Thanks Me Me, it is indeed a retirement home. Internal stairs were included in the original design as were covered external stairs. We are trying to keep cost down but I agree we need to do something about covered access from the garage.

Have you considered pushing the kitchen into the guest bath area to increase the feeling of spaciousness and flow to the living room and moving the guest bath to what is now the back of the kitchen. Remember the kitchen is often THE gathering place with family, friends and parties. Also you can design the guest bath to occupy less space and still address your objectives (do you really need a seperate room & pocket door for the guest bath?). Also your shelving could move over to the offset adjacent to the other bath & utilize a face frame config. to save space. How about a fireplace or wood burning stove? Otherwise looks great, enjoy your retirement. I agree on the desireability of the internal stairs.

Honestly there's a lot of awkward little jut ins and outs with this.......not to mention the expensive terrace over the garage scenario .........my guess is that you're designing this yourself and telling draftsperson what to draw..... the best way to do this would be to work directly with a professional designer/architect who inherently understands costs and can more elegantly resolve the layout for you....also this will avoid the "design, draft, go to builder, get told it's too much" rinse & repeat cycle......there's got to be a better resolved plan than this....as a home for retirement this should be conscious of access & more flowing/less squeezed apartment like....there's also strange zoning going on with the bedroom in the middle, between entry and main living with the study given the view but the master positioned out the back.......sorry, but from my Pro position IMO it could (should) be better......and yes negotiation of the the levels similarly.......possibly there should be a split level solution for a block like this.......designing and budget need to be managed simultaneously.....Cheers PD

such a specialised dilemma should be considered by professionals but we were able to modify some fire zone issues with fire rated roller shutters (eg our terrace area is roofed and enclosed on all sides by the building and roller shutters and has the narrow end towards the bushland view) maybe we could offer some suggestions for the basic floorplan but can't read the dimensions, need to know the width and depth of the block, front and side setbacks and assume that the driveway access is from the north,,, please clearly overwrite the outside dimensions and add a copy of the garage level showing dimensions ...would be interested to see the original plans and did the builders' quote help you understand what created the biggest extra costs?

Batemans Bay is lovely spot!

Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) 40 (and lower) isn't an issue. Just educated material choices to comply with the levels. BAL Low to 40 all require the same roofing standard, glazing is better than 'standard' but I've found the BASIX pushes you to better performing systems anyway so no significant costs increase. BAL FZ does cost more again due to the extra layers of materials and the associated labour. FZ windows and doors are the biggie however, this is where you can save some serious money - less windows and doors on the FZ face. A $1000 BAL 40 window compared to a $5000 one of the same size.... ouch! Shutters are just as expensive and theres only a few manufacturers that actually have a compliant product....

I doubt you would get anything lower than FZ roof and one side with BAL40 on the rest unless you dramatically changed width of proposed or relocated it much further away.... how wide is the site and what else does this affect...

Without knowing the site or budget I would probably be suggesting to make it wider across the site but have narrower faces to the West and East with limited or no windows to avoid the FZ window cost.

As a starting point I'd probably investigate having the kitchen/meals/living at say 12.0 metres x 5.0 m. Use a galley kitchen at one end for example. Need internal stairs too.

Budget? Was this mentioned. The above design would be way past $650K..... even as a 10 second quick square metre calculation.....

I feel like the dining is too spacious and kitchen area too small. To get that open plan feel and utilise the decking area, maybe consider extending the kitchen out so its using some of the dining room space?

Hi the external view looks lovely. we need to see a site plan Though. Need to see boundaries and road. Internally the kitchen is very awkward with fridge buried next to stove, island not extending opposite oven which is hard against pantry. It is not a sociable kitchen and the island interrupts workflow.

Thanks for all your comments. I have since spoken to our bushfire consultant and the revised location on the block shall hopefully result in a BAL-40 assessment. I have spoken with an architect who I work with and am currently re-working the plan to address the numerous issues that have been raised. It's great that you have all taken the time to help us with the plan. I will post a site plan and revised floor plans next week and look forward to your comments/suggestions. Have a great New Year!

Hi again. In light of the feedback we have received I have attached the revised living area floor plan with the changes including: shifting the family bathroom behind the kitchen, kitchen re-oriented and reconfigured, main entry is now at ground level with internal stairs (with the option for a stairlift in future if needed) and internal access from garage, entry to the upper level is now to the living area, ensuite and WIR clearances widened and hallway marginally widened. The ground level floor plan is also attached. There is a separate entrance to the office so that my wife’s clients would not need to walk through the house.

The site plan and setbacks are attached and the building envelope is fairly constrained (to avoid BAL-Flame Zone) due to the bushfire threat imposed by the reserve to the east. A 14 metre setback from the reserve boundary is expected to result in an assessment of BAL-40 to the whole house. There will be a shed on the north east of the site and, to avoid the BAL requirements of the house being imposed on the shed, the separation between the house and the shed needs to be >=6 metres. I have received professional advice regarding the BAL assessment.

I’ve also attached the revised rendering showing the enclosed entry.

It would be great to get some feedback on these changes.

You've learned well grasshopper, I'm sure you will get many 'expert' opinions suggesting changes. Here's one...you may want to consider flipping the location of the toilet & the shower in the guest bath as you could have the shower utilize the full wall (in length) to provide a very spacious & luxurious shower. You also could implement a knee wall on each side of the toilet to provide a better design. You're in a great location, enjoy!

My floor plan is a bit different to Oklouise but does include the same entrance idea, I also agree with downstairs

I have chosen a straight staircase and a large landing with access for clients via the deck into the office. The stair case could have a chair lift or small lift installed if needed at a later date.. I have also made the Powder room easy to access for any clients and not having to use the whole bathroom. cheers

Thanks for all your ideas, much appreciated. We have pretty much implemented all of Oklouise's upper storey suggestions.