please post your plans

Thanks oklouise. Somehow the plan didn't get uploaded... Hope this works

Looks great. I’d perhaps move the powder room entry to bottom of stairs or off entry way to avoid having to make elderly go down the steps to toilet and there doesn’t seem to be a need for door to mud room area as the space isn’t visible from hall. If you have 3 kids upstairs I’d make bed 3 a little bigger it maybe take 10cm off the other 2 bedrooms, to even up the offering a bit.

where is north and please describe your local climate

We are in Melbourne. The house is south facing with a little towards the west.

Thanks macyjean.Yes North is to the rear. The void windows are 21×27. The guest room was converted from a theatre room. Do you mean it's better to have the guest room in front  and keep the living area at the back?

my suggestions include a new location for garage steps and powder room, guest room at the front and the lounge as a much less formal space ..upstairs has bigger kids bedrooms with biw instead of cramped wiw and a more spacious shared bathroom (with laundry shute) and generous master suite but i would prefer to lose the big void in favour of an extra bedroom or tv room for better control of noise, privacy and cooking smell

Thanks so much for your help ὤF oklouise. All great suggestions.

Agree with OKLouise. Your original plan is trying to cram too many rooms into a space which isn't really big enough.  The robes and bathrooms are taking away precious real estate from bedrooms and living spaces.

My daughters wish/must! list is a wir and en-suite so I know she’d vote for original plan.

Thanks Kate and C P.

I really like the bathroom layout oklouise suggested and thinking of adding another access from bedroom 2. 

Bedroom 4 is a bit far from the bathroom and master ensuite, will see if there is anything way to keep that ensuite and/or wir.

Sorry I mixed up the numbers. I mean on the plan posted by oklouise considering to add bathroom access from bed 3. Then the only concern is bed 2 is a little bit far from bathroom.

You may also noticed the walls between the two floors were not aligned in the original plan.

We would like to get the walls on the left (master bedroom side) side of the house aligned. Also considering to add a skylight to master wir.

all the kids bedrooms are only a few metres from the main bathroom toilet so don't understand the need for any extra bathroom access and extra doors lose privacy and bathroom wall space needed for towel rails... there's not enough room on the east side of the house for the extra ens and wiw without reducing room sizes or losing the upstairs void over the family room although the master suite and office is much bigger than necessary and could be reduced and the rumpus too open and noisy to be useful for any quiet activities but to align the upstairs and downstairs means making upstairs wider or downstairs narrower but any change will affect the size of the house relative to the size of the block and the budget...the basic floor plan is already about 375sqm but what is the maximum sqm house that you can have on your block, how many people will live in the house or visit regularly and do you really need 4 living areas, 2 studies, 2 kitchens and both voids which make the home very expensive to heat and wastes space that could be added to the elsewhere ...have you discussed maximum house size and budget with your builder??

Thanks oklouise. We are a family of 3 ὠ1  ...we probably don't need that many bedrooms. The guest bedroom was suggested for increasing the property value for sale and in case of difficulties with getting upstairs. 

Would love to have two studies and kitchens though.

The original plan was 44 squares and the budget was about 800k.

I don't understand that description?

My main point was about using the free benefits of the northern orientation as much as possible. A 'guest room' implies a room not used every day, so it's not a room you would give the most valuable orientation while putting other regularly used rooms facing in directions which might have no advantages or even have disadvantages.

Of course a bigger house has bigger resale value, but in the meantime you are paying more to build it in the first place and paying more to heat and cool it. Additionally increasing size can decrease the number of potential buyers which risks waiting longer before the buyer who wants to spend that much comes along.

Who suggested the guest bedroom? The builder, who makes a bigger profit out of selling you a bigger house? That might be alright if in the meantime the house has served you well. But I look at the plan and it seems extremely generous in size while lacking in practicality.

Three ensuites and a downstairs powder room but the upstairs wc doesn't have a washbasin. Sure, if the occupant of a secondary bedroom wants to use the wc while another person is using the bathroom, they can use the downstairs powder room instead, or barge in on whoever has their own ensuite, but for the money you're looking at spending I'd hope details like that would be considered. OKlouise's plan has addressed that and makes for a much more practical bathroom. I also like that the BIR in BR2 provides a sound buffer with the master bedroom.

Then there's the void, big on wow factor but with many practical dilemmas. How will the activities in the office and the rumpus and the noise coming up from the void interact, is the office for working from home, will adjoining noise affect zoom calls, etc. Is the family room void window double height, what about window furnishings, how far will the sun come in during hotter months which is something that is passively managed quite effectively with a normal window with eaves.

Your idea of a skylight for the WIR means it would face west, the worst orientation, but it can be done with additional cost. Another consideration is making space for a skylight reduces space for solar panels.

I don't know how to adequately convey the understanding of the importance of orientation. There's information in this website, including diagrams which I find easier to understand than trying to get it across in words. Sometimes I think people need to experience it to have the aha moment. The annual Sustainable House Open Day is helpful, though it's only a demonstration of how the house works on that day, but you get to talk to the owners about their experiences throughout the seasons. As energy prices go up and power outages happen due to strains on the system, the comfort and efficiency that can be built into a house with good design will become a larger part of resale value. I'm disappointed it is taking so long, as the concepts have been understood for decades. But it feels like things are speeding up now.

"‘Passive design’ is design that works with the local climate to maintain a comfortable temperature in the home. Good passive design should reduce or eliminate the need for additional heating or cooling depending on your location and often relies on an active occupant to work properly. A passively designed home can deliver a lifetime of thermal comfort, low energy bills, and low greenhouse gas emissions."

https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design

Thanks for your help macyjean. Will discuss this with our builder.

You're a family of what, I still don't understand that line?

I encourage you to use the link I posted to educate yourselves. Maybe for that money talk to an architect. You really can do better than a 6 star by law McMansion. Aspire to something better.

Thanks macyjean. I mean there are 3 members in my family so we don't really need that many bedrooms.

We've built three times. It's been a learning experience. I miss some features of our previous house which was smaller, just because they worked better. Builders vary, some specialise, some are genuinely innovative, and many churn out the largest square footage in the world justifying it by saying it meets the compulsory 6 stars. Not everyone can afford the full architect designed grand design experience, but with some level of knowledge you can influence your build to your own advantage. I've been in display homes where I wouldn't want to spend time upstairs on a summer afternoon, and that's before the grid goes down. I think what people will value in home design in twenty years will be different to what is wow factor now. I'm starting to wonder if it might even happen sooner than we realise. And yet with all the resources available people buy into the mass produced fantasy and come back later for solutions to things that could have not been built in the first place. One more thing. Gas is on the way out. It's almost a litmus test at this point in time. Some are still talking it up, while elsewhere it's phased out already. Interesting to know where your block and your builder are on that.

Thanks for the insight. It's hard to visualise the home on the paper especially for first time builders. We are not aware gas is the way out, were thinking about induction cooktop for the kitchen and gas cooktop for the galley.

Why can’t you build a really high spec three bedroom home, one master, and two others. With two extra rooms for study/office, which could double as bedrooms for future owners, and your two kitchens. If you make the top storey less you could have wonderful high ceilings the full width of the back of home facing north and get rid of the void. Put the main bedroom downstairs. Why have lots of empty rooms , houses are for people not furniture. You have said you have a sloping block. You might find site works may be more expensive than anticipated and you had wish you had built a smaller home. Plus floor coverings and window treatments plus cooling and heating for such a large home. For three people it’s seems too much. But you know your finances and how you live, so maybe a big mansion is what your after.

The original floor plan was from a volume builder. We like the big void windows as they can bring a lot of natural light into the house. We don't think noise transfer will be a problem for us as we are a small family.  Hope our assumptions are correct...

I'll be honest as it doesn't sound like you are wedded to it but I really dislike your first plan for the reasons others have pointed out and as I've said before.  You're sacrificing space to have extra rooms with reduced functionality.

If I was you I'd get into the Undercover Architect podcast. She had brilliant practical advice about all aspects of planning a build. 

I find the kitchen on the first design very strange as it's all in the pantry and the actual kitchen part seems to float in the middle of nowhere without being properly anchor.

Also maybe look at the new build done by Three Birds Design. I didn't love their for plan either as I think they wasted too much space on their lavish entry at the expense of living spaces but I thought the void area with glass was nicely done.

When you say your budget is $800k does this include installation of driveway, all landscaping, furniture, internal painting of walls, window treatments, floor coverings, air conditioning, heating, letterbox, clothes line, garden shed? If it doesn’t then you need to do the costing on the above and work out what is left for the actual home build.

Thanks all for your help and advice ὤF.  We have discuss all the concerns with our builder and will see what they can come up with.

Hi dreamer, floor covering, cooling and heating are included. Internal wall painting I think it's part of the standard inclusion - will double check. For Windows treatments do you mean blinds and curtains? Driveway, landscaping, furniture, blinds and curtains not included and will be after handover.

Yes, “window treatments” is the term for any type of coverings that are installed onto windows.