Most of the ARFs I've had only had an instruction pamphlet with maybe some drawings to explain things. Sig does, or a couple years ago did, offer plans for some of their older planes. Their catalogue marked the ones that had full size patterns marked with an asterisk. Maybe others do as well.
If you have a kit, and think you might want to scratch build another one later, just trace the parts onto paper and save with the plans. If you have a copy center like Kinkos near you, you might even have a copy of the plans made so you can keep a clean and intact set for future reference, while still having a set that can get torn up during the building process.
There are huge numbers of plans available for planes that were never kitted. About all the magazines have most of the plans they've published over their history. They sell them by E or snail mail. There are also many companies selling reproductions of previously published plans that aren't currently available. Bill Northrup Plan Service, advertised in MA or Flying Models is a good source.
If you have enough experience building kits, and maybe a couple plan built models under your belt, the English publications AMI, FSM, and Model World often have free full size plans included in each issue, but not always every month. If you find some of the old Flying Models magazines at a swap shop or such, they had at least one plan set usually at 1/4 scale, along with full size printed parts templates. You could pretty easily draw up the larger parts either on to paper, or directly onto the wood. I had excellent luck with the half dozen or so of these I've built over the years, even when I was in jr. high.
If you have any interest in the work goes into building, you do not have to be restricted to the "Everyone has one of those" syndrome.