustration of a restaurant floor plan. A restaurant floor plan is a diagram of your business's physical space that depicts all of its features. This section includes the eating area, waiting area, kitchen, storage, and bathroom, as well as how they interact in your space. Few customers examine the layout of a restaurant's dining, bar, and kitchen areas, yet it can have a significant impact on how guests perceive the space and how quickly personnel can move through it during a service. A well-designed restaurant floor plan can increase profit margins by allowing waiters to travel faster between the front and back of the house, serve customers more effectively, and shift tables more rapidly.
Example 8: Store Seating Layout
A seating plan is a schematic or set of written or verbal instructions that tells people where they should sit. It is widely utilized for a variety of purposes. Seating layouts serve a variety of purposes. Create a free seating chart for your interior design projects with EdrawMax Online. Over 25 million individuals have enrolled for the free seating chart builder, and the template community is continually updated. The show hall lobby floor seating chart is useful for understanding the floor design's basic layout. If the event is an exhibition, the tables and chairs are simply removed to make place for the exhibitors, with the buffet set against the wall.
Example 9: Shopping Mall Seating Chart
This is a seating layout for the main hall. On a seating plan, seats in a performance hall or theater are organized by rows, sections, and levels. Each seat in the seating chart is labeled with a graphical representation of its location in relation to other seats and the venue's overall layout. You can make your own seating layout in EdrawMax from a selection of templates.
1.4 Public Area Floor Plan Examples
Public area floor plans visually represent the structure, traffic flow, position of specific areas, and a layout design of public establishments. These floor plans help contractors and architects develop a beautiful, simple, and efficient layout of public areas. You can edit any public area floor plan example on EdrawMax to create floor plans for hospitals, supermarkets, shopping districts, museums, etc. Get professional templates and make public area floor plans for free.
Example 10: Hospital Floor Plan
A hospital floor plan is a drawing that visualizes the structure, layout, functioning, and traffic flow of hospitals or health care centers. Hospital floor plan templates help you create space-efficient hospital layouts that imply the proper distribution of space for health and care. EdrawMax is the best hospital floor plan maker as it gives you hospital floor plan examples that you easily customize and a symbols library with thousands of symbols to make a hospital floor plan.
Planning the hospital floor layout of a new hospital or reconfiguring an existing one is a complex task. The development of quantitative planning approaches has gotten a lot of attention since the late 1970s (Elshafei 1977). Patients' anxiety can be exacerbated by a confusing hospital floor layout (Landro 2014), and uncertainty in patient flows challenges strategic decision-making in healthcare (Blumenthal 2009). In addition, new treatment methods, shorter lengths of stay, and a shift from inpatient to outpatient care can cause variation and uncertainty in hospital-wide patient flow.
Example 11: Supermarket Floor Plan
A supermarket floor plan is a 2D drawing that visually represents the floor space design of a supermarket or a grocery store with the layout of grids and placement of items. supermarket floor plan examples and templates help you save time and effort when creating a space-effective store layout that can influence customer's behavior. EdrawMax is the best grocery floor plan maker as it gives you free templates that you can easily customize to create a floor plan.
Example 12: White House Floor Plan
The building occupies a floor space of 55,000 square feet and 67000 square feet, including the wings. In addition to 130 rooms and 35 washrooms, the white house floor plan shows three elevators, a tennis court, a bowling alley, and so much more. It is as beautiful as it is functional, making sure the first family and the president have access to all comforts.
1.5 Garden Design Examples
A garden design is a simple floor plan that helps owners design a personalized layout of their gardens and landscapes. garden design examples involve the planting plans for gardens, supporting features like tee houses, décor, water features, a soft scape, and a hardscape. EdrawMax gives you free templates to create beautiful, cost-effective, environmentally friendly garden designs. A proper garden design increases the property value of your house.
Example 13: Flower Garden Design
Here is an example of a flower garden floor plan, complete with ponds, trees, plants, park benches, and many other elements you'd expect to find in a garden. This garden floor plan template shows a way to visualize how people will move through space. Garden apartment tends to be at ground level or just partially below grade and are often one-bedroom units.
Example 14: Garden Desing for Word
Garden design is an art tradition, and professional design approach, practiced by garden oweners or designers who combine nature with cultural context. Updating your house's gardening is a terrific way to add value to your home while also creating calm and gathering spaces outside. There are numerous alternatives and features to consider, whether you want to focus on enhancing curb appeal with a reinvented front yard, creating a rear getaway with dining and gathering areas, or both.
Example 15: Garden Design for Excel
On a residential block of land, a front garden is the portion of land between the street and the front of the house. If it is covered in grass, it may be referred to as a front lawn. Gardens have an important part to play in our ecosystems as garden plants help to slow run-off, minimizing the risk of localized flash flooding. Here is an example of garden design for Excel, you can export into the excel format.
1.6 Seating Chart Examples
A seating plan depicts the arrangement of chairs, tables, and seats that optimizes the usage of available space, making it possible to conduct a social or personal event in a small venue with many guests where everyone gets good seats and personal space. Every seating plan includes seating chairs and tables, seating equipment, and the venue. EdrawMax gives you seating chart examples to create school seating plans (classroom/lecture), wedding seating plans, restaurant seating plans, cinema seating plans, and airplane seating plans.
Example 16: Seating Chart Template
The wedding seating chart template that follows shows the 8-person seating arrangements as well as the adjacent chart that lists the names of the guests who will sit at that table. Understanding the full structure of the venue and jotting down facts like space dimensions, electric outlet placements, and others is the first step in creating a seating chart. On a cheerful day, choose the table shapes and sizes before determining the number of tables needed! As you've probably figured out by now, writing down every step will not solve every problem. Instead, establishing a digital wedding seating chart that can be shared with important decision-makers is strongly advised.
Example 17: Seating Chart Example
The round-table and rectangular-shaped arrangements are depicted in the following Banquet Seating Chart. You can either print this wedding's seating chart or use it as inspiration to create a custom one for your wedding with EdrawMax. As seen in the seating chart below, you can use the additional space to write down the names of the guests in order to avoid confusion at the rehearsal dinner or the main wedding reception. EdrawMax has free wedding seating chart designs that make it simple to build similar charts.
Example 18: Seating Plan Example
The Seating Chart template that follows shows the 8-person seating arrangements as well as the adjacent chart that lists the names of the guests who will sit at that table. Understanding the full structure of the venue and jotting down facts like space dimensions, electric outlet placements, and others is the first step in creating a seating chart. On a cheerful day, choose the table shapes and sizes before determining the number of tables needed! As you've probably figured out by now, writing down every step will not solve every problem. Instead, establishing a digital wedding seating chart that can be shared with important decision-makers is strongly advised.
1.7 Evacuation Plan Examples
An evacuation plan illustrates the guidelines for evacuating a house, building, industry, campus, or a city during an emergency such as severe weather, fire, earthquake, and other natural disasters. These plans help you visualize every detail, instruction, and action code in an emergency. The evacuation plan examples on EdrawMax allows you easily create a foolproof and easy-to-understand evacuation plan. EdrawMax gives you free templates to make fire escape plans, hurricane evacuation plans, wildlife evacuation plans, and earthquake evacuation plans.
Example 19: Fire Evacuation Plan
Example 20: Office Evacuation Plan
If emergencies occur, building management department must ensure ordered and timely evacuation. To do so, the building management should develop an emergency evacuation plan which will be posted in key locations throughout each floor. That is why an office emergency evacuation plan is so important.
Example 21: Building Evacuation Plan
An emergency evacuation plan spells out what one should do in an emergency. A systematic emergency exit plan helps to efficiently and safely get people away from an area where there is an imminent threat, ongoing threat, or a hazard to lives or property. As the image suggests, there are three stages of evacuation, immediate evacuation, lateral evacuation, and partial evacuation.
1.8 Security & Access Plan Examples
A security access plan is an essential part of a building or house plan that visually represents the position of security cameras, detailed equipment, and control access of a security system. We use floor plan templates to develop schematic drawings of the caballing layouts and equipment similar to a wiring diagram illustrating security control systems. EdrawMax gives you free templates to create security access plans with guidelines for the security managers to install a foolproof security and access system in the house.
Example 22: Security Access Plan
This is a floor plan about warehouse security. Many commercial firms consider warehouse security to be one of the most critical components of their operations. As a result, shipping firms and storage facilities must have physical barriers and security deterrents in place to prevent illegal entry.
Example 23: Building Security Access Plan
Access control is a security technique that regulates who or what can view or use resources in a computing environment. There are two types of access control when it comes to security, physical and logical. Physical access control limits access to campuses, buildings, rooms, and physical IT assets. Building security access diagrams are very helpful when creating the floor plan of any building as it lets the builder or the architect know what kind of security measures has to be taken into consideration while constructing the building. Architects can build security access diagrams using offline or online tools like EdrawMax as it provides a library of icons, tools, and other important aspects of creating the security access floor plan.
Example 24: Home Sensor Security Plan
Home security systems work on the simple concept of securing entry points into a home with sensors that communicate with a control panel or command center installed in a convenient location somewhere in the home. As shown in the security plan below, the sensors are typically placed in doors that lead to and from a house as well as easily accessible windows, particularly any that open, especially those at ground level. These security components, when armed, protect a given space by creating an invisible zone that cannot be breached without sounding an alarm. Security planning is designing, implementing, monitoring, reviewing, and continually improving practices for security risk management.
1.9 Reflected Ceiling Plan Examples
A reflected ceiling plan visually represents the layout, details, features, and fixtures of a ceiling in a mirror reflected view. RCP templates make it easier for architects and designers to create a detailed document that illustrates the physical features, components, and design. With the reflected ceiling plan examples and free templates on EdrawMax, you can create lighting RCP, air vents/conditioning RCP, and sprinkler systems for safety RCP.
Example 25: Reflected Ceiling Plan Lighting
A Reflected Ceiling Plan is an architectural drawing in which the plan of a ceiling is projected on a flat plane directly below, showing the orientation of various electrical or mechanical devices within the ceiling.Maintain your budget because you do not need to renovate everything at once; the trick is to renovate a few things at a time.The best design is one that is both innovative and practical; the worst design is one that is neither.Keep in mind that you should select the proper style and level of detail based on your or your client's requirements.Always double-check your measurements; if they're off by even a fraction of an inch, the whole thing is invalidated, and you'll have to repeat the process.
Example 26: Lighting System RCP
A reflected ceiling plan for an office including 4 closed rooms and a large space divided into partitions showing the distribution of light sources for the whole office. The first room is a meeting room illuminated by 4 surface fluorescent lights. The second room is divided into 4 partitions; each illuminated by 1 light surface mounted and the corridor is illuminated by 4 light surfaces mounted and 4 2-light bars. The third room has 2 suspended light pendants and the fourth has 1 suspended light pendant.
Example 27: Reflected Ceiling Plan Revit
A reflected ceiling plan for a house showing the light sources at this house. The house includes 3 bedrooms each with a bathroom, a master bedroom, a separated bathroom, a kitchen, and the reception. The master bedroom has a ceiling light outlet, 5 light surfaces mounted, and 2 1-light bars. The dressing inside has 4 light surfaces mounted whereas the bathroom has 3 light surfaces mounted, and an 8-light bar.
1.10 HVAC Plan Examples
We use HVAC plans to map the functioning and layout of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning units and equipment in a building, house, industry, or other establishments. The HVAC floor plan templates help you create a schematic diagram illustrating its components and devices. EdrawMax gives you HVAC plans examples and templates to design various HVAC systems such as the standard split system, ductless split system, packaged system, and geothermal system.
Example 28: HVAC Floor Plan
HVAC floor plans are drawings created by specialized engineers that include all the details required to develop, install, and maintain a building's heating and cooling system. The HVAC floor plan is critical and is created after the building's floor plans have been completed. The engineers apply their knowledge to make the most effective and efficient system possible. This system requires minimal wiring and costs while still meeting the needs of the building's occupants. HVAC plans can be used in various ways because they provide the overall floor plan for heating, cooling, and ventilation.
Example 29: HVAC System Diagram
In the following HVAC system diagram, we have a mixing box, dehumidification unit, controlled zone, cooling coil unit, heating coil unit, extract fan, damper, air handling unit, gas burner, exhaust, and more. It should be noted here that HVAC systems are milestones of building mechanical systems that provide thermal comfort for occupants accompanied by indoor air quality. According to multiple zones, locations, and distribution, HVAC systems can be classified into central and local systems. Primary HVAC equipment includes heating, ventilation, and cooling or air-conditioning equipment.
Example 30: HVAC Diagram Example
HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Such systems provide heating and cooling to residential and commercial buildings. In the day-to-day world, you can find HVAC systems anywhere from single-family homes to submarines, where they provide the means for environmental comfort. In the following HVAC diagram, we have illustrated how the HVAC works and its main components. For instance, while designing an HVAC diagram, always remember to add a Chiller/Boiler, Cooling/Heating Coil, Supply Air, Thermal Zone, and Dampers.
1.11 Plumbing & Piping Plan Examples
A plumbing & piping plan visually represents the components and functioning of a plumbing system in houses, buildings, and other establishments. It is a technical drawing that helps you improve the water quality, reduce water bills, increase the lifespan of plumbing systems, and increases home value. EdrawMax gives you plumbing plan examples and templates to design water supply and piping systems, drain-waster-vent, kitchen, and bathroom plumbing plans.
Example 31: Water Supply Plumbing Plan
The water system is installed for the flow of water in different directions. This system varies from building to building depending upon water distribution purposes like drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing, watering plants, watering animals, irrigating gardens or fields. The water is distributed to the kitchen, bathrooms, garden, laundry, garage, and pool areas. So, depending on all these factors, the water supply plumbing system is categorized into four main types:
- Dead-end or Tree Distribution system
- Gridiron Distribution System
- Circular or ring Distribution System
- Radial Distribution System
Here is a water supply system plan that illustrates the flow of water from the bottom to the top tank, and then it is distributed in the further sections of the building.
Example 32: House Tap Water Supply plumbing Plan
This house tap water supply plumbing plan shows how to plump your home. The various plumbing pipes are represented by the different colored lines in this drawing. The blue bars represent the freshwater supply coming into the house. Your home's plumbing is divided into two basic systems: one that brings in clean water and another that removes dirty water. Your fixtures, such as sinks, showers, toilets, washing machines, and dishwashers, connect in the middle. Once inside your home, your clean water supply is divided into cold and hot water systems, as illustrated in the House tap water supply plumbing plan.
Example 33: Apartment Plumbing Plan
The apartment's hot and cold water supply system is depicted in the restaurant water supply plumbing plan. A restaurant is a space that prepares and serves food and beverages to customers for a fee. Meals are typically fit and consumed on-site, but many restaurants also provide take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants differ greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide range of cuisines and service models ranging from low-cost, fast food restaurants and cafeterias to mid-priced family restaurants to high-end luxury establishments. Restaurants are popular places for recreation and the setting for many impressions and memories; therefore, their construction and design necessitate special consideration in this Restaurant water supply plumbing plan.
1.12 Elevation Plan Examples
An elevation plan is a graphical representation of one side of the house that helps owners estimate the construction costs and timeline. It is an essential document that can speed up the house approval process. Elevation plan templates help you create a detailed drawing that depicts the finished appearance of one of the four sides of the house. The elevation plan templates on EdrawMax enables you to create building elevations, house elevations, kitchen elevations, bathroom elevations, and cabinet elevations.
Example 34: Building Elevation Diagram
The building elevation diagram is an orthographic projection drawing of one side of the house. An elevation drawing aims to show the finished appearance of a given side of the house and provide vertical height dimensions. Typically, four elevations are drawn, one for each side of the house. A building elevation diagram refers to how a structure's front, side, or back is designed. When builders use the term, they refer to the various methods of building a house's exterior. Buyers often choose at least three to five elevations, depending on the subdivision.
Example 35: Building Elevation Plan
The building elevation The title indicates which side of the house the drawing depicts. Some architects and drafters use compass directions to refer to a face of a home facing a specific focus on a site. We simplify it by referring to how the plan is oriented on paper, such as the Building elevation, which shows how the elevations correspond to the floor plans because we do not know how you will place your home on the ground. Scale compares the drawing on paper to the real thing built in the real world. We typically use a 1/4"=1'-0" scale for our elevations.
Example 36: Building Elevation Example
The 2-dimensional representation of a building form, as shown from the vertical orthographic plane, is referred to as a building elevation. To put it simply, a 3D object is represented by a series of 2D drawings as seen from various vertical planes. The term elevation can refer to the height of a building structure or a piece of land. In this context, elevation is commonly referred to as Average Mean Sea Level. Building elevation drawings are orthographic elevations, which means they are two-dimensional flat drawings. According to Merriam Webster, orthographic projection is the projection of a single view of an object onto a drawing surface.
1.14 Wardrobe Plan Examples
A wardrobe plan makes it easier for you to create a proper closet design that illustrates every detail and function of your wardrobe. The wardrobe plan examples and templates help you design functional wardrobe layouts that optimize the available space, give you enough storage space to store and display your wardrobe, shoes, jewelry, and purses, and are cost-effective. EdrawMax gives you free templates for walk-in closets, reach-in closets, wardrobe closets, and linen closet plans.
Example 37: Closet Design Diagram
A closet is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. As shown in the image, there are several ways for improving a closet design like, use the vertical dimension, access lighting, understand the choice of wardrobe, and design invisibility. The quickest and smartest way to increase storage capacity in an existing closet is with a standardized closet system. The image shows that there is a proper space allocated for drawers, shoes, and hanging clothes like suits or floral print dresses. Instead of creating the closet design from scratch, try using EdrawMax’s pre-built designs that would help you create a highly customized closet design for your client.
Example 38: Closet Plan
A free customizable closet plan template is provided to download and print. Quickly get a head-start when creating your own closet plan. Planning the closet until it becomes the desired result you want before making it will save you the trouble of replacing and save time and money.
Example 39: Wardrobe Design Template
A free customizable simple wardrobe design template is provided to download and print. Quickly get a head-start when creating your own simple wardrobe design. Simple, useful and creative; it is a popular choice to design your own wardrobe.
1.15 Floor Plan for Word / PPT / Excel
Creating a floor plan on MS Word is a hard and time-consuming task as you don't get proper symbols to represent the components and details of the floor plan. EdrawMax gives you a collection of floor plan templates that you can customize. It also features a symbols library with thousands of floor plan symbols to make your diagram. EdrawMax allows you to export, save, or share your diagram in Word, PPT, PD, and multiple other formats when your diagram is complete.
Example 40: Floor Plan Example for Word
This apartment floor plan is a high-quality architect's plan print of the main apartments from the hit TV show Friends. Friends Apartment Floor Plan has been painstakingly designed to match the flats seen in the show, including the overall floor plan, furniture, and other minute details like lamps and faucets. The majority of the tv show takes place within a one-block radius of New York City. The Central Perk Coffee House, located on the ground floor of the building, is a favorite hangout for friends. Monica's apartment and the boys' apartment, which Joey and Chandler occupied, are located on the third floor of the building, up the stairs.
Example 41: Floor Plan Example for PPT
When looking for an apartment online, floor plans are useful for learning about the unit's layout.A traditional floor plan is a two-dimensional drawing drawn to scale from above that shows the apartment layout from above. It depicts the rooms and their locations in relation to one another, as well as the placement of fixtures, windows, and doorways.
Example 42: Floor Plan Example for Excel
Here is an example of big house floor plan, which includes several kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms, in some degree, this house is suitable for many people to live. A floor plan is a construction tool that combines physical features such as rooms and spaces with entities such as furniture in the form of scale drawings. In short, it is an architectural depiction of a building. Check more details from this diagram and learn more in this template gallery.
2. How to Use Floor Plan Templates
EdrawMax is vector-based software that provides various templates for your floor plan. It provides an easily understandable interface for its users to draw efficiently and helps users edit existing templates and layouts and make their designs or template. It also provides 26000+ symbols to illustrate your floor plan. You can learn how to make floor plan in details from this floor plan guide .
2.1 Make Floor Plan from Desktop
There are two methods of using floor plan templates to design a perfect layout. The first method lets you develop a floor plan after downloading the template and the EdrawMax diagramming software on your computer. Following is the guide for the first method on how to use floor plan templates.
Step1 Install EdrawMax
You can edit the templates directly from this page. First of all, when your mouse click to the templates on this page, you can download the EdrawMax easily, or you can download EdrawMax here.
Step2 Download the Template
After installing EdrawMax, you can go and download the template by clicking on the bottom right corner or look for a template in the EdrawMax library without going online in desktop.
Step3 Open the Template
After downloading the template, you can double click to open it in EdrawMax diagramming software, or you can open EdrawMax beforehand and navigate to the template to open it. Every floor plan diagram is incomplete without symbols. Head to the 'Symbols' section and click on the 'floor plan ' and 'Floor Plan' to import important symbols. Learn more floor plan symbols and find symbols you want here.
Step4 Customize the Floor Plan Template
After opening it, the next step is to customize and edit the floor plan template. EdrawMax gives you various unique diagramming tools that help you edit the template any way you want. You can change the color and the font liner of the template. You can edit the layout and include the list of requirements, measure dimensions, and render features using floor plan symbols from the EdrawMax symbol library. EdrawMax features a comprehensive library with 26000+ professional symbols that you can use for free with an easy drag and drop .
Step5 Save or Export
After you customize the floor plan template and complete your floor plan, the next step is to save or export your drawing. EdrawMax supports various document formats, which means you can export your drawing in any format you want, such as Microsoft Office, pdf, graphics, HTML, Visio, and many others. Export your drawing by going to the ' File ' option in the top menu bar and clicking on ' export '. After that, select the document format and click ' ok '. You can also share your drawing on social media or print it directly from EdrawMax. EdrawMax also gives you a presentation mode that you can use to show your drawing to others or your team members.
2.2 Make Floor Plan Online
You can use the following guide if you want to create your buidling plan online. EdrawMax Online gives you free templates to select and customize and share without downloading. It also provides you with all the drawing tools in the EdrawMax software.
Step1 Click to Duplicate Online
Just click the right bottom corner to choose ' duplicate ' template online, then you can go to the online EdrawMax template community . You can head to the fire escape plan template page, and learn more or use directly.
Step2 Search for More Templates
To search for more templates, go to the EdrawMax template community and search for the template you want. You can scroll down or search with the full name of the floor plan template to get it quickly.
Open the template you want to customize and click on the ' duplicate ' option. After clicking, the template will open with EdrawMax Online. Every floor plan diagram is incomplete without symbols. Head to the 'Symbols' section and click on the 'floor plan ' and 'Floor Plan' to import important symbols. Learn more floor plan symbols and find symbols you want here.
Step4 Cusromize the template
Customize and edit the floor plan template after clicking on the duplicate option and getting the drawing canvas with the template you selected. EdrawMax features unique diagramming tools that help you customize the template and make whatever changes you want. You can change the color and the font liner of the template. You can edit the layout and include the list of requirements, measure dimensions, and render features using floor plan symbols from the EdrawMax symbol library. EdrawMax also features a comprehensive library with 26000+ professional symbols that you can use for free with an easy drag and drop .
Step5 Save or export
After your floor plan is complete, the next step is to save or export your drawing. EdrawMax gives you the same features as the EdrawMax diagramming software. It also supports multiple document formats so that you can export your drawing in any format. You can save and share your document in pdf, graphics, HTML, Visio, Microsoft Excel, and other popular formats. Click on the ' file ' menu and go to ' export '. Click the format you want and enter. EdrawMax features a presentation mode and allows you to share your drawing on social media. Or you can " Publish " your floor plan in the template community.
3.Free Floor Plan Software
EdrawMax is the best free floor plan software that comes with a wide collection of professional templates that you can get and customize for free. Using a floor plan example to develop a floor plan makes your job much easier and helps save your time. Every floor plan layout is different, and you need many specific symbols to depict its elements. The EdrawMax template community provides easily editable templates with the correct design layout. The symbol library gives you more than 26000 unique symbols in your diagram. Professionals prefer EdrawMax for its clean user interface and best team collaboration features. EdrawMax is everyone's first choice because
- EdrawMax comes with free floor plan examples & templates that are 100 percent customizable and editable.
- With the present built-in option, you can easily share the floor plan with your team and see the live revisions made by your team.
- EdrawMax has a strong community of 25 million users who update the template community with their creative projects.
- EdrawMax is considered the best free floor plan software for beginners and professionals because of the user-friendly dashboard and easy drag-and-drop feature.
- It supports to export and import files into multiple formats, including MS Office, Graphics, PDF, HTML, Visio, and more.
- All of your floor plan designs are encrypted to the highest level of security. So, you do not have to worry about losing your creative designs.
4. Final Thoughts
Easily create a proper floor plan for renovating or constructing a house, building, store, or other establishment using free floor plan templates and symbols. You can imitate any floor plan example on EdrawMax to design a beautiful and space-effective floor plan. When creating a floor plan, determine the key floor plan elements and ensure that you have adequate space.
Specify the layout for each room, and think about the lighting and position of furniture in the house. Use EdrawMax to create your floor plan with creative drawing tools and free templates that you can customize in a few minutes. EdrawMax is the best floor plan software for professionals and amateurs due to its easy symbol insert, fast-drawing, and data automation features.
Floor Plan Complete Guide
Check this complete guide to know everything about floor plan, like floor plan types, floor plan symbols, and how to make a floor plan.
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Guide to Designing the Perfect Floor Plan for Your Small Business
When it comes to creating the ideal floor plan for your small business, you must consider layout, design, and implementation. For an effective shopping experience, a floor plan is essential since it dictates where merchandise, equipment, and the checkout process should be placed. You must put out the necessary effort to ensure that your design will be efficient for your staff and your customers. In order to achieve this, you must learn why a floor plan is important, how to plan the layout of your store, and where the checkout line will be. Check out below for why these factors are necessary to designing the best floor plan:
Why is a Floor Plan Important?
The set up of your store has a huge influence on customer experience and satisfaction. Having a floor plan that represents your company’s vision and leaves your customer with a positive association with your company is key. If your floor layout restricts their movement and doesn’t provide enough space, it might make them feel anxious, and they may decide to leave your business. Make sure to have enough space between merchandise. This is referred to as “an open layout,” which will put customers at ease and shop longer. As a small business owner, you may group products together to make it easier for clients to find different items in one place.
Plan your Layout by Products
Now it is time to strategize how you will layout your store. As previously mentioned, organizing your layout around your items is a great approach for building a successful floor plan for your store. You may need to research what products are the most popular and what else is trending each season. Product placement is helpful in this regard. You should be placing popular products in areas of the store where they will grab the most attention. If you do have popular products, the best place to put the items are in the middle or front of the store. Customers will notice your items immediately if they are displayed in a place where everyone passing by your store would recognize them. Customers will also appreciate that your store is up to date on the latest trends and will view your store as “trendy.” Being trendy may attract a large number of customers, yet failing to keep up with the latest trends will cause people to perceive your shop as “outdated.”
It is also important to have product organization for shoppers to easily find what they’re looking for. If you sell band-aids, for example, you may put a first-aid kit or any other injury-related product on the shelf. Customers will have an easier time finding what they’re looking for since they were able to find a product that will help them recover an ailment. As a result, if your related products are close together, your customers will have a pleasant shopping experience and you will receive positive feedback.
You can also have some fun with the checkout area by showcasing products that shoppers would find appealing as impulsive purchases. Any small item such as snacks or tiny gifts that are easy to grab are ideal for an impulsive buy. Customers will gravitate towards an item that captures their eye and purchase more than they anticipated. By having these products in the checkout line, customers will have an engaging checkout experience and your overall revenue will increase. It is definitely a win-win situation for all!
Where to put Your POS and Checkout System
Another crucial component of your floor layout is the positioning of your POS (Point of Sale) and checkout system. You may need to think about how you want to position your checkout to leave enough room for a line without being too overcrowded. To allow enough space for your items, the checkout line should be in the back of your store. Once you have done this, now you must think about what POS system will help make your customers’ shopping experience more enjoyable. Luckily, National Retail Solutions (NRS) offers a great POS system to make your check out experience more efficient. The NRS Pay Credit Card Processing system is a great option for quick and easy payment. The customer can swipe, dip, tap, or key payment all in one place!
For more information, check out NRSplus.com .
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Small Office Floor Plan Examples
Small office floor plans are generally used by companies and businesses with ten employees or fewer. One example - a small firm of professionals who consult with local clients, such as accountants, real estate agents, and lawyers. As such, this small office layout usually includes individual work areas with desks and one or more rooms in which to meet with clients. Another typical use for this size office space is a small medical practice, which may have a reception area and several patient/exam rooms. For home office floor plans, check out our home office floor plan examples.
Small Office Floor Plan Size
The typical size range is 1000 square feet (100 m2) and less for a small office floor plan. One way to get a rough estimate of your best floor plan size range is to multiply the number of workers by a particular space allocation. The allocation per person for an office layout should be about 100 sq ft (about 10 m2).
Small Space, Big Functionality
With a small space, every bit of floor plan matters. So, it’s essential to consider the key functions and needs for your particular small office layout. Some ideas to consider:
- Does your business work best with an open office style, individual closed offices, or a combination?
- Can some workspaces or offices be shared due to flexible work schedules?
- Make sure each work area will be super-efficient, space-wise. For example, choose double-duty desks that include filing and office supply storage. Share one printer among multiple employees. Cut the cord clutter by using WIFI and Bluetooth as much as possible.
- Many small office layouts include a conference room. A 100 ft square (about 10 m2) room should comfortably seat up to 4 people. Will that be enough for most needs?
- If clients come to your office, how will they navigate the space? Do you need a small entry area, perhaps with seating? What path will you take when walking clients to the conference room or a patient office?
- Do you need a small break area or mini-kitchen? Workers will appreciate a small coffee or tea bar and a mini-fridge to store snacks or lunch.
- Is there a shared restroom as part of a larger building? This is often the case with small office floor plans. If not, you may want to include at least one small gender-neutral bathroom.
- How much space do you need to allocate for storage beyond what each employee will store at their work area?
Creating a detailed list of the functions you want to accomplish is an important step. You’ll have a thorough checklist of rooms and areas that are musts for your particular business - super helpful while browsing or creating floor plans.
Plan for Growth
While you are a small business today, where will you be in 5 years? As you plan the layout, make sure you think about the projected growth rate of the company. For example, if you’ll be adding employees over the next few years, where will they sit? With more employees, will you also need additional meeting space or other key rooms?
Are you ready to develop or update your small office floor plan layout? With some upfront planning and research, you can create a pleasant small office workplace that maximizes productivity, creativity, and employee satisfaction. Browse our small office floor plan examples.
15 Restaurant Floor Plan Examples & Restaurant Layout Design Ideas
By Katie McCann
Your restaurant floor plan is essentially a map of your restaurant’s physical space. When designed well, your restaurant floor plan can affect your profit margins by increasing efficiency, creating ease of movement, securing the safety of your staff and guests, and ultimately enhancing your customer experience.
But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a well-designed restaurant layout looks a whole lot different than it used to. In order to accommodate physical distancing and limits on venue capacity , virtually every restaurateur is adjusting their floor plan in some way. Whether it’s removing tables, creating a designated takeout space, or even installing physical partitions, changing your floor plan is an essential part of the reopening process .
Whether you run a fast casual joint with just a handful of tables or a fine dining venue with more than 100 seats, there’s a lot that goes into adjusting a restaurant floor plan. To help you navigate these changes, this article will cover:
- What is a restaurant floor plan and why you need one
- How to make changes to your floor plan for reduced capacity and physical distancing
- How to use software to properly manage your floor plan
- What to consider when creating your restaurant layout design
- 15 restaurant floor plan examples to inspire you
Whether these changes are temporary or permanent, your restaurant floor plan is something you’ll refer to on a daily basis, so it goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway) that it’s worth spending some time and money on it.
What Is a Restaurant Floor Plan and Why Do You Need One?
A restaurant floor plan is a blueprint that illustrates the distance and relationships between the rooms and physical structures of your restaurant space.
Restaurant floor plans denote the locations of fixtures like furnaces, sinks, water heaters, and electrical outlets. Occasionally, they will also include annotations on which materials are used to build parts of the space and how parts of the space are built.
Your architect or interior designer will draw up your floor plan. You can also use online software to help you design your own.
A well-designed floor plan will include:
- Walls and hallways
- Closets and storage spaces
- Windows and doors
- Set fixtures and appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, water heaters, etc.
- The purpose of each room / space
- Interior features such as fixed shelving, counter space, bars, etc.
- Other important items in your restaurant’s space
A well-designed floor plan will serve to:
- Increase efficiency and workflow
- Help you stick to your budget as you build your restaurant
- Help you train your staff to work as cohesively and efficiently as possible
Your restaurant layout is also important for operational flow. This refers to all the foot traffic in your restaurant, including where deliveries are picked up, how chefs move around the kitchen area, where servers pick up orders, and more.
A well-designed floor plan can properly direct this foot traffic to prevent bottlenecks or overcrowding. In the wake of COVID-19, it’s particularly important to address operational flow in your restaurant to account for concerns such as physical distancing between diners and staff.
How to Adjust Your Floor Plan for Reduced Capacity and Physical Distancing
Depending on the current layout of your restaurant, accommodating physical distancing and new limits on capacity may mean making major changes to your floor plan. Below are some recommendations for how to adjust your current floor plan to make your restaurant safe for reopening .
Adjusting Your Physical Space
Physical distancing – also called social distancing – requires keeping customers at least six feet apart from staff and each other. To keep this kind of generous separation between diners, you’ll need to make physical changes to your space and restaurant seating , including:
- Moving tables further apart and away from high-traffic areas such as bathrooms and service stations
- If tables cannot be moved, consider blocking off every other table or installing plexiglass partitions between booths
- Remove bar seating or create a physical barrier between guests and the bar
- Making sure furniture is arranged in a way that it is easy for staff to sanitize between seatings
- Remove any unnecessary decor or tabletop items (ie. vases, condiment bottles, etc.)
- Consider assigning designated entrances and exits to limit face-to-face exposure
- Create designated a waiting area outside of the restaurant to prevent overcrowding in entrances or bar areas
- If you’re offering takeout and delivery, move your pickup area away from the dining room
- Remove buffets and other communal food stations
- Install hand sanitizing stations in high-touch areas such as near entrances and bathrooms
- Create a designated space for employees to change clothes and put on PPE
- Use signage or floor markers to set expectations and direct the flow of foot traffic
In some cases, you may even want to assign a staff member to direct the flow of diners and monitor capacity levels.
Leveraging Design Software
While moving or eliminating tables can help to keep diners apart, software can give you a more accurate way to manage capacity. You might even be using some of these software features already.
If you use a modern POS system in your restaurant, you probably have access to table management software. For instance, TouchBistro’s POS is equipped with a handy floor plan maker . With this software you can digitally redesign your floor plan to match your new physical space.
If this isn’t an option, you can block off certain tables by assigning them to a fictional staff member (e.g. someone named “BLOCKED”) or by only allowing staff to seat even or odd table numbers. No matter which method you choose, table management software helps staff keep track of where diners can and cannot be seated.
In addition to managing where people are dining, you also need to control when they’re dining. This is where reservation software comes in.
With reservation software, each guest is preassigned a table for a specific time period. This allows you to anticipate which tables will be taken and for how long. You can then use the software to stagger seating times so that the space can be sanitized between parties. Having preassigned turn times also helps you maximize revenue by allowing you to squeeze in the maximum number of tables per service without worrying about logistics.
Communicating Changes to Diners
Once your staff have a handle on the new floor plan and how to manage the flow during service, it’s important to make sure your guests are on the same page. To set proper expectations with guests before they arrive at your restaurant, make sure you get the message out there by:
- Updating your website and your profile on reservations platforms such as tbdine.com
- Sending information along with reservation confirmation emails
- Sending SMS texts to diners answering any questions or concerns
Remember, this is a whole new experience for customers and the more you do to address their concerns in advance, the smoother their visit will be.
6 Factors to Consider When Designing Your Restaurant Floor Plan
Now that you know the what and the why, let’s get into the how.
You’ll need to consider a few things as you plot out your restaurant floor plan to make sure you won’t have to back track once you begin making decisions.
1. Building codes
Look into your city’s building codes to make sure you’re accounting for requirements like emergency exits, adequate lighting and ventilation, occupancy, and more.
2. Accessibility
At the bare minimum, you need to follow requirements laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , as well as any city-specific standards of accessibility. You’ll need to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with accessibility needs, such as incorporating a wide enough space for guests using wheelchairs to access your washrooms.
3. Profitability
Dig out your business plan and get ready to do some math: you’ll need to figure out how many people your restaurant will hold so that you’re meeting your profitability requirements.
4. Efficiency
Every aspect of your restaurant layout should be designed to improve workflow and efficiency between front and back of house. Your inventory should be able to move easily from the delivery truck into storage and then through prep, cooking, and plating. Your serving staff need a clear path from the kitchen to (and through) the dining room so they can deliver orders quickly and safely.
5. Aesthetic and Ambiance
Your aesthetic and ambiance are where your floor plan intersects with your brand experience. Refer back to your business and marketing plans to make sure your interior décor and design reflect your concept, brand identity, and current trends. Those documents should influence color schemes, furniture choices, and every other decision you make.
Working in a restaurant can be dangerous and the safety of both your staff and customers should be top of mind. On the one hand, you should be creating a hazard map that identifies any areas that might cause injuries. Additionally, you also need to consider invisible hazards such as the transmission of infection. In light of COVID-19, that means considering additional safety measures such as leaving enough space for physical distancing, tapping arrows on the floor to direct the flow of foot traffic, and following government mandates on capacity limits – just keep in mind that some of these rules may differ based on where your restaurant is located.
Hiring a Professional to Help with Restaurant Floor Plan Design
Hiring a professional to assist you in the process of creating your restaurant floor plan is often a very worthwhile investment – especially if you’re undergoing major construction.
But where do you turn?
Both architects and interior designers will bring the following to the table:
- A skillful and knowledgeable approach to space planning
- Comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of your state’s building codes and regulations
- Professional-grade design software and knowledge of how to use it
- An inherent creativity that can guide you to new ideas or new ways of looking at old ideas
- Foresight and problem-solving skills gained through trial and error, and past experience
- Connections with manufacturers
- A thorough understanding of building materials, finishes, furnishings, and building methods
Architects vs. Interior Designers
The main difference between architects and interior designers is that architects are trained to understand the entire structure of a building, while interior designers are focused on the – you guessed it – interior.
If you’re building a restaurant from the ground up, you’ll likely want to consider working with an architect. If you’re designing a restaurant within an existing building structure, you can work with either one.
Do-It-Yourself Options
Feeling especially handy? Kudos.
Here are a few of the best restaurant floor plan software options that can help if you’re determined to design your floor plan yourself with the help of some pre-made templates: CAD Pro : One of the most widely-used restaurant floor plan design tools, available for $99.95. SmartDraw : Customize templated floor plans for $9.99 per month or $119.40 for the entire year. ConceptDraw : To access the Café and Restaurant Solution ($25) you’ll have to download ConceptDraw Pro, which costs $199.
15 Restaurant Floor Plan Examples to Inspire You
1. the kitchen area floor plan.
Your kitchen floor plan is crucial to your bottom line.
Your commercial kitchen layout affects everything from food quality and speed of service, to food safety and hygiene, so it’s something you really have to get right.
The floor plan shown above illustrates a restaurant kitchen designed around an island. This type of design works well because it:
- Creates a lot of space for movement between workstations.
- Facilitates supervision and communication between your chef de cuisine, their sous-chefs, and the line cooks.
2. The Kitchen Station Floor Plan
In larger, more commercial kitchens, each staff member is responsible for only one or two stations, which makes staff movement around the kitchen less important than in the previous example. Staff stay at their stations, while the food does the moving.
The floor plan above directly illustrates how your food will move through each station as it is prepped and assembled, helping to create an efficient workflow.
3. The Zone Layout
A third style of kitchen layout design is the zone layout.
As illustrated above, the zone layout breaks your kitchen area into work areas, much like in an assembly line setup, only it isn’t in a line or a circle.
This small restaurant layout works well for tight spaces where you have multiple people working together. While it doesn’t necessarily facilitate staff movement through the whole space, it creates individual stations your cooks can take ownership of and move within, enabling efficiency in each zone.
4. Spatial Strategies for the Physical Distancing Era
If you’re planning to reopen your restaurant after COVID-related closures, it can be useful to create a basic floor plan design for the new layout. This can give you a better idea of how you’ll accommodate physical distancing and adhere to new government regulations.
This restaurant floor plan sample provides a helpful reference for how to make the tricky transition from pre-COVID to post-COVID dining. As you prepare to reopen, you can reorient your exchange space to allow for the pick up of takeout and delivery orders.
And when you’re ready to reopen, you can create a new exchange zone that acts as a buffer between the dining area and kitchen. If you have the space for it, you can also extend your outdoor seating to make up for reduced capacity inside.
5. The Restroom Floor Plan
Not the most glamorous topic for sure, but restrooms are a requirement in any sit-down restaurant, and an important part of customer experience.
Include cleaning tasks in your general workflow and carefully consider the placement of your restrooms in relation to the dining room.
The restroom layout design above does a great job of considering accessibility by factoring in the space required for wheelchair access, as well as including change tables so parents with children are accommodated.
It isn’t shown here, but your restrooms’ location within your restaurant’s overall floor plan is also highly strategic. Consider the following:
- Proximity to the dining room (smells, people!)
- Atmosphere. Does it follow the vibe of your restaurant and add to your customer experience?
- Employee use! Will your staff use the same restrooms as your clientele, or will you provide a staff restroom for them?
- The transmission of germs on door handles, taps, and other high-touch areas – something that’s especially important in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
6. Up Against the Wall Layout
Bar Raval is a Spanish tapas bar that has quickly claimed a spot on the list of top Toronto bars.
In the above floor plan, you can see how the owners of Bar Raval had to make the most of a long and narrow space. Setting the bar and coffee station together against the sidewall frees up floor space so the servers can navigate through the high-traffic areas of standing tables, with plenty of room for their trays full of tapas and intricate cocktails.
7. Bar in the Center
If ample space is a luxury you’re working with, placing your bar in the center of the room – like the one above – can spruce up your customer experience in a few different ways:
- A center bar increases the amount of seating available at your bar, which provides lots of room walk-ins to sit and try out your menu.
- Because of the extra seating, the central bar can replace a waiting area, allowing your customers to sit and have a drink while they wait for their table to be ready, directly (and effortlessly) increasing sales.
- A center bar also provides a stage for your bartenders, who can show off their flare while preparing drinks. Dinner and a show.
8. The Bar at the Back
On the other hand, placing a small bar at the back of your restaurant, as in the floor plan above, creates more intimacy. It’s a great way to facilitate relationship-building between your all-star bartender and their regulars – and loyal regulars help your profitability, providing a steady stream of business.
9. The Dining Room
Your dining room floor plan has the power to make or break the customer experience, which directly affects your sales.
Not sure how big your dining room should be?
Here are some guidelines for figuring out the average square footage you need per customer, depending on your venue type:
- Fine dining: 18–20 square feet
- Full service restaurant: 12–15 square feet
- Fast casual: 11–14 square feet
- Fast food: 11–14 square feet
In a 1,200 square foot dining space, you could fit up to 80–100 seats, depending on the experience you’re trying to create for your customers. Just keep in mind that these guidelines do not account for any COVID-19 capacity limits.
The floor plan above selected smaller square tables that tuck nicely against the wall around the perimeter of the room, creating an intimate space for small groups or couples. The middle of the room features round tables with ample space between, so customers don’t feel like they’re sitting with their neighbours and staff can move freely around the space.
10. A Round Table Option
Your dining room floor plan is as much a document to help you design your space as it will be a map for your staff to navigate sections and table numbers.
The layout above follows a simple grid pattern that will be easy for staff to memorize and navigate in a restaurant with so many tables.
11. The Retail Area
Whether you’re slinging bottles of your in-house hot sauces or selling branded t-shirts and tote bags, a retail area requires space, and that space requires planning.
Where you place your retail area within your restaurant will depend on the type of space you have, but the retail area itself should feel distinct from the dining room and follow retail sales principles that encourage browsing and product pairing.
The layout above has multiple display options, lots of room for browsing, and makes it easy for counter staff to keep an eye on what’s happening in the space.
12. But First, Coffee
We tend to think of our space in square footage, but if you cubed that footage, consider how much space you could gain.
Floor plans in 3D are a great way to explore the ways you can use vertical space. The kind of art and light fixtures you choose – which contribute to your over ambiance and aesthetic – are directly affected by the height of your ceilings, so getting a 3D picture will help you plan.
This 3D floor plan of a small cafe allows the owners to get a clear visual of what the finished product will look like, how choices for the wall decor, window signs, and lighting keep the venue on brand and make a limited space feel more open.
13. The Waiting Area
They say you form an impression of a person within the first three seconds of meeting them. So why should it be any different stepping into a restaurant?
There are a million ways to make a great first impression, but the one that matters most is how the design of the entrance and waiting area helps welcome guests to your restaurant.
The floor plan above gives the host or greeter – or even cashier – a chance to welcome guests in a separate, controlled area before introducing them to the noises and smells of the dining room. There’s also a waiting area where customers can sit down, away from the door and restaurant traffic, until their table is ready.
If you want your guests to experience a calm, relaxed ambiance, consider carving out ample space for this kind of separate entrance area.
14. Think Outside the Box
If you’re lucky enough to have a bit of outdoor space – and have a climate that makes it usable for more than a couple of months a year – you can really maximize that space. And, as a result, your profit.
This patio floor plan combines diagonal and booth seating to make the most of the extra dining space. They also threw on some outdoor-appropriate decor elements like natural greenery and a fountain to create ambiance even outside the restaurant’s dining room.
15. Working the Angles
Not all spaces are created equal. Sometimes, the space you have to work with is angular and strange. There’s no reason you can’t use that to your advantage in creating a unique space like in the floor plan above, which includes original seating options like rounded and snake-like booths that still leave plenty of space for staff to navigate the dining room floor efficiently.
POS-Script: A Note About POS Stations
Anything that empowers your work more efficiently can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Your POS system is your server’s best tool in providing high quality and efficient service to customers – but that doesn’t mean it should take up a chunk of your dining room.
Modern POS solutions include smaller designs than a traditional POS , so stations take up less space in your layout.
Or, you could opt for tableside ordering , which involves using portable POS devices – generally tablets – to take orders directly at the table. This allows servers to send orders to the kitchen right away, meaning you don’t have to factor in how your servers will move through your layout as they go from table to the POS station and back again. They can simply carry the POS with them, providing faster, more accurate service.
The reality is that certain elements and details of your floor plan will naturally change and evolve over time, but the basic structures and foundations you lay down in the beginning will likely stay the same. Even if you need to make temporary changes to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, starting with a solid restaurant floor plan will serve you well in the long run.
Create space in your budget to design a floor plan that helps your kitchen work efficiently, allows your servers to offer top-notch service, and gives your customers an unforgettable dining experience. Everyone will appreciate it – including your bottom line.
Katie is a former Content Marketing Specialist at TouchBistro where she writes about food and restaurant experiences. She doesn’t shy away from the finer things in life, but no matter how much success she continues to acquire, she stays true to her roots and still considers imitation crab as gourmet. If she isn’t writing, you can find her on a patio with friends and a pitcher of white wine sangria.
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How to Layout a Business Floor Plan
by Jill Harness
Published on 29 Apr 2019
In offices, where you seat your employees matters . Open floor plans can allow for increased teamwork and more sharing of ideas, while cubicles are important when your employees need more privacy due to confidentiality concerns. Which employees get seated at windows and who is nearest the door is something that requires a lot of consideration. That's why laying out the floor plan of a new company or department (or even one you just want to rearrange) is so important to do before you actually move a single piece of furniture.
What is a Floor Plan?
A floor plan is a drawing, designed to scale, that shows the relationship between rooms, spaces, furniture and other physical features as they would be viewed from up above. This helps you get a better idea of how things like desks and cubicles can best be arranged in the office, where to sit certain employees or whole departments, and how people will move throughout the space. You never want to start putting out cubicles only to realize you have to pack them all back out again in order to make sure there are enough for everyone in your company.
Small business floor plans can even be useful to consider before signing a lease on a building to ensure the space will actually suit your needs. If you need to make sure you have space for all of your employees, two offices for upper management, an office for the HR department, a conference room, a breakroom and a smaller room for client consultations, a floor plan can help ensure all of this will fit in your potential property. If you're having a property constructed for your business, a floor plan can help ensure you have it built in a way that will be most beneficial for your needs.
Decide Which Type of Office Layout is Appropriate
You need to consider what kind of office layout to use for your company before arranging the furniture. While you could do a different floor plan for each possible layout, it is usually more beneficial to learn about the benefits of each type of office floor plan and have an idea of what you want first . You can find business floor plans examples online that show just about every possible option for office layouts based on different room dimensions. This can help you choose the right business layout for your floor plan.
Different Business Floor Plans Examples
A few of the most common office layouts these days are cellular, open, co-working and combination . Cellular office layouts are those that use cubicles. Many enjoy these layouts because they allow for more privacy, but they also can reduce communication and leave people feeling shut off and isolated from their co-workers. Open layouts require everyone to share a workspace together with low or no partitions, which results in less privacy and more noise but increased communication.
Co-working layouts are relatively new options that are similar to open layouts only workers generally do not have an assigned workspace, allowing them to choose a space that suits their needs for the moment as needed. Most co-working layouts offer a few private rooms that can be used for privacy purposes when necessary. Combination offices are also a new idea, consisting of small offices or cubicle clusters laid out in smaller spaces than they would be in a cellular layout. These also offer ample communal spaces, offering employees the benefits of a cellular office and an open office at the same time.
Consider Your Office's Needs
When making a business floor plan, it's easy to focus solely on making sure you find a way to organize all of your employees using the office layout you have chosen, but don't forget your other needs as well . Do you expect to have a lot of business meetings? Then you'll need plenty of conference rooms. If you expect people to be on their feet a lot in the office, you need to make sure workspaces aren't too closely cramped together.
Don't forget to leave space for printers, copiers, file cabinets, plants, artwork, office supply cabinets, water coolers, coffee stations, etc. because it can be easy to forget about these things when laying out your floor plan.
Even recreational activities and amenities you plan on offering might need consideration. If you want a TV in the breakroom, you need to include it in your plan. If you want to be able to do potluck lunches for the whole team periodically, then you need to make sure you plan on having enough table and counter space for everyone to be able to bring their own dishes. Finally, be sure your walkways and other spaces are wide enough to be navigated by a wheelchair in order to ensure your office is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act .
Preparing to Create Floor Plans
While you're considering what you need to include in your floor plan, be sure to write down all of your requirements including both features, like wide walkways, and furniture and other large objects. Next, make measurements of your space, including:
- The walls from side to side and floor to ceiling
- Where each door, window and entryway sits on the walls
- The location of electrical outlets, switches and other necessary controls
- Any built-in architectural features including shelves, benches, counters, fireplaces, etc.
- All objects that will be located inside your space
Floor Plan Creation
You can make a floor plan with a pen or pencil and a piece of paper (graph paper will make drawing to scale easier), or with a free online floor plan designer, which many people find to be easier. If you draw your floor plan manually, you'll have to do more math and pay more attention to ensure everything is drafted to scale (most people prefer a scale of 1/4 inch to 1 foot), whereas online tools can handle all the scaling for you so you just have to enter your measurements. It can also be easier to make changes with an online tool than when working manually.
While you can move furniture and building features easily when working with an online tool, it can be hard to move these if you draw them in. This is why people working manually should draw these features on a second piece of paper and then cut them out so they can be moved around on the building page until you're totally happy with your layout. Be sure to work somewhere where there's no wind or fan and where your floor plan won't be disturbed. It can also help to take a picture of your floor plan when you're done working on it for a time just in case something does get knocked off the building drawing.
Whether you work online or on paper, take time to be sure you've met all the requirements you set before you began the floor plan. When you think you're done, be sure to review your requirements list and make sure you like the spatial arrangement, the flow of traffic, the ease of communication, the amount of privacy and the general accessibility of the space. After you're totally content with your floor plan layout, show it to someone else (preferably someone familiar with your company) and ask them to give you feedback on your design – they may notice something important you never would have considered before.
Create a floor plan
Use the Floor Plan template in Visio to draw floor plans for individual rooms or for entire floors of your building―including the wall structure, building core, and electrical symbols.
Here is an example of a completed floor plan.
Start a new floor plan
In the Categories list, click the Maps and Floor Plans category.
Click Floor Plan , and then click Create .
Turn on gridlines to help with scale and precision
You may want to have gridlines visible on your drawing canvas to help you lay out and scale objects carefully:
On the toolbar ribbon, select View > Grid .
A fixed grid can be useful in floor plans and maps, where you always want grid lines to show the same measurement. To make the grid fixed:
On the toolbar ribbon, select View .
In the dialog box, enter the minimum spacing required between lines for each axis, and the grid will retain a fixed perspective throughout your design process, regardless of zoom level.
Create the exterior wall structure
Using room shapes.
From the Walls, Shell and Structure stencil, drag one of the room shapes onto the drawing page.
Resize the room shape by dragging the control and selection handles on individual walls.
Using wall shapes
From the Walls, Shell and Structure stencil, drag Exterior wall shapes onto the drawing page.
Continue to draw the exterior by using these options:
Resize walls by dragging an endpoint.
Right-click wall shapes to set options.
Drag an endpoint of one wall to another wall.
The endpoints are highlighted when the walls are glued. Intersections between two walls are cleaned up automatically.
Create the interior wall structure
From the Walls, Shell and Structure stencil, drag wall shapes onto the drawing page, positioning them inside the exterior structure.
Continue to draw the interior by using these options:
Right-click a wall to set options.
Add doors and windows
From the Walls, Shell and Structure stencil, drag door and window shapes on top of walls.
Doors and windows automatically rotate to align with and glue to the wall. They also acquire the wall's thickness and move with walls when you reposition them.
Add other structural elements
From the Walls, Shell and Structure stencil, drag structural shapes, such as columns, onto the drawing page.
From the Building Core stencil, drag building core shapes, such as stairs, onto the drawing page.
Add electrical symbols and dimension lines
Electrical symbols.
From the Electrical and Telecom stencil, drag wall switches, outlets, and other wall fixtures onto wall shapes. Release the mouse button when a bold square appears, which indicates that the symbol is glued to the wall. Wall fixtures automatically rotate to align with and glue to the wall
Dimension lines for walls
Right-click a wall, and then click Add a Dimension .
Reposition the dimension lines and text by dragging a control handle.
If you want to resize a wall after you add a dimension to it, select the dimension shape, type the dimension you want, and then click away from the dimension shape.
Insert a CAD floor plan
On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click CAD Drawing .
In the Insert AutoCAD Drawing dialog box, select the CAD file you want and click Open .
To accept the size and location of the CAD drawing, click OK .
After you have inserted the drawing, you can resize it, change its scale, or move it. You can also lock the layer that contains the CAD drawing so that you do not accidentally change it if you create a new plan on top.
Save as a DWG file
DWG files are the standard file type for floor plans that can be read by computer-aided design (CAD) programs. They contain extra metadata, like room numbers, that can be used by other programs like Microsoft Search to design seating charts.
On the File tab, select Save As > Browse .
Change the Save as type to AutoCad drawing (.dwg) .
Find sample floor plan Visio templates and diagrams
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Click the File tab.
Click New , click Maps and Floor Plans , and then under Available Templates , click the template that you want to use.
Click Create .
The endpoints turn red when the walls are glued. Intersections between two walls are cleaned up automatically.
The endpoints turn red when the walls are glued. Intersections between two walls get cleaned up automatically.
You can also drag ceiling fixture shapes, such as the Ceiling fan , onto the drawing page.
Copy an existing Visio floor plan into a new drawing
Open an existing Visio drawing.
On the Design tab, click Page Setup Dialog Box Launcher. In the Page Setup dialog box, on the Drawing Scale tab, make note of the scale setting in the existing drawing, and then set the scale of your new drawing to match.
In the existing drawing, select the shapes you want to use in the new drawing and then, on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy .
Switch to the new drawing, and then, in the Clipboard group, click Paste .
Tip: You can lock the existing layers of a drawing so that you do not accidentally change them when you create a new plan on top.
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On the File menu, point to New , point to Maps and Floor Plans , and then click Floor Plan .
Create the basic exterior wall structure in one of the following ways.
To make walls join properly, make sure Glue to Shape geometry is selected in the Snap & Glue dialog box.
Right-click a wall, and then click Add a Dimension
To see a tip about a control handle for a selected shape, pause the pointer over the handle.
From the Insert menu, click CAD Drawing .
Under Files of type , select AutoCAD Drawing (*.dwg, *.dxf) . Locate the CAD file and click Open .
On the File menu, click Page Setup , and then click the Scale tab. Make note of the scale setting in the existing drawing, and then set the scale of your new drawing to match.
In the existing drawing, select the shapes you want to use in the new drawing and then, on the Edit menu, click Copy .
Switch to the new drawing, and then, on the Edit menu, click Paste .
We're sorry. Visio for the web doesn't have the ability to draw floor plans at this time.
If you'd like to have this feature in Visio for the web, please send us your feedback to help us prioritize new features in future updates. See How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office? for more information.
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The Perfect Business Plan Layout & Outline for a Great Plan
Written by Dave Lavinsky
The layout of a business plan is not an area where great imagination and creativity is needed or recommended. It should be a more or less straightforward task to layout or outline your plan, using industry standard practices which funders have become familiar with through thousands of business plans. Use the following steps to implement this standard layout and save creativity for your business idea within the plan.
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Start by getting your hands on a good business plan template. This will speed your time to completing your plan. Business plans generally start with an executive summary and company overview, move through background research and market analysis, customers, and competition, describe the company’s intended methods in the marketing plan and operation plan, show who’s on the management team , and conclude with the financial plan and appendices featuring full financial statements.
Use the business plan template to guide your understanding of each section and to see how they relate to each other. Don’t assume that any one example should dominate your understanding unless it comes from an extremely trusted source with a reputation for business plan expertise and success.
Business Page Layout Tips
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1. executive summary.
Your executive summary is the most important part of your plan. It comes at the beginning and is the first thing investors or lenders will read. If they aren’t excited by what they see, they’ll unfortunately stop reading. So make sure your executive summary gives a quick overview of what your company does and explains, in an exciting tone, why your company will be successful.
2. Company Description
In your Company Description, provide background on your company. When did you incorporate? What have you accomplished to date? Here you will let readers know the history of your business.
3. Market Analysis
In the Market Analysis section of your business plan provide background on the industry in which you operate. Conduct market research to make this section concrete and compelling. Answer questions such as: how big is your industry? what trends are affecting it?
4. Customer Analysis
Here you will document your target market. How are they? How many are there? What are their likes and dislikes? Ideally you can provide comprehensive demographic and psychographic profiles of your target customers and show how your company’s product or service are ideally suited to their needs.
5. Competitor Analysis
In this section of your business plan, document your key competitors. Explain their strengths and their weaknesses. Remember that investors and lenders expect you to have direct competitors. They just want to feel confident that despite them, you can still achieve lasting success.
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6. Marketing Plan
Your marketing strategy should primarily focus on the promotional methods you will use to attract new customers. Will you use search engine marketing? Will you employ radio ads? Document each of the promotional methods you will use.
7. Operations Plan
This section of your plan should discuss the key roles that your company must expertly perform and your strategies for operational excellence. You must also outline the long-term milestones your company plans to accomplish and the key dates for each.
8. Management Team
In your Management Team section, detail the key members of your team. Document their backgrounds and how their past experiences make them well suited to succeed in your organization.
9. Financial Plan
Here you will layout the key assumptions used in creating your financial model and then provide topline results from your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow projections. If you are seeking funding, document the amount of funding you seek and the key uses for it.
10. Appendix
In your Appendix, you will provide supporting information such as employee or customer agreements, store layouts, etc. You must also include your full, five-year financial model and projections.
By following the above business plan outline, you will ensure your plan is in the format investors and lenders expect. If you would like to quickly and easily finish your business plan, read and click on our suggested business resources below.
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Business Page Layout FAQs
How do i lay out a business plan.
Laying out a business plan is not, and should not, be complicated. You can lay out your business plan using our sample business plan outline discussed here .
What is a business plan outline?
A business plan outline allows you to organize your plan and present it in the format that’s most compelling to readers. Also, by starting with your outline, it’s easier to add the required information into the right sections of your business plan.
Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates
IMAGES
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COMMENTS
Browse floor plan templates and examples you can make with SmartDraw.
Mar 15, 2020 - Explore lacie Hebert's board "Floor plans-business" on Pinterest. See more ideas about floor plans, how to plan, floor plan layout.
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Use the business plan template to guide your understanding of each section and to see how they relate to each other. Don't assume that any one example should