Just confirming that the house plan is showing the incorrect orientation to the site plan…? The site plan should be turned up the other way?

When you say SE facing. Do you mean the front door entry is facing SE?

Yes correct.

Master bedroom is facing street and of course garage is also facing street on ground floor.

the person who did the plan needs to be fired.

And rear is facing SE

Can you mark how much of the boat shed/garage you want to retain for that use. Do you need to change building footprint to fit pool? Personally master with view will limit you. How important is that for a room you spend most time asleep in/

Agree, I would not compromise the living area views, to have views from the master bedroom. I would keep the master and main living areas on the top level.

Just quick sketch of thoughts for second level.

Thanks for clarifying the SE facing info. As you can understand , any side of a property can be SE facing. I think that is a workable orientation for great comfortable living areas facing the water, both downstairs and upstairs.

Hi dreamer, the problem with just a basic reconfigure would mean there would only be a small outdoor living space upstairs, so we would need to take some of the internal space.

we definitely want to move the staircase to open up downstairs (it is dark being all walls are brick).

ideally yes we want the master to have a view, we can utilise some of the the 9m of waterview downstairs or the 8m upstairs.

happy to lose all of the boatshed if necessary (we can dry dock or put on the slipway).

All the current garage would be allocated to house with a new garage built at the front

What you best do is engage an architect who has the capcity to prepare options, various configuration/program distribution /zoning scenarios (such as those that you've described & tossing up and weighing up against one another) as well as other alterntives that you may not have considered. And then you can see what's possible as well as the price tags involved.....You need to develop clarity on your priorities and likely you need to see different options visually so you can ascertain and work through the various pros & cons associated with each. There is never a perfect or right or wrong answer to all this, rather it's about what best aligns with your particular preferences & goals. If I were the architect being approached I'd be asking questions to flush out important detail/information such as "What are your living/lifestyle requirements?" "What's the family / dynamics / setup of the residents?" etc etc and of course the most important "What's your budget?" ;) This all influences and determines how to manage and develop an apprioriate design solution for you situtation

The issue is that if you're keeping to working within the existing footprint the whole thing is consolidated to (relatively ubiquitous/standard) rectangular box format with realistically only 2x rear spaces being able to access the water views albeit with no direct sunlight....renovating in this format with significant reconfiguration will be costly regardless, particularly flipping zoning and you're saying that you're thinking of building a connected garage to the north.....I'd foresee a large spend with potentially results that could feel somewhat underwhelming for what it will cost

Obviously amazing potential for this property in a beautiful part of the world but it almost feels like it's calling for a more creative spatial solution with the living on the lower level but with northern light brought in via internal courtyards or light courts integrated into the layout and making better use of the large allotment with upper level building planning enabling better light inflitration to the lower levels etc...Also for a site like this you'd want to be able to really look right through the spaces via glazing to the view as well as bringing light in from the north

You mention a pool - is this something you're planning to put in? Doesn't look like much space between the house and the water??

Suppose I'm saying consider all your options and stack costings up on the significant renovation scenarios. My instinct would be it's either work with the current layout for the purpose of efficiency however if the budget allows consider a proper redesign / rebuild utilising the creative skill of an architect who can make the most of the whole site and give you a truly amazing living experience that appopriately aligns with the location you have invested into.

The design for this needs to be approached similar to a tight site scenario and IMHO a rectangular box redressed and reconfigured will arguably fall well short of the true potential of your property.

Best of luck with it! Hopefully you can find a good local professional to assist you with this special project

PD

If you build a connected double garage at the front this will block what I currently imagine is access for the boat to be taken in and out of the water via the street. This launching facility can be handy or do you have a public ramp nearby. Is the house built level with the ground on the waterside.

This will def need an architect who can see and appreciate what is there and draw up accurate existing condition plans. Your changes will not be cheap and I wonder what of original will be left. Good luck. Our best help will be commenting on some draft plans

subject to accurate measurements and floor levels my suggestions include minimal changes to the original floor plan, including keeping the existing internal stair location with generous ventilating skylights over the central hallways...there's plenty of space for numerous bedrooms and living areas so i would also keep the boatshed for multiple uses and the best location for the garage will depend on off street parking and reversing areas but using the mudroom link should allow for flexible options for garage location

Love it oklouise!

i hadn't thought of having a walkway connecting the house, but it makes it work, allows for natural light.

the archotect we spoke to yesterday, spoke of something similar potentially having the pool within a courtyard.

we don't need all those bedrooms but certainly food for thought.

Siriuskey regarding the garage blocking boat access, we will have the slipway, jetty and potentially a dry dock for the boat but there will be a trailer in the front yard with access to the public jetty if required.

Depending on your personal preferences, stage of life etc it seems crazy on a site like this to limit imagination......a full gut / rearrange the sock drawer exercise will still cost a significant amount and there are many downsides to keeping main living to an upper level that in turn forces a certain size outdoor space provision of a deck or raised terrace that further impacts lower level light quality.....the whole living experience enabling blending of the indoor/outdoor living spaces to express/align with the type of lifestyle that this location promotes could be so much better managed with a full redesign and really unless budget is somewhat limited it would make way more sense to consider potential of a re-imagined building in which the spend is properly focused an consolidated to brief, that is more efficient, potentially smaller and likely more aligned to your needs (whatever they are) as opposed to trying to find a way to "fill in" and rearrange to a basic, fixed and limited building format . The idea of a pool in the courtyard is perfect and attached image shows the vibe of what you could potentially have, which brings the courtyard between main living and other zones so you're experiencing the view through main living from a centralised private pool area.....which brings light into all areas of the residence. You'll be surprised how the numbers will stack up for both full reno and an alternative redesign - the price gap won't be that significant but the outcome/living experience couldn't be further apart

I live on a waterfront and don't have access to the boat ramp from the street, others do but we are very happy to have a wide single story house. Our neighbours boat shed which is built on the boundary forms a great protective boundary for our pool

Waterfronts are to be lived on and should have good flow between the house and the water for families who love boating fishing and swimming. I have been playing around with your floorplan for the past couple of days and will hopefully have something to add soon.

Is it just you and hubby who will be living in the house.

PD, when we bought this we bought knowing the slab has been built for flood zones (although only a corner of the block is in a ’flood zone’) believing that it would be an expensive exercise to do another slab that complies. The double brick gave us some confidence on the integrity of the building.

of course there is a budget but neither of the architects we have spoken to have any concerns regarding the budget we have provided.

We are open to what they suggest and if we have to go down the knock down rebuild rabbit warren then we may consider it.

A pool is definitely not a requirement but rather a want (weve always had pools) so we could give that up if it meant a better designed, more livable home.

SK yes it will be just the two of us, with expectations that we will have lots of visitors.

We have retired early, bought the caravan and plan on enjoying life and travel, so a low maintenance house/garden is ideal.

What plans do you have for storing the caravan when not travelling/

@mummagabz budget limits may well prove to determine the particular design direction, however was just suggesting if possible it's always helpful to explore the different possibilities for your investment early in the process in a format that you can compare different options...but this needs to have a professional on board who has this particular approach and also who won't sugarcoat cost projections early in the piece just to try and keep an exciting design prospect afloat (...yes it happens!).... rather, you want to be provided with comprehensive intel on different options to make the best informed decisions for yourself and your property. Different architects will certainly manage/approach this stage of design differently depending on their process.... Best of luck and enjoy the journey of your exciting project - will be interesting to see how it pans out for you :) PD

always better to have advice from experienced professionals as you've done before... my suggestions are an attempt to provide a base line for comparison but, if it were my own private oasis, i would KDR a modest easy access single level home much further back on the block and above the flood level but that would probably devalue your investment so i look forward to admiring whatever you choose

Totally agree, we always just offer up ideas as there are many options, you have done the right thing getting two Professionals to quote and could have a third, do you travel for work Paul?.

We also have a flood zoning but in 20 something years nothing more than coming up over the jetty and walkway as we don't have a pontoon..

@siriuskey re travel can do but these days can effectively provide remote servicing for the (most important/critical) front end design stages and scenario resolution & provision of cost advice etc.....however beyond this for scope involving working with local council etc typically more cost effective and recommended to utilise local professionals with on the ground experience in the area, and have established network/contacts/relationships with the relevant local council, local authorities and local construction industry etc

I have to agree that it's always best practice to support the locals plus as you say they have all the local contacts. Your posts are always appreciated.

My choice would be to keep the living at ground level so that you have full use of the waterfront and pool without having to travel up and down with everything

Some dimensions are missing so artistic licence , plus trying to work within the existing structure to cut costs.

The entrance foyer which is part of the original garage, removing the roller door and adding full height shuttered windows on the northern boundary has a glass sliding door so that you can appreciate the view through to the feature of the property, "the water", but this can be changed to a double solid door, with glass side light.

You enter into a northern light filled casual room/mudroom and continue on to the kitchen dining and Alfresco. The kitchen was to have splash back windows as shown to allow for northern light but as I write I realized that wall is on the boundary, so perhaps they will allow high light windows above the cabinets?. The garage is also to the boundary if allowed with direct access using the original entrance. There's a large Island with a separate sit up bench so that you can watch the cook and still take in that water view. Alfresco BBQ which could have lounge chairs and just use the dining table for this purpose ,who needs two tables, says someone who loves tables.

The plunge pool could have a Glass Juliet style opening and bi fold doors.

Upstairs the master and ensuite is full width with commanding views out over the water, other bedrooms can be multi functional to suit your life style, bedroom is but a name.

A laundry chute room is a plus to toss the dirty things downstairs which can then be returned via the lift, easy.

A lift should be included in the build, and should be big enough to fit a wheel chair.

That's enough from me, big job ahead so no caravaning until it's done

After checking back on the post, where you mentioned the Boat shed was 7 x 4 I will change the ground floorplan to show this.

I have drawn both floors side by side with adjusted ground floor. I have also added a King size bed to the master. The entrance via the porch would have concealed full height paneled doors, timber etc, with a secret door going off to the stairs which are now open and not built into allow light to travel.

Love it as well siriuskey!

it is similar to what i originally thought would work (although i had no idea about where to put the stairs), but it seems it will work leaving the stairs as they are, and allowing for a void to keep things as open as possible.

I have chosen an architect! not the cheapest and not the most expensive but seems to have a great portfolio of looks that we like and he has provided a very clear proposal of the services they provide.

Of coirse I will come back with plans for further feedback.

That's great news, look forward to seeing what you come up with, not sure what to expect with the architect having access to the property and seeing how it sits within it's neighbours.

The other option could be a KDR using a Modular builder which would allow you to set back further on your long block subject to neighbours, this is how I would choose to build.

https://arkular.com/completed-projects/

Check out their home page, the pool is built up, this method is simple and quick. cheers

Interesting concept siriuskey using a modular builder.

A few things that we would need to consider, 1 , all the houses are built close to water, so if we went up the block we could be looking at the neighbours, however if we could keep the boat house that would provide privacy on that side and potentially a screen etc around the pool could provide some privacy on the other, 2, the first 30m or so has about a two metre fall then the last 40m or so is flat, so we would likely have some stairs somewhere.

Not sure how much they are to build? but definitely food for thought.

https://modscape.com.au/projects/bronte-beach/, check out some of their builds

https://www.prebuilt.com.au/custom-designed-homes/

I should have pointed out why I chose to show modscape- Bronte Beach as they said

The site presented some challenges – Modscape inherited this project from a traditional builder, with specific levels, excavations, and an existing poured slab to work with.

And thought that you might possibly be able to use some of the foundations of the current house if you KDR, it would save more money Have you seen Polly Harbison, she works on the coast and uses concrete "brutalist style". design