@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.

Don't put a stool there! Find a tiny little bookshelf that will just fit in the space underneath - that way you can't tell that there's supposed to be that extra space there?!

Of course there are other aspects to consider, but orientation plays a very big part in the comfort of a home. The home I'm living in requires not heating or cooling at any time in the year. The living room has sun streaming through the windows this morning, & it's currently 21C inside. That's on a winter's morning! I'd be looking for a lot more than the bare minimum 5 stars! Why build a new house that only just meet an energy rating that will be unacceptable in only a few years. Many builders will orientate their builds poorly, & have to install expensive extras like double glazing just to reach the minimum standards, adding costs to the build. Reorienting the build costs nothing. Plus you'll save on heating & cooling costs. In the end, you'll be far better off financially, plus you'll be living in a far more comfortable house. You're lucky to have the north facing backyard, only 1 in 4 houses have it. Most blocks have quite narrow frontages, you've been blessed with a wide frontage & are extremely lucky to have that very wide backyard. Is be using it to my advantage & placing all the living areas to the north, along with the parents retreat, & the master of you can manage it. The other bedrooms, & bathrooms could occupy the south side (along with the media room, if you want it dark).

" .....there has to be a better design " - that's why I'd love some input here! The 800mm gap under the box gutter will hold storage, the toilet, the 'european laundry' and the wardrobe for Bedroom 3, so certainly not wasted space. It will address all the storage needs, and will enable the garden-facing side to be quite open. No - pergola timbers are not preexisting - extending new ones from the new roof will be the primary shading device, and can have anything added to them to shade them. The box gutter enables the extension roof to be pitched upwards towards the west, creating a higher ceiling, enabling some kind of opening above the bifolds, to enable hot air to be expelled. Not that my own finances are the business of this discussion, but if I can get to lockup stage with my own cash, I can apply for a bank loan for the fitout. I'm not sure of your own experience OKL, but preliminary quotes for lockup stage were around the ballpark I'd mentioned earlier. I'll upload an updated floorplan soon :-)