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Kennel Designs

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Specification

General Information:-

Who designed these blueprints & why?
How will they save me time & money?
Are they good for a startup kennel?
How to buy & blueprint costs
Do the kennels conform to standards?
Do I still need an architect?
What materials do you suggest for the basic building?
How much will the kennels cost to build
& how do I work out an income?
What if I haven't got the right property or land yet?

Customers' Questions & Answers:-

Does the book Essential Kennel Design contain blueprints?
Standards, materials, building costs, delivery times, office/reception, fencing
What blueprints should I buy?
What do you get with the blueprints?
Is there a Safety Corridor option?
What about an 'L-Shaped' kennel building option?
How long do the 20 Kennels take to build?

Other questions? please Contact Us

Who designed these blueprints & why?
David Key has been asked for 'off the shelf' blueprints by many rescues, shelters & boarding kennel owners. In answer to these requests, he created these generic blueprints, suitable for rescue, boarding, working dog or professional breeding buildings.

The idea is to provide a complete set of detailed plans, to a high standard - yet keeping costs balanced & reasonable (neither very basic, nor extravagant).
How will they save me time & money?
Well, you save #1,000 - #20,000 on architects fees as you don't have to pay for them to learn about kennels design AND you get a design from a kennel design expert who knows what the design issues and problems are for kennel buildings.
Are they good for a startup kennel?
Yes, the plans are entirely suitable for a startup kennel, just the right size to make a good basic income & repay the cost of building. A startup kennel would also help prove the business 'viability' should you be applying for finance or grants - or wish to expand in the future.
How to buy & Blueprint Costs
Please see Blueprint prices/costs
Do the kennels conform to Legislation standards?
Please visit our Kennel Standards page to check the requirements for your country/region.

Even if you are unsure of the kennel building/size standards required in your country, please visit the above page. Although some states & counties list information on their websites, often they only provide this at a more local level. So, if your area isn't listed on this page you can at least find out your local authority's website/contact details online.
Do I still need an architect/ surveyor?
This depends on how confident you are about running the project (or your building contractor running it), how much time you have, and your knowledge of local building contractors. Difficult site conditions may have an effect on the building & this may need to be adjusted on site.

However, if you are uncertain about running a project like this, my advice would be to employ a architect/ building surveyor. It's always useful to have someone who knows their way around the local planning authority, has knowledge of suitable local building contractors & can ensure that the building is constructed to the required specification. The small fee involved will be more than offset by ensuring the building is constructed to the required standard & a suitable timescale.
What materials do you suggest for the basic building?
The basic building materials I would suggest are concrete blockwork and insulated steel sheet for the roof, mainly because these are cost effective & widely used.

However, you can build with poured concrete, stone, bricks etc depending on your budget, personal preferences & local authority requirements.
Please also see our Building Specification Manual
How much will the kennels cost to build & how do I work out an income?
Our forthcoming Kennels Finance Kit will be available during April 2008
What if I haven't got the right property or land yet?
It all depends on your situation. Some customers buy our blueprints before they have bought their land:

to discuss requirements & costings with the builder

to discuss the proposal with planning/zoning

to have everything ready to apply for planning/ zoning once they have found their property

but mostly it is because customers are in the process of purchasing, or looking for property and are committed to making this lifestyle & career change happen

If you are looking for property (whether existing business or for a new build), please visit our Property for Sale page. We also have a 'Property Audit' FREE with our Starting a Kennels Kit, which will help you in your search and outlines the sort of things you should be looking for with a potential plot or existing business.

If you're thinking about whether to build from new, or to buy an existing business, for hints & top tips from us, a well-known boarding kennels & cattery owner in Membership and and a top kennel sales estate agent/realtor FREE with our Starting a Kennels Kit.

Answers to Customers' Questions:-

Does the book have actual kennel "blueprints"? We want to build a new animal-housing facility in a shelter, & would like some ideas for layouts. We would like to get a general idea of what we want before getting the architects involved!
(Question from USA)

Yes, the book has layouts to give you ideas, however they are simple layouts for visualising how each kennel design would work for you, and explanations of what benefits and holdbacks each design has. However, they are not to scale (architectural plans are HUGE!) or detailed enough for your builders or planning/zoning. The blueprints are LARGE and show the depth of detail builders, planning/ zoning require - whereas the book pages can only show outlines.

The blueprints' job is to give precise building sizes and requirements for planning/ zoning and builders to work from.

The book's job is to help you through ideas, design, planning/zoning, give you all the options for finishes, and help you make decisions about the building. It explains the pros and cons of each layout - but it is impossible to print indepth details in normal book sizes.

We are very impressed with your blueprints/plans and had a few questions.
Thanks in advance for your time and consideration.
The questions are for the 20 unit plans:

Do the plans meet the requirements of the IBC?
Are the materials readily available in the south eastern US?
Do you have an approximate cost for building the 20 kennels?
Once the plans are ordered, approximately how long does it take to get them?
Can you attach an office/reception are easily to the building?
(Question from South Carolina, US)

Our reply:
Thank you for writing to us with your queries. It's good to know you liked the plans! The 3D images certainly help, don't they? The aim of our kennel blueprints is to provide a high standard building, conforming to for a reasonable cost. (Many people don't know what a 'reasonable' cost is & may get caught out.)

Cost savings with our blueprints will be from not having to pay for: architects fees, research time, avoiding expensive building mistakes, correct drainage and safety measures.

Meeting requirements
We have a list of some international animal welfare act/ standards, but it is impossible to list them all as many are held at local level, instead of by the State.
I have looked, but have been unable to find anything at State level for South Carolina. Usually, this means that the County level/local authority provide the guidelines instead. If you go to the South Carolina link on our standards page and find your County, this would be the best place to start.

However, we are confident that our blueprints exceed most legislative requirements (some are excellent & thorough, but many are quite poor & basic, such as changing drinking water daily & having somewhere to get out of the rain!!!)
Materials readily available
Yes, they are standard building materials. The walls can be concrete block/ stone/ brick built & the roof is timber trusses. It is the finishing materials & details that tend to be more specialist (e.g paint, tiles etc) but we provide examples of the quality & type required for all materials in our Building Specification. (to get the balance right between inexpensive materials, yet ones that will do the job right.)
Building costs
Our forthcoming Kennels Finance Kit will be available during April 2008

Delivery:
Your blueprints should be with you in 5-6 working days (1 or 2 days for printing plus 3 or 4 days for airmail shipping to the USA)
Office/Reception:
We suggest that you DO NOT attach an office/ reception to the actual kennels, unless it's very well screened & strategically placed.
This is because of the negative effect it has on the dogs - barking at people/other dogs, barking creates noise and noise creates stress - and more barking! The less the dogs are disturbed, the better. You don't want noise complaints! If you need further help with where to site this, just let me know.
However, if your budget requires that you initially have a reception/ office in the building (you can build a separate one later when your income has started) we do have some options with 1 or 2 extra rooms. These could be used for reception at the start, but later become grooming/ veterinary/ storage etc.
You could ask any competent builder to put up a reception/ office etc - or often a log cabin suffices.
There are some other areas you might want to think about as well.

Some further suggestions
Kennel Design and & Running your own Boarding Kennels (and/or the ABKA book) are 2 books that you should definitely have! see kennel design and kennel management books

The Building Specification is your biggest ally in keeping the costs down, getting correct quotations, and the build done right. And as you've probably seen, we're already saving you thousands in architects fees with the blueprints!

If you have any further questions - anything at all, just let me know. It's an exciting time - and there seems so much to learn - but we're here to provide as much support & encouragement as you need.

Customer response
Thanks for your responses & for all the feedback and sorry I missed some of the answers on the website (like the costs).

One of the materials that I was curious about was the actual fencing components that you used. Those were much nicer than any I have seen around. I must say that the overall layout is very awesome. I think that we will be ordering the plans.

We are doing some other research now and we need to get the two books that you indicate are a must have. Thanks again for all your help.

Our reply
The fencing (metalwork) you were looking at is pretty much the standard quality here in the UK, but rarely seen in the USA, where chainlink fencing is common. It is fine for paddocks, but dogs can actually chew through chainlink fence - more likely in a poorly designed and managed kennels than out in the open air!
A top notch company who manufactures it has recently started exporting it to the USA: Croft Online if you'd like to have a look for ideas. See our Suppliers section for manufacturers of kennel metalwork.
Thank you for your lovely comments - it's so nice to hear that the blueprints & images are helping people 'visualise' their dreams.

Update Feb 2007
Actually - the latest type (2006 onwards) is not using this metalwork inside the kennels - but using glass doors and full height block walls.

I was interested in your 20 kennel design. What does that come with? Does it come with drainage system spec, heating and air spec? Would I have to take your design to an engineer to put those systems into your design? I also noticed that there was not a building in front of the kennel for a cattery, grooming, or small reception area. Do you have any plans that contains those features as well? I would like to have a 20 run boarding kennel with grooming, a cattery, and some room for some pick up items like bones and toys. What advice can your give me? Do you know approximately how much this may cost in us dollars? Thanks for your time.

Our reply
Blueprints - what is included
Please see our section on the 20 kennels blueprints to see what the plans cover & what purchase options you have (either a full set of 9 plans plus 3D colour prints - or Planning/Zoning only plans).

We strongly recommend you also own a copy of Kennel Design at the very least.

When you are ready to start getting quotations & start building, you will find the Building Specification invaluable (included with the blueprints) as pre-structured quotations & building advice to avoid the common mistakes builders make when building kennels.

The building is relatively straightforward and does not need the services of a specialist consultant.

Drainage - The Drainage Plan shows the drainage within the building and terminating in a manhole outside the building, ready for connection into an existing system, or a new system such as septic tank or cesspool. Iif there is a manhole you can tap into close to the building & the levels work out correctly, it is relatively simple & your building contractor will be able to handle it as part of the construction.

However, if there is a considerable difference in ground levels and a pumped system might be required, or a considerable distance involved, this might need further investigation.

Heating & Ventilation - whichever system is installed, whether electric or boiler-fired system, the design aspect of either system would normally be undertaken by the heating or plumbing contractor used on the main build.

Reception/ Cattery/ Grooming - the animal buildings are generally the most expensive, whereas reception/ office/ grooming/ ancillary type rooms can be accommodated in a non-specialist separate, simple building (eg log cabin, conversion of existing buildings etc)

wouldn't recommend ancillary areas adjoining the kennels unless these areas can be screened off. This is purely because lots of comings & goings will create negative stress in the dogs, and therefore noise.

Building costs - Our forthcoming Kennels Finance Kit will be available during April 2008

What about an 'L-Shaped' Kennel Building? Having looked at your Kennel Design book, I was very interested in your "L" shape design, and believe this would be a better option for me rather than the corridor design, if you have any further information about the benefits of this particular design I would appreciate it very much.

Our reply
The L shaped design (as shown in the book Essential Kennel Design) was constructed for a charity. This system works extremely well, but it tends to be more expensive to build than straightforward oblong buildings, and tends to be slightly more wasteful in it's land usage.

Perhaps you can discuss this with your contractor initially? We do have L shaped designs available. It might be useful for you to send us some details about the site, reasons for wanting the L shape (eg: just personal preference or is it a site requirement?) or to speak to David directly (after 6pm or at the weekends is the best time to catch him). You can always find a list of international numbers to phone us on our Contact us page, or email us.
How long will it take to build the 20 Kennels?
Obviously this is down to the actual Building Contractor, but for a medium-sized, organised company with both the financial & manpower resources to handle the project, this should take around 20 weeks