what is the width and depth of the block, where is the street front and guest parking, are there any good or bad views, do you plan an external door for the laundry and where is north on the plan?

3.5 acres so plenty of space We will add guest parking next to the garage when we get the drive done. The Street and North are the bottom of the page so sun rises on the minor bedroom side and sets the master side, views are the top of the page where the patio is. Not planing on putting a door in the laundry, just a window.

Great concept, and so good to see a rural home that doesn't look like a suburban home plonked down in the landscape.

While it is true that the size of the home does affect the cost, the other cost implication is the shape. The amount of exterior walls will contribute substantailly to the cost. I don't believe there is much opportunity to reduce squarage (and save costs) unless you look at combining rooms. Possibly combining the parlor with one of the bedrooms to make a large room that you use as a parlour, but could be considerd as bedroom 3 for resale?

Project home builders build boxy houses as they are cheap. The proportion of exterior wall area to interior floor area is quite efficient and quite cost-effective in builder's project homes. Your home, which is a lot more interesting with its well articulated exterior, has a high proportion of exterior wall area to the interior floor area, so is a lot less efficient and will be a lot more expensive than a box type house of the same floor area.

If you want to save money for expensive tiles then you have more opportunity to save money by simplifying the shape (less external articulation) than reducing the floor area, unless you combine room functions.

However I really like the cost-inefficient shape, so if it was my house I would be building it, and living with polished concrete floors until I could afford the expensive floor tiles! Polished concrete floors would work well with your rural barn aesthetic, and are low maintenance, but you need to decide on them before the slab is poured.

If you would like a full design review of your plans please contact me,

Best of luck,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls

Love the concept of your house will you be using liveable sheds. Two things, the dog leg entrance passage way and from the garage to arrive at the living from doesn't work for me.

Which toilet will be used as the powder room

Solid conceptually, and a great effort. but as Retro said the building expense will be more in the extent of perimeter, detailing and gable form nature of it rather than the size. From a functional aspect I'd be getting the bathrooms breathing a bit more, and also consider flipping the whole main living so you're not walking past a laundry from the main entry, and you present/enter into the main living which would be much more open. Possibly you consider changing the entry point though if you prefer closer relationship off the kitchen/laundry with the garage....This is where you need to balance function vs experience.......

Also I'll add that no plan is EVER "perfect", rather it is either better balanced and aligned one way or the other in respect to your particular needs.

Without understanding context also it's hard to comment as when you have a rural context the opportunity to respond to potential panoramic views & orientation changes the way we plan the building. Also response to sustainable design, and say if north is up the page having bedrooms on the west unprotected is an issue and also the west facing window to the master.......

What you may be better to do, rather than go straight to a builder, is to take these to a Designer to help you refine your ideas and finalise the concept. It's a great start, but if you go straight to a builder you're missing a critical part of the process and bypassing vital design expertise (which will include energy efficiency, engineering/structural/costing understanding that will help you realise the full potential of your project.

Definitely on the right path, though

Best of luck

Cheers PD :)

oop, just missed your additional comment re orientation.....this makes it even more of an issue from an energy perspective as you have the garage on the north east which is not ideal and main living and external spaces to the south...

It's tricky when the views are south when you want the north light - similar situation to the local coastal scenarios we work on in Victoria. The design needs to acknowledge & respond to this and in your case whilst you have the views sorted, the response to the natural light could be improved

Your concept is the perfect situation to use "liveable sheds for your Pavilion style home, I would be contacting the people who supply these before speaking to your builder. I believe it will be a more economical way to build and also over comes any load bearing situations which means walls can be adjusted later on if needed. The polished concrete floors would be perfect .

The following house is a very good example and was built as an addition some years ago in NSW.

https://www.vogue.com.au/vogue-living/interiors/house-tour-a-shed-that-became-a-home/image-gallery/a675eb119366265b0db447c056d40cd9?pos=1

it's a gorgeous shed and a great plan... we've also been building a small holiday house using shed constructions with black Colorbond steel but make sure you include deep eaves that are often overlooked in steel sheds...your original plan is about 235 sqm and, aiming to reduce the overall size to help finance your expensive tiles and also take more advantage of the site, my suggestions include some variations that allow you to sit in the bath and enjoy the view and the master bedroom now has a separate terrace with space for a spa pool and outdoor shower screened off from the barbq and the dotted lines shows the amount that the plan has been reduced from your original

the second variation to the guest wing would allow it to be more self contained with a separate entry through the link...(this variation is a different shape not much bigger) and the guest wing is now also the same 6m width as the other two buildings which would make the three roofs the same height and. rotating the guest wing, also prevents it from screening the views from the lounge

Wow, Thank you all so much for the feedback. Dr Retro we are planning on polished concrete through the main barn and tiles and carpets for the bedrooms and bathrooms. You've got our aesthetic nailed with the modern industrial barnhouse. The Wild Heart Collective, thats a great suggestion and makes sense to move that door, Thank you.

Paul Di Stefano I've tried to have all the living areas north facing to help thermally as we live in a temperate climate leaning to cool. Landscaping will also help with the sun in summer. I've tried to allow as much light into our spaces without letting in glare as I have found we tend to close up any windows with glare and live in gloom instead. The garage will be north west. Loving that barn in your picture.

Siriuskey we had initially thought about a shed house but my partner is of the opinion that it wouldn't be as insulated/strong/warm/reasons as a timber framed house. Even though we are deciding between hardyflex cladding or colourbond. I think he was more concerned about who would build it than anything.

Oklouise, wow. Your first design especially. It makes a lot more sense of the space. Thank you so much.

our shed house is a steel framed building with no internal load bearing walls and raked ceilings..rated as an A1 residential building and all walls and ceilings are insulated and will be lined with plasterboard and timber veneer with Colorbond steel cladding,,,the advantage of having a shed building is that it's much quicker and easier to erect in a rural location and the whole building is quickly secure and watertight while awaiting internal fitout

I might try to convice him again I think.

Hi Gai, You made me think of " The Three Little Pigs"