Thanks Jen, It is a great spot. My husband is the hedger and always reminds me when working in the garden, " that we snip, prune and mow so it looks good now !. "Not in a week or a month when it grows back" I'm a bit rough, always in a hurry. Yes we are very lucky to have such a quiet part of the world, it is beautiful. (Sarina Beach) If I could just get council to seal our very short, no through street it would be perfect. The traffic dust can bad. The houzz unfortunately was originally built close to the road so we were limited by council on what we could do out the front, We had to apply for a relaxation in the laws. They granted our plans for 2 meters. We are happy with how the deck has come up and the hedge gives a bit of privacy from the street yet does not obstruct our view at all. (While catching a bit of the dust as well.) It has been hard work, I went and got an owner builder permit and have been bringing in the trades as needed. With both of us still holding down full time jobs we have had weekends where we have gone back to work on Monday for a rest. Sure I'd love to keep you guys up to speed as we plod on to the finish line. Cheers!

Hi Cameron A Feasibility Stage of service is a standard & contained first step of consultancy service we regularly provide. In fact it's the only way forward as a first stage for any type of project we are approached with, whether that be a fitout, renovation/extension or new build scenario. The thing is however, to perform this exercise properly, that is competently and comprehensively, it's not necessarily a quick exercise that we can smash out in a day or two. It typically occurs over about a month or so, and sometimes extends beyond into months depending upon client responses, review and consequential decision making that occurs in the process. This is not black & white stuff where dealing with here. To begin with there is a certain amount of information to collate including client's ideal brief, ballpark budget, contextual data including both existing building conditions, site levels, surrounding neighbourhood context, which often involves engaging land surveying services and any relevant planning policies or applicable constraints associated with the title such as easements, covenants etc......We then have to work through some targeted options and explore the design opportunities and possibilities before then applying cost projections to scenarios and potential variations of so that there is a collection of super accurate and relevant information to be able to present to the client to then compare and weigh up properly. That's the proper way to do it and it's not necessarily a quick or cheap exercise. I can appreciate however that as an exercise this may be practically overkill for you being in a pre-purchase situation. I have on occasion been brought in to advise on potential property purchases to provide advice on what is possible for what likely ballpark. Yes we can throw around numbers but it's a pretty rough & ready exercise and involves significant disclaimers and ridiculously broad cost windows, as how long is a piece of string? You essentially put a circle around a number rounded to the nearest $100K and then do a plus or minus 25% or 30%, as so many factors & decisions will influence the eventual cost. If you're however after a super quick & easy rough idea, perhaps considering disclosing some details of the property (plans/context etc) you're considering, your ballpark budget for additional work, a summary of what your trying to achieve, and I'll tell you straight up for free after looking at it for a minute or so whether you're thinking is within a realistic ballpark or whether it's a likely challenged scenario that will require some work to appropriately align you budget and consolidate your goals. If I had to take a punt I'd say more than likely whatever you're thinking you can achieve is going to require more $$ than you expect. The reason I say that is because after doing this for quite a while now I've only ever once had a client provide me with a realistic starting ballpark budget appropriately aligned to their brief. That's right, to date, it's only happened ONCE in a couple of decades!...... Yes, as suggested Dr Retro may be able to offer some appropriate focused guidance & advice with his Virtual House Calls service. Best of luck Cheers PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com

Lots of good info here. https://www.yourhome.gov.au Orientation is explained here, with diagrams. https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation Longest side of house to allow maximum number of windows facing north. If you have an alfresco, either position it at the western or eastern end or have a pergola with a deciduous vine or an opening style pergola so you don't block valuable winter sun.

Drafts person is trained to draw and architect to design and manage. some experienced drafts person can provide more than just drawing. There are also skill levels in architects. So need to research your needs and match to skills of designer and yourself as builder.