Thanks kirstensomers, first up I'll take it that North is to the right of your first picture. A few other thoughts pop to mind: You're being very kind to neighbours if you put a bed along the pool fence as I figure you can't actually see it much from your house. I would suggest letting the pool fence run to lawn. You'll get enough sun to do it as it's facing east. You have to mow that verge anyway, and it would be great for guest parking! You could focus your efforts and $ instead on doing both sides of your lovely wide driveway. I would never usually say this but I almost feel as though the tree closest to the driveway should go. It doesn't provide useful shade in that position. It partially blocks the view from that balcony. Also, the two trees on that side make the garden seem very unbalanced. A single remaining tree could claim its rightful place as the magnificent feature tree. If you went for the chop on one tree it leaves you with a nice amount of space to plant beds on both sides of the driveway and allows for better views if that's what you prefer.That's option 1. For option 2 you could of course take the opposite view and decide to balance out those two trees by planting one large tree on the other side of the driveway! It all hinges on whether you prefer looking into the tops of your trees or prefer looking at whatever you can see from your house. Personal choice for sure. Either way, the driveway would get morning and midday sun. The sun would reflect off the concrete. I'll bet you score the sea 'breeze' there too. Tough gig. I'm with Timandra Design and Landscaping as this is the perfect environment for natives and those that act like them. As to plantings? Option 2 is easier. What type of trees are they in the picture? Plant one of them then under plant with hardy dietes or agapanthus until the shade grows in. Option 1 opens up other possibilities. Modestly sized trees would seem to be the go. Rows of Callistemon King's Park Red marching up both sides of the drive attracting all the birds? Olive trees for their silvery foliage? Once you have decided the area and height for plantings you can go to some fine nurseries that specialise in natives and their mates. Nice way to spend a couple of hours! I hope you have much fun with your garden. It's so exciting to put in all that work then watch your efforts multiplied by nature. Good luck!

Not for me, I find the concrete floors too harsh, the one good thing about them when they go off trend easy to cover with something else.

Hi Kel, without looking at your budget or plans properly, I'd say that your budget is impossibly tight, with an estimated cost at $1200 per sq m and the kind of home that you are going to get for that, you won't be able to save money as the builder will almost definitely be able to do it cheaper than you can and if not, they'll probably not be interested in the hassle of dealing with other third party contractors. You have mentioned the size of the property that you want and the price of the property that you want but you haven't mentioned the quality of the project that you want. Have you considered talking to an architect or building designer? Their initial consultation will be either free or very inexpensive? They might be able to steer you in a direction that allows you to have a smaller home of higher quality, or look at ways of phasing the build so that you don't need to construct everything and therefore pay for it upfront. Especially if you are open minded to creative solutions. Let me know if you would like to chat.

I'm in Perth. Most of the well known builders have their own design team. That is how we built our home. We had a plan and took it to a well known builder. They drew up our design and costed. Remembering they have a better buying power for goods than smaller boutique builders. Contact summit, dale alcock, shelford, Webb brown Neaves, Beaumont, plunkett homes. All of these will design and build to a high spec. And hopefully keep to your budget.