Is a custom product-type useful here?

[MaryK]

I am a newbie and have studied the documentation but am confused about the effects of defining product-types and attributes on display pages. Here is the situation:
We will offer building plans (residential, commercial, outbuildings) plus other services. We want to have the user select to see all plans, commercial plans, residential plans, or outbuildings (probably attribute building type?)
The user will select a single plan, then be shown all the variations of that plan (no price change based on variation), then select a variation that is displayed as he selects all of the other options, some of which cost extra.
Is there a benefit in creating a custom product-type?
Thanks for any advice!
Mary

[DrByte]

A custom product type is useful if you have a need to collect/display non-standard information unique to that specific product.

The music product-type is different in that it links publishers, recording artists, music genres, etc to the product (linking via admin side), and displays that information in the store in specialized ways. The additional groupings by artist or genre also allow for doing filters to limit product-listings to certain genres across all categories, etc.

If your use simply entails a primary product image, plus some additional images, some attributes to determine which particular plan is being purchased, maybe a manufacturer (could call it "designer"), a link to another URL where more detailed documentation can be found on the design, and a product description, then there's no need for an additional product type.

[MaryK]

Thanks DrByte, I think I understand now.

Mary