I also place safety from all sorts of hazards very high on my list - so high I won'y buy land unless it is free from such problems. In NSW Australia checking on this is now a few clicks away. If you search for NSW Planning Portal - you can input a NSW address and hey presto - all information collated about bush fire risk, flooding or other water inundation, mine subsidence and geo tech problems, things like acid sulphate soil - along with lot size, zoning and any permissible and prohibited activities. Apart from ensuring the NBN is available at a prospective purchase in NSW and crime stats are low - this portal hosted by Planning NSW is a fast way of checking on safety, zoning and other issues affecting a property. It saved me a lot of time as I could eliminate a high percentage of properties [and save myself pointless inspections or shelling out money for checks] immediately and only put time and resources into genuinely contenders. It assisted me whittle down 100+ properties down to 4 solid options. Phoning an insurance company and asking what they would charge you to insure a property is also tremendously revealing - as a rough rule - the more outrageous the premiums the more serious the underlying safety and other problems are.

You are most welcome, I have always said that I haven't been put on this earth to "Hug" toilets, so I'am wondering who is going to clean all of these Bathrooms. Our two kids a boy and a girl had the upstairs "apartment" which they and all their friends loved. I have added a timber stair case for fun, there's plenty of space but you will need to decide what you want to do in the attic and place the stairs to open up into a tall space. I have also turned one of the ensuites into a powder room. Your Jacaranda's only drop once a year!, you used to be able to trim them by 25% each year, you would need to check with your council, we were on the lower North Shore, I think you should consider the patio side of the house and make better use of that, is the front deck something you plan on adding because of aspect, and plant some tall growing hedge ready for the apartments. Our kids Attic desk/study space over looked our pool in the rear garden. With respect to using the formal rooms for bedrooms, you will find that once you have your large family/alfresco and the kids have their upstairs space if you still feel you need it, it would make a great office. You spend most of the time there only using only using the front room in the evening for watching movies etc. I have had another play with my floor plan, I think if your wife sees this you may be in trouble, it's a Master Suite, the free standing bath in the window alcove with white timber shutters for sun and privacy control..... Iam' adding a couple of photos of our old Federation which wasn't protected, when we sold it the new owners removed all of the Fret work & posts replacing them with simple timber posts. The front rooms which we didn't use very much once we opened up the rear rooms into a family area. The room with the Bay window had a Baby grand sitting there, we sold the piano before we took the photo. Cheers

(overlapping posts) the mudroom and relocated laundry could be an assett if there was direct access from the garage but the space i've used as a study nook could also be a laundry or pantry as i think the MPR would have more appeal to more people and only kept a sink because it's already there and could inspire future buyers to add an ensuite for a guest/rumpus room...upstairs could include a bedroom and separate sitting area but the spacious master suite will be more appealing to more buyers and the wiw could be used as a baby's room but improvements to the entry and kitchen will give the best return ... doorways and/or supporting beams shown as dotted lines will avoid the extra costs of attempting to remove whole walls with ceiling repairs and a bath (relocated from upstairs?) would be an assett in the family bathroom for what would now be a generous family home with 4-5 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, wiw and biw, separate powder room, open plan kitchen and three living areas!! ...will post some other options for the old laundry after the school run

we have not been permitted to occupy any new buildings or renovations without the occupancy certificates so i'm guessing that you may need to make a formal written application for an Occupancy certificate to allow council to inspect the standard of work and be specific about what needs to be upgraded...always prefer written advice in response to any enquiry as too much misunderstanding with verbal statements but i would contact the Ombudsman for a referee to help work out best solution...best of luck