hey bekkyboo7 things to consider with aluminum doors and windows, they have lower maintenance and better weather seals..... in saying that the color is a big consideration, white is great although i generally use anodised silver, this way it often blends with the backgrounds better depending on your outlooks and views as well as it is very neutral against furnishings and coloured feature walls. anodized is a much nicer finish than powder coating as well as it has no sheen to it and looks "softer" its my design you have in the photo attached to this conversation cheers adrian

If the front of the house is west facing in Queensland and you have glass on that side of the house, in summer in the afternoon the sun beats down on this side for hours, heating up the whole house. There is some speculation on double glazing as some think that they do heat up, better than nothing. Once the sun hits the wall you are lost. These image are for north this is worst for west. A more passive means of cooling the house is to install tall enough thick leaves to the base trees on the western side so that they shade that elevation. Problem with that is that in winter, that sun would be nice. So you need trees that drop their leaves early winter and have them back on say September when the sun starts to heat up. Some trees hold onto their leaves till a few weeks before spring, so make sure you do your research and think root barrier up front to protect your footings. Photo below horizontal external shade screens, Another method is to shade the house with screens, i said house not windows. With western sun, it is low when it starts to clear the roof overhangs, so no amount of horizontal shade devices will make any real difference. The screens for western sun in Queensland must be of a vertical nature. So screens that hang OUTSIDE the house to around say 900 mm off the ground would be fantastic. Since the sun travels around the west from more south west in peak summer to west in winter, vertical blades tend to be ideal solution and should pivot, to deal with this moving sun. In the past, Queenslanders used to have these vertical screens on castors and they moved them around to suit the conditions, for some reason we did not learn from the past. This house the screens are not shading the walls at the bottom so they would still heat up. From the plans i see you are building in brick, so western sun and bricks in summer make an ideal oven. Takes bricks 12 hours to cool down depending on the colour. All material heats up in the sun, but bricks take longer to cool, light weight material which is properly insulated is a better choice and against popular opinion, glass is also a good choice, all better if vertically screened. Double brick tends to keep a house cooler and you might as well use the double brick for structure instead of the decorative nature of cavity brick house, but after a while that heats up and takes forever to cool. Studs hold up the roof, not the face bricks. Ever wonder why the house stands up during construction with stud wall and roof? Photo is vertical blades which pivot. A good landscape architect would be worth a look and they will know how to blend your style of house with the garden. North windows in Queensland even with no overhangs, (which is stupid in Queensland) do not get sun into the rooms, but in winter it might crawl in say 2 M which is nice. What are you doing with the roof and concrete tiles heat up nicely and the darker you make them the hotter they get, Colorbond is a good choice with all the hail we tend to get, or keep a stockpile of tiles for when they break. Colour also makes a difference to heat. Make sure you vent the roof space, whirly birds, and vented eaves or gable ends, make sure you fully insulate the roof and also ceiling, and choose a light colour. choose a style of external screens or trees to fit the house. See if that makes a difference to the report which is there to make your life better and we are talking the cost of air con for the life of the house, the reports are there to help save you money, maybe a bit more up front but worth it in the long running cost of a house. Ros

About your question about sourcing some of your own internal fittings. It is best you discuss this with the builder early on. Usually, the builder's contract will specify an allowance for particular fixtures. However, some may specify actual brand and model of fittings ie taps, toilets, sinks, etc in their quote, and they may or may not allow you to vary this. IF you are happy with those specified fixtures and you think the allowance amount is reasonable, then you can go with it. Otherwise, any changes or variances need to be discussed with builder, and it is very important this be discussed upfront and before any contract is signed. Some building contracts may also disallow some variances. In any event, carefully read the contract so you completely understand what you are agreeing to, and discuss any and all parts where you are not in agreement so these issues can be ironed out. Also, and this is my own experience and opinion, but I advise specifying in the contract the completion date AND if the build is not completed on time then what happens (consider that you may be paying interest on your mortgage, be financing a bridging mortgage, etc. and/or you may also have already sold your home and then have to pay rent until the build is finished). If you are in agreement with builder to source some of the internal fittings yourself, there are any number of suppliers and sources to investigate, and this might be a good way to keep your budget in check. There will be Houzzers who are experienced at this and can provide you with ideas. Just keep in mind that you will have to have all fittings READY and ON SITE when the tradesmen require them, otherwise you will be holding up the build and that is going to cost YOU money.

Hi again, thanks everyone for your input. I have been to a well known window/door manufacturer today which makes aluminium, timber and alu/timber composite to compare all options. It was a local company also so they were able to advise based on knowledge of our climate. The composite was higher in price but was also too contemporary in design, the aluminium was also too contemporary in design and not all options suitable for double-glazed glass, so we have returned to the idea of the solid timber but have taken all the advice on board and are opting for a pair of hinged french doors with sidelights in size to match and fanlights above so we can still retain the overall height and look but the actual doors will be closer to standard 2100mm height. Hopefully this will also eliminate any difficulty with opening them which we would probably have found had we had a bi-fold system or 2.7m door height. FYI the salesperson I spoke with also advised that there is a product available (sold in our local area from Inspirations Paint company) which when applied to the timber doors/windows gives 7 year protection from rot and fading due to rain and UV. He had used this himself on his own timber doors which were also exposed fully to the weather and highly recommended it - so I will post what this treatment is when I have more information on it. Thanks again everyone who helped out with their advice