I'm sure there's plenty of confusion about the why's and wherefore's of house orientation. The reality, as I have recently discovered, is that if want to live in an area that is older, developed, close to facilities, you take whatever orientation the block actually happens to be and do the best you can with it. Unless you're out in the country, or buying something in a new estate, you may not get a choice of orientation: we certainly didn't. And yes, our garage does have the best aspect - because there was nowhere else to put it - it had to face the street - but we live walking distance to shops (think of the petrol saved on not having to get into the car), we've got clerestory windows on the west side so no afternoon sun issues, and we're assembling a collection of sails for the south side, where the deck is, to provide shade from the late afternoon sun. Oh, and skylights for the kitchen. No, not ideal. But the location is, and the designers have worked around the constraints of orientation. And that's reality for a lot of us.

I agree with everyone here. Unfortunately, most people don't consider their home's orientation & the sun's path when they build. This appears to be the case for your neighbours. If you do you should have a home that is much more comfortable than the neighbours. Being orientated 45° off true north does make things tougher, as you now have two western aspects to worry about, NW & SW, NW being the worst. But at least you you have a 20m frontage, this wide block gives you some options with things like courtyards, so that rooms facing NW may instead have SW or NE windows. A wide block may also give you the option of planting a decent sized tree or two on the west, to screen hot afternoon sun. If you're having a garage, the NW corner is likely to be the best place for it, to take the brunt of that western sun. I'd possible, put the services (laundry & bathrooms) on the west too. Best of luck.

Thank you everyone for your replies. @dreamer – I agree with what you’ve said. I planned on extending the Alfresco to go down the side of the house along the Living/Kitchen down the track which would add the required shading. Now that I’ve read a few more replies maybe flipping the whole house orientation will work better, and I wear the costs of getting the crossover changed to make the most of the N/E orientation? @HU-319610855 – I will be living in the house for the next 5+ years so I guess it’s long term. It’s the first house I will own/build so there is a million things running through my head. I was told to build with the future in mind, whether it be my own family or if I sell/rent, someone else’s, but I can see how that really complicates things as I need to think in the present! I have gone with a custom builder more so for the fact that I know they are reputable and the workmanship will be top quality compared to some of the volume builders in my area, it wasn’t so much for a custom plan. As I said above, would flipping the whole house orientation work better and optimise the light coming into the Alfresco/Family/Kitchen areas? Or would it be better to rework the plans as you said and have the majority of living towards the back of the house? One of my original designs did have the Alfresco running across the whole back of the house, but it was a 3 Bedroom design which I changed to 4 to suit the estate I'm building in. @User - I thought the entry and hallways were standard sizing, 1.5m entrance and 1m for hallways? The house will have 2.7m ceilings throughout so that adds a bit more space. The reason for the divide between the family and bedrooms as I like to have the spaces separate to create more privacy for the bedrooms/bathroom/toilet. I wouldn’t want them visible from the living area.

A residential draftsman needs to know about design, orientation, etc. They go broke if they don't as their plans will not be approved without meeting thermal performance requirements. Times have changed, we can't just knock up a plan and submit to council without providing evidence of it performance. No one wants to submit to council and not get approvals.