Floor plan critique, please !?

Hi all,

We're building a house on a rather steep upward slope. It is a 3-storey house, with the garage and entrance being on the ground floor, then the first floor is dedicate to living, media, office; and bedrooms on the second floor. Our designer sent us concept draft and while we like the overall look of it - we're sure we're missing something, so would really appreciate any feedback on it, before we make a 1m+ AUD mistake

Façade looking west, where the best views are.

Hey Vlad
Thanks for the Façade Images, but,
You might want to go back to your Architect/Artist
and get them to complete the Fake Renderings + Boundary retaining (missing) + Engineering = Reality
without the correct details ,cross sections, data, quantities and engineering, etc
you might be in for $ticker $hock after you have signed up with the builder here
3D Engineering Bim & Details
hth

Hey @StructuralBIMGuy

Thank you for the feedback. Designer and builder are working together and constantly communicating with each other, and we were promised that proposed design (including required site works) will stay within our budget.

We were also told that current stage (concept drawing) is to get the feel of the house footprint and layout (thus relatively low price for this stage), and details will be worked on during the next stage.

Seriously, I do those eye candy renderings and include the 3D engineering at the 1st Stage Here
Ist Stage 3D AEC Bim
Best to work out site works and engineering before you commit any more $$$$$'s
OT, there's a reason why they only give you Iso rendered images, all the rest of the CDs are 2D
I ask how are the poor Battlers and punters going to reconcile the 3D and 2D?

Are you in WA by any chance?

Nice floor plan but a little sad about Western facing facade - But it looks like the designer have combined deep balconies and some louver shades to alleviate the heat issue in summer.

Don't worry about StructuralBIM dude's reply - He is on everyone's post trying to sell the BIM product trying to fearmonger (just look at his post history). I've been there and done that, and I can tell you there are benefits of engaging reputable builder directly - or getting independent design done with early reputable builder engagement like you have done.

In current construction market, I'd allow 10-15% budget over run to be safe. A lot of price hikes are coming due to unprecedented material demand which the builder will try to pass on to you even if you have signed fixed price contract. I'm sure you've heard about brick layer rates, as well as timber shortages and now colorbond shortages.

Every time you see a 3D Rendering that's a 3D Bim model.
I hear this all the time, "look how realistic your project looks...don't worry about the engineering and details... that comes later" Quote Salesman, Designers and Builders
Later you might get your pants pulled down


10%-15% increase on what a coloured (Sales Hook) rendering with no data, no quantities.
At least I'll tell them how many bricks are involved...that's more than what you get from an Artist, Architect & Builder... here
1st Stage Quantities
Care to guesstimate @vlad's brickwork price increase?

'At least I'll tell them how many bricks are involved'

Must be a fond achievement for a structural engineer to be able to count how many bricks are in a wall.

my suggestions include moving the water tank? out of the services area to the higher level for better water pressure.. move the front door to avoid obstructing the hallway and consider building in under the stairs for mudroom storage and, depending on how you will use/work in the garage you might like to add a toilet and sink and i've added a location for a potential lift (at least from ground floor to living area for overnight grannies) and/or garbage shute for transferring groceries and rubbish...the kitchen has a smaller island for easier circulation space at the top of the stairs, removed the external pantry door, relocated the fire in the living area for easier furniture arrangements, relocated entry to guest room, rearranged the bathroom and laundry and added extra storage accessed from the hall ... upstairs the bedrooms have been resized in favour of more generous bathrooms and moving the entry to the wiw gives more wall space for (optional future lift?) and extra space for the bed and side tables and i've rearranged the storage in the smaller gallery for easier circulation and potentially you might include a window on the west side of the stairwell for views from upstairs gallery ..any missing windows need to be located to suit the views and, depending on local climate, you might consider enclosing the stairs and/or adding extra doors to block hallways, zone air conditioning and minimize noise and draughts but it should be an exciting house.. good luck with your build

Wow ! Thank you so much for the effort of putting this all together, really appreciate the effort !

Not going to lie, we don't agree with everything, but quite a few things are thought provoking, something we just didn't pay attention to before.