seeing we have some space between the bed and the WIR, would you jut the WIR out some more towards the bed, or would that just look odd?

and i will certainly let you know how things go with the builder tomorrow morning and his reaction when he sees these amazing plans

yep. . . will pull the WIR out a bit more. Give me a little bit of time and I'll put some dimensions on them for you, and send you the finals via email.

alrighty all you fans of plans. . . here are my final offerings . . . doctor zim and mrs zim will be taking them to the builder in the morning for a chat. . . yay!

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wow!!!!!! well done jodge. the new design is really sleek and clean, no wasted space, and great sun orientation. Just love it! doczim - you will have to fly jodge up to Brisbane as your special consultant when the build starts!!!

Haha, get stuffed!

Hi jodge,l have been following from doczim first drawing,you have transformed
it into an amazing house plan.Me think you need to change jobs,wish you were
here when l was doing my plans

Thanks T & Patty. I enjoy doing it, but I think it's a lot more stressful than my current job. People building houses are normally in more of a hurry than my current boss.

Went to see my beloved Brisbane Broncos play and they got beaten at the death

Meeting went well. Some changes to help reduce cost were suggested to move the first floor left hand side to meals back so rear wall was in line with bottom rear wall. This would reduce some of the steel supports required for front. Means the up can be reshapped and maybe get the pwd room away from those areas completely. Will probably end up mixing ideas from both 'the Jodge' and there ideas to Reach final . Running into some retaining issues for the block which might set us back alot so not exactly sure what we are going to do there. Very tired now and got sons cricket in the morning so need sleep!! More later

It's not all bad doc. . . I backed the cowboys! WOOHOO! ermmm. . . sorry.

Sounds like you're getting there doc. You know what, I was talking to one of our engineering companies today about designing sheetmetalwork and getting it made. . . if I'm designing something, I will always run it by them to make sure that they can actually make it, as what looks fantastic on paper doesn't always work in real life. . . definitely the same with house design and going back and forth with the builder to get their perspective on the real-life side of things. This is a really good learning exercise for me too. I hope that you can find a way to have a great facade while keeping the costs down by lining up top and bottom walls. Let me know if you want any more help with jiggling the rooms around once you've decided on a top floor footprint.

It might seem that you're running round the block over and over again now, but if you get it right, you've got it right for life. . .

oh . . . and the Cowboys really had something to prove after their dismal previous game, if that's any consolation. . .

Yes that also talked to us about living zones and thinks. For instance they said in original design you enter and have three main options, go up go to main bed or go to kids zone. To get to main bed there is no need to go through or past kids zone. Not something we had considered in the slightest cause now we come in go down a hallway and there are our bedrooms. So it's all a bit different for us. I agree that it's so much better to spend the time now to get it right.

Oh it was also so cool to see the plans on the computer in 3d and the drafty was able to spin it round giving us a much better view of the facade and elevations. Also they were able to remove the roof and look in through to top at angles it was very cool!!

Hi Doc, I bet this is getting pretty stressful hey? Are you living in the original house at the moment, or are you already renting somewhere else?

Is there any other reason why you want to get this done quickly other than just wanting to get into the new house?

I don't think that my plans were perfect, just different (after all, I took away your store, and the bathrooms still have no natural light) and I can totally see what the drafty means about having three separate zones (i actually really like that) . . . But what with the 1st floor changing shape, everything can change. Don't give up, I think you have all the time in the world. And don't let the drafty talk you into anything that you don't want. . . Even if they can show you flashy 3d models (everything looks better in 3d, I can do mine in 3d for you too, but it would take more time then I have spare). Our drafter tried to talk me into a living/kitchen/dining arrangement that I just didn't want, and I'm glad I stood up to him. . . We let the kitchen company talk us into changing the location of the bins and I regret listening to her.

I'm actually not keen on having your theatre at the bottom of the open plan stairs anyway, as the sound will travel straight upstairs.

jodge, we are still living in our home, looking around for rentals but until we have a locked down design and started the working drawings and the builders schedule etc its difficult for us to know when we will start

re the stress, its not bad just yet. We started the renos last october , with the view that we would be in in 12 months. When that went pear shaped and we started the rebuild option, in Jan, we were hoping that we would still get in before christmas .

I dont think we are far off design wise and your ideas have given us a different look and we just hope now to mix those in with the original, taking into account the block requirements and and using our builders knowledge to help keep the construction costs as reasonable as possible.

I think we are pretty comfortable about keeping the media room down, thats how we had it in the reno plans. We always thought it was a little strange that it was right next to the living area. when the were trying to explain what the upstairs would look like pushed back it was hard to visualise, but certainly sounded like it was still going to be very livable for us. it was going to give us another entry onto the deck off the meals are form a different direction and it seemed like we would be able to address the pwd room placement and keep it tucked away. They hope to have us new plans by tuesday.

after I got the original costing from the builde rand say his margin I very fleetingly thought maybe I could owner build, but I had that thought on the flight down to sydney and just thought, there was no way i could as, apart from not having the experience in the industry, I am time poor and often travel for work. I know you cant afford to have the project come to a standstill because I cant get on site for 3 days because i am away.

I know we will get there, we are building a home which we plan to be in for another 10 years and though i do baulk sometimes of going into debt again, i know it will be worth it. We are trying not to get too hung up o the $$, but of course working to a budget.

That's good doc. Gives you time to get what you want. You may still get in before chrissy, depending on how fast the builder is I suppose.

I was thinkIng about your media room. . . If you're serious about the design and soundproofing, someone from work gave me a link to some Boral soundproofing systems. . . Some of it is a bit over the top for us lowly H1 builders, but you could apply some of their principles. I can get the link if you want a read. . .

Oh, and here's something for Mrs Zim. . . I didn't see it until today, but now I understabd why your wife would want a wider island bench. . . This house is what I dream of. Maybe if I just win lotto. . . http://thehousethata-mbuilt.blogspot.com.au/p/gallery.html

Can't wait to see what they come up with now for your design. . . We'll critique it again if you like!

Owner building . . . Not for the faint-hearted I think. . . Or maybe I've just seen too many episodes of Grand Designs. . . I don't think we'd ever do it, although the cost savings are probably worth it. We were put off by the few things that we did organise going wrong (especially the flooring). I'd rather just tell the builder it's wrong and let them deal with it. . . We had enough trouble just dealing with the builder.

But some people do it very successfully. . .

We have seen the wider islands in the Plantation Homes display homes. They look so good and after you have seen them and then see a smaller one for us there is no comparison.

I'm hoping to get plans back on Tuesday. Can't wait!

I'd love to see the link re the media room.

How much did the knock down cost you?

Hi Doc. . .

here are the links. . . some of the ideas seem a bit out of the realm of most normal home builders (like the room dimensions), but makes for good reading.

http://www.boral.com.au/productcatalogue/product.aspx?country=AUS&product=2753

http://www.avhub.com.au/index.php/Product-Reviews/Smart-Home-Ideas/boral-cinemazone-acoustic-systems/All-Pages.html

http://www.boral.com.au/brochures/ordering/PDF/DesignSHEET.pdf?company=Plasterboard

waiting for plans. . .tick tock. . . tick tock

Us to jodge!! Got email yesterday morning and got excited but was false alarm. They said by yesterday arv or first thing today so fingers crossed now. Hopefully I can share them with tonight.

You had asked earlier about approvals. Both the demolition and the building needs private certification so doesn't go into council. I thought this was a bit strange but we have checked a few times now and with different people.

Re demolition costs we have quotes ranging from $15k to $27k

Off to work now ...