After I had finished my Archi Masters I was working for an architecture firm who also did a small amount of work for a volume builder. They were actually a pretty good quality builder and at least got the orientation of their 'pre-designed' plans correct. We had the ability to make minor changes to every job and it pained me to see so many simple to implement passive options not being incorporated. Had most of their clients known that they would be saving MONEY over the longterm by making a few minor changes to suit their site, they all would have done it. The problem is unless someone can sell this idea to them as a financial/lifestyle choice, many just think it is about saving the world. It is a no-brainer if you have in interest in it, but for those who don't know, there is no-one there selling it to them, especially on the lower end of the market.

@Tribble - the situation is the same in Em Bee's part of the world as in ours. Aging demographic, lots of immigration and also internal migration, and of course offshore buying. But where I live, the issue isn't so much competition, as the inability of builders/developers to read the market. Our own builder (small builder, one project at a time, some of them industrial, not housing) told us that the two-story houses in our town were simply not selling that quickly, whereas the one-story houses were listed and gone. (He sold us our house before he tore down the old one, and sold the other house on the block about 3/4 of the way through the build and before it was ever listed. The two story house around the corner from us was on the market for 8 months). I'm not a huge fan of government intervention in housing (I saw public housing in the UK and that was not a good thing) but I do think strong regulation on foreign property buyers is appropriate. That said, I also think the builders need to get their heads together and recognize that there's a boomer population that has a bit of money and wants something different than the bog-standard two-storey box house. Time for the developers to catch up. Okay, sorry, second rant for the day.

Wow, that house is WAY to big. How on earth do you clean it? Why not have outdoor entertaining on the back deck? This would incorporate flying fox to a cubby and play equipment down the back yard. In the summer perhaps a collapsible awning for during the day but at night just candles and the stars to keep you company. If the weather is too cold you could provide a pile of crocheted lap rugs or fur or old blankets to get the cottage or french look. I suppose then your dining furniture would need to be a style to suit - maybe more relaxed or boho. Anyway sounds good fun - oo I forgot to allow for the outdoor fireplace (stone or brick) preferably. I notice you said any ideas would be greatly appreciated so I will press on regardless another day.

If you need to achieve a home generally along these lines, seriously, don't bother trying to customise some form of layout with a drafty or any form of designer. Practically you have little choice but to try and find something suitable with an off the shelf plans, (or version of) available with one of the volume building companies, some of which can be quite helpful with working through this process, but you have to accept a certain "formula". It's the only way to achieve something of this scale for that type of money. For what it's worth, generally you'll find most draftspeople have no idea about designing to budget - it's not what they do. They are a technical drawing service, nothing more nothing less and unfortunately over the years we've been doing what we do, we've had countless of examples of projects come into the office that have resulted from people trying to get a draftsperson to design something to budget thinking it's a cheaper road, only to be bitterly disappointed once the builder has come in and delivered the bad news, and then they're back to square one & we have to pick up the pieces somehow. This is why it's so important to have a robust discussion about budget limits as the first part of any conversation around a building project, to minimise wasting time and money going down path that will prove to be somewhere down the line unrealistic. Good luck! PD