flipping parts of the house can change the driveway and dimensions of other rooms.. are your plans already committed or can you make such big changes?

flip the whole house from the study to the front of the house. have the kitchen tucked into where the living currently is showing.

This will give more room for a living and dining open floor plan.

garage will be on the south/west side not the north.

put a window on the north side of front bedroom when swapped.

But all this is not possible if the driveway has to be on the left side? and if you can not make any changes with your builder, ie: plumbing etc etc.

Are plans are not fully committed. I don't think it's too late to change. We have a land under offer but not titled yet but may have to pay a fee to change but I'm willing too. If it makes better for northern light.

These plans are from a previous lot we lost our on and we quickly found this lot and re-signed our build contract again to get the last grant that ended Mar. 31st

If I can't do major changes what would be the advice going forward with this floorplan? I'm worried I'm losing a lot of the northern light.

Do you mean light or heating/cooling benefits also?

I was thinking heating and cooling benefits as well.

So you have cold winters? Sorry, but location/climate zone is useful to know? I mean if you're further north and have mild winters making use of the northern sun for heating purposes isn't as crucial, and the angle at which the sun shines in the northern winters isn't as low either. Have you seen the diagram that shows how it works? I think visualising it that way is easier than explaining it.

One thing I noticed on your plan as is, is that your alfresco would shade the master bedroom if you intend for it to be under the roofline.

Just adding, if you click on edit you can edit your posts.

I’d go as is. There are lots of consequences to flipping, bedrooms are great on south side

We are moving to the Busselton area the southwest of Western Australia doesnt snow but still a liitle colder than. I live in Perth right now we had some living areas that were cold because they faced south only. Hoping to still get warmth in winter and lots of good sunlight from our northen side. I think I've seen the diagram. I just started learning about passive solar housing after already choosing the house and our land is 15m wide and 30 long. My husband wants to keep the house to one side as much as possible to have a spot for a caravan so south side will be as close to the fence as possible. I'm planning on building a comfy bench area under the window in the dinning area so in the winter i could sit there and enjoy the warmth. Even though at one point i thought of putting another slider where the window was and got it priced out but Im torn and love bench seating. My husband thinks the Living area will be good on south side so there is not a lot of light hitting the tv awkwardly. Im now thinking more and more we might keep it the same layout. but not sure whether to change the door position and the flow of kitchen. that might be a cheaper change. Even Im still slightly worried i dont have enough windows on the north side or big enough. I do love having a servery window in our kitchen and will build a pergola off the side of house. My mind is of many thoughts. Thank you for sticking around and reading this to the end and for all the feedback I've got.

Vasse and Busselton can get cold in winter, and beautiful and mild in spring and occasionally quite warm in summer. But never really extremely hot. And it only really ever snows for one day of the year in Albany/Bluff Knoll which is 330km away further south.

So you need to think about how to keep your home warm in winter.

If keeping the same design, I would look at an alfresco with a colorbond roof to install clear roofing panels. At the moment it looks like it is under the solid roof line, I cant really enlarge plans to confirm. You need sunlight into your home and the master bedroom. I would not be putting a pergola on the north side. I would install a retractable awning. This will allow you to have the winter sun flow into your home in winter, and have sun and rain coverage when required. All the best.

Average Weather in Busselton Australia

In Busselton, the summers are short, warm, and dry; the winters are long, cool, and wet; and it is windy and mostly clear year round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 10°C to 28°C and is rarely below 6°C or above 33°C.

"My husband thinks the Living area will be good on south side so there is not a lot of light hitting the tv awkwardly."

That is very true. That's the dilemma we have in our lovely warm north-facing living room, at a certain time of day we have to adjust the blinds just for the tv.

The alfresco is under the roof we didn't want any leaks into our alfresco because we siding have the alfresco under the roof before and had issues. I do agree I need to figure out something for maybe some more light into our master bedroom.

Having a solid roof shading a north-facing window is a waste of good solar orientation.

Are you having a built-in outdoor kitchen or something on the alfresco that you want to protect from weather?

I do understand that but my husband likes the look of an alfresco. I'm thinking there's not much we could do with the alfresco/bedroom area except for maybe put skylights in. I do wish I had discovered passive solar before we did our house plans.

Question would a sliding door, a full length window or bench seating under the window be good in the dining room?

You have a north facing window so that room is solar passive. I'd be reluctant to sacrifice that unless it was for some other clear benefit.

Skylights can look great but open up a whole lot of other questions, too much heat in summer, possibility of leaks and hail damage? Or do you mean skylights in the alfresco? That might work for light, and your climate is probably mild enough that you won't miss not having the full benefits.

What about an opening slat pergola? Vergola were the first but there are other brands as well these days. Sun in winter, shade in summer, looks like a really upmarket alfresco.

Speaking of unwanted heat gain, have you thought about the west facing front window?

The measurements on your plans are too small to read. What is the size of the dining room?

My suggestion with not knowing the measurements, is to have a full length window on the north side. Sliding door and bench seating will compromise the set up of your dining table and chairs.

Passive solar has always been a thing. For instance, where do you sit in your yard to get some winter sun? On the north side.

"Passive solar has always been a thing. For instance, where do you sit in your yard to get some winter sun? On the north side."

I love that.

The first solar passive builder's display home I visited was sometime in the 1980's, and I read that even then it was not a new idea. It amazes me that the basic and economical technique of putting windows where it best suits the location is still not better promoted. Consumer education is seriously inadequate.

I was originally thinking of having a bench similiar to the picture and can use it as a little area to sit and take in the sun. But I am now thinking of getting a full length window. the dinning area is 2840 x 3870, the kitchen is 3940 x 4870. I was saying skylights for the alfresco not bedroom. As for the front bedroom window we were thinking of a decidous tree.

It crazy that I hadn't heard of passive solar until we wanted to build and I started noticing what direction my favorite rooms in the house faced.

Seaforth Family Home, Sydney, Australia · More Info

unable to read the specific dimensions on your plans but i have to say that attempting to have a drive through wide enough for a caravan on the south side will cramp all the inside rooms and steal space from limited garden that would be much better on the northern side...consider minimal setback on the south, a generous setback on the northern side (that i doubt will be wide enough to drive through) and then park the caravan to the north side of the front driveway rather than using limited garden space

Love comment from macyjean and her husbands comments on light hitting tv, glad to see your husband has the major issues in mind just as my husband would 😹

Hi Alea I see the plan is titled Locked and Loaded, sounds like no more alterations?

If it is permitted, flipping a part of the plan etc goes out of the floorplan footprint and incurs cost, but changes within keeps the same pricing.

Although alfrescos look good, it may not be utilized in cool Busselton - so inverting the alfresco corner walls to make another room doesn't increase the cost. Maybe you could have the dining in that corner.

Later you could build a standalone solid roof alfresco if wanted.

Beware of mould in the south facing bathroom, I had it in my SF bathroom in Perth.

Macyjean, "vergolas" are ingenious, but drop leaves, dirt etc when opened.

We knew it would cost a lot more if we flipped the front of the house. I'll try and upload more readable plans. It's called locked and loaded because it includes blinds, flooring, stone countertop and laundry cabinets. It's a promotion. But I do agree the second we flip the house the price will definitely jump up. We were trying to figure out if it's worth it.
Oklouise- We will be a metre setback off South side for aircon and heated water and anything else or if sight. The North side we want as big as possible. That's where we would put caravans next to garage if people stay with us or my husband work ute. It would not take up any backyard space beyond the garage wall.
It's just me and my husband who will be living in the house and the front 2 bedrooms will be for guests.
Dreamer- At this point we might think of keeping the kitchen where it is and maybe change the layout like you said move the island facing the wip and maybe even moving the entrance to the kitchen to other side so there's no corner cabinet. Like the picture(there's another pic that better shows it but can't find right now) and maybe add another entrance off the hallway. That might make the dining room a little bigger.

We actually don't entertain large groups. We tend to do smaller gathering.