LotPlans.com, a Santa Monica provider of architectural plans

Employees: 2

Financials: Not profitable

When brothers Ramin and Ramtin Ghaneeian began thinking about building a house as an investment property, they realized how expensive it is to hire an architect to design a custom home.

And that realization turned into LotPlans.com, a startup the brothers co-founded in September.

The company sells premade architectural plans to builders for a fraction of the cost of hiring an architect, many of whom charge between 5 percent and 15 percent of a project’s total construction cost. For a home that costs $200,000 to build, that could run between $10,000 and $30,000. Most the plans on LotPlans.com, on the other hand, sell for between $2,000 and $4,000.

“We saw a need and a value for it based on our own personal business experiences,” said Ramtin, a 29-year-old USC graduate who received his bachelor’s degree in urban planning and business. “Our goal is whatever you want to build, we have it in our plan already so you don’t need to go to an architect.”

LotPlans offers thousands of predrawn plans for single-family homes, ranging from small cottages to palatial estates. The company operates out of an office above Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, but the co-founders are looking to relocate soon.

Ramin, 25, who last month graduated from USC with his master’s degree in construction engineering, had previously worked on another startup, while Ramtin worked as a precious metals broker. When Ramin approached his brother about using his sales skills – and his savings – to start LotPlans, Ramtin said he saw an opportunity to combine their skills.

Ramtin handles sales, and Ramin knows the construction business. While working alongside a sibling could prove challenging for many, the brothers said it’s been no big deal.

“We complement each other very well,” Ramtin said.

But there have been other challenges. For starters, it was difficult initially to find architects willing to collaborate with them.

“It really was a leap of faith on their part,” Ramtin said. “No one wanted to be the first one. No one wanted to be our guinea pig.”

But architects eventually got on board, with salesman Ramtin pitching LotPlans as a way for them to make money from plans they’ve already completed. Architects get a cut every time one of their plans sells.

“It’s monetizing prior work they’ve done,” Ramtin said. “They spent three or four months on a plan, and now it’s just sitting there. Most architects saw the value of it.”

As they continue to build LotPlans, the brothers are still working on their investment property. Late last month, they closed on a house on in L.A.’s Fairfax District, with plans to tear it down and build new. And, of course, they’re using a plan from their website.

It’s stressful building a company and a house at the same time, but Ramtin said the experience helps him connect with LotPlans’ customers.

“I do a lot of our customer service and I know exactly what people are going through,” he said.

– Nicole Piper