I personally think that it is overkill to get an architect because you think that the orientation of your home is difficult. Its not. You could be wasting money getting advice that is not required. My own home has the heart of the house - the kitchen, facing north. This is ideal because we spend a lot of time here and it is great in winter with slow cooked food in the oven, using the oven to warm the room while also getting any winter sun that is available. My best advice to anyone is to have a home with doors in it; open plan is fine for people with money who can pay for double/triple glazed windows, insulated walls etc and elaborate air conditioning systems. Most people need to think about how they can get the best out of the money that they have available and being able to close doors to keep rooms cool or warm is to me, essential to the fuel economy of the home. So your orientation to me is what is often recommended - it certainly isn't east west. Just use trees correctly to help insulate your home even further.

- Any wood fired heating we have would be purely run with wood from our farm, as opposed to buying anthracite. We would really like to have woodfire doing at least two jobs, i.e. cooking and heating/heating and hot water/cooking and hot water (as we are under the impression that solar hot water would not be enough in winter??). There's nothing like lighting a woodfire to keep your house warm, except for the great big hole in the insulation that it causes. As beautiful as they are (and I'm a massive fan of open/wood fires), they are pretty bad when it comes to ceiling penetrations. A lot of insulation is lost by having an open fire, a wood heater not so much, but still bad enough. For heating, the best advice I can give is this. You need a battery storage system! Then whatever type of heating you go for, you won't run out of energy for your cooking, cooling or anything else you won't to run at the same time. I believe this is a necessity, not to mention a very smart investment. If you want to be off grid, then be completely off grid. I personally don't believe in still being connected to the grid and having the energy your home creates, sold back to you for an absolute pittance. If you invest in a good battery set up, it'll last you up to 15 years and you'll have never have to worry about heating or cooling. I visited a house about 12 months ago that was off grid for power. They purchased an induction cooktop and electric oven, that way the idn't have to worry about refilling gas bottles or having a gas bill come in either. They didn't have the smartest idea when it came to lights as they were still using halogen's, but even still, their battery system never went under 80%. Even during winter, with two teenagers, and a couple of plasma tv's, playstations and all other sorts of electrical goods that they used. They were never too careful so as to make sure they had power in reserve. They just lived life and if they needed to make adjustments, then they could've done. But they didn't need to. That was all done with a 5.5Kw/H system. You'd be surprised how well solar hot water works. It just depends on the type of system you get. Again with battery backup, you won't need to worry. - We are planning to insulate the slab, but have not gotten as far as deciding what product we would use, are there several different products like the one you described? We do plan to have polished concrete flooring throughout the entire house – with the possible exception of bedrooms on the south, if absolutely necessary they will have carpet. I know it's probably more expensive, but I would recommend the Kingspan K3 Floorboards. It is a brilliant product and I recommend it to be used in all my jobs. The effect it has on an energy rating is massive. Depending on the layout and orientation of the house, just by adding slab insulation, I have noticed an increase of almost a full star difference in the rating. So that's from 6 star compliance, to 7 star above average. Here is the product site: https://www.kingspan.com/au/en-au/products-brands/insulation/insulation-boards/kooltherm-k3-floorboard - We will also be aiming to have the optimal amount of glazing for solar gain (and prevention of heat loss). I still haven’t worked out why I can’t upload a picture of our plans, but will do ASAP as we would love to hear feedback on our plan. As for the layout, you just need be mindful of window sizes and orientation. If you have the time before you build to play around with a few different variations of your plans, it might be a good idea, as just by changing a couple of small things, it can give you large benefits. One of the main focuses I have with my business is to help people such as yourself utilise the energy rating software to make small changes at the design stage, instead of just using such a powerful tool at the building permit stage. By then it's too late to make any significant changes. Just keep that in mind. It's a small price to pay to know that your house is going to be as energy efficient as it can be. If you want to, feel free to email me the plans and I can give them a quick look for you. Just to give you some quick advice on them. Giuliano green design & consulting

Hello houzz helpers! We have a rough new plan! The kitchen, living, dining are on the north and bedrooms are on the south. We are planning to push the house to the rear (south) of our 1 acre block and have a long driveway. We can look out onto our beautiful (in time) front yard and watch the kids run wild! We plan on using landscaping along a front fence for privacy. I am concerned with the size, in regards to being way over budget, but I am hoping the simple shape of the roof will help to offset some of that. I was thinking I would get the plan as close to what we want/need then get quotes and scale back if we need to, which will involve another post on houzz ofcourse! We would love your honest feedback and I am happy to answer any questions...

Hi oklouise, Below is an image of how the houses should fit together. I have included rough measurements for sons house. Shared garage 6x6sq m - shared laundry sewing/ utility/mud room 6x3.3sq m - media room 5x3.8sq m - entry 1.5x3.3sq m - office 2.5x3.5 sq m - bed 4 3x3.5 sq m - bed 3 3x3.5 sq m - main 4x4.5 sq m - wir 4x1.8 sq m - ensuite 4x2.8sq m - bed 4 3x5.4 has linen c/board in hall way - bathroom 2x3.5 sqm - toilet and 1 vanity 2.7x1.7 extends into family rm - family rm 5x5.2 sq m - dining 5.3x3.4 sq m - kitchen 4x2.8 sq m - b/pantry 1.3x2.8 sq m - island 3x.9 sq m - hall 1mtr wide - outdoor 3.5x4.7 sq m may change - front porch 3.5x1.8 sq m - pool behind family area maybe. I will put measurements for my pantry and vac on tomorrow morning. This image might look slightly different to his latest plan which I uploaded earlier he has altered a few things overall still same footprint. I'm pretty new to anything to do with designing house plans so thanks for all of the suggestions and plans so far. I definitely like the way you have narrow shelves for storage in your pantry. but