RYD, I'm kinda in the same boat as you...we're looking to have a small weekend lakehouse built, and I have been flipping through hundreds of pages of plans from books bought at Home Depot. The cost of those plans is roughly 50% of the cost of a custom set from an architect, but what concerns me most is that I don't know how good the plans actually are, mainly with respect to building materials (2x6 vs. 2x4 on first story walls of 2-story plans), plumbing layout, electrical, etc. I have called the companies that produce the books to ask specific questions, but I get the "We'll have to call the architect and get back to you" run-around.
Are you building it yourself? I'm not, so I want to be sure that I have a set of plans (5-8 sets are needed) that won't cause any trouble for the builder, i.e., done by a licensed professional. I realize that a good builder can make changes to the plans on the fly, but they'll charge for it and I might wind up eating up the money I saved on the plans in no time.
Anyway, thanks for posting your question...I might get something good out of it also.
-Pete