Wide block with narrow floorplan

Hi everyone

I'm sure others have had a similar issue/dilemma so looking for some ideas.

So the blocks we are looking at are around 17 - 18m wide but most of the volume builder designs for a sub 30 square home are around 12 to 14 metres wide, resulting in a narrowish house on a wide block.

Obviously less of an issue if we go with a 14m wide design but the floor plan we like is 12.5m wide, meaning in excess of 5m strip along the side which we will is wasted space.

Has anyone had a similar dilemma and what did you do?

Thanks in advance!

Our block is 20m wide, our house is 12m wide. I love the 6.5m side yard. Easy access when we need to bring the ute in the back yard, We're also setting up the BBQ area on this side, plus gardens etc. Outdoor areas aren't always "wasted space", but everyone has their own preferences.

Thanks Steve.

What did you do at the front? Extended garage or gate?

The garage is on the short side as that's the western side, on the open side we have a horizontal slat fence and greenery around it to give privacy but still look open. We spent a bit extra for a nicer fence as we knew going cheap would hurt the street appeal with the narrow house.

Make sure you get the orientation right though, you'd hate that large open side having the western sun beaming onto it. Then you have wasted space.

Don't forget that most volume builders don't have a huge problem with you messing-around with internal walls …

• choose a house design that's even smaller than you want,
• position it near the side fence on the non-garage side,
• move the garage out so it's nearly to the side fence on the OTHER side,
• then fill the void left by said garage with some in-garage storage space as well as some house internals.
• Then you can have a drive-through garage as well.

There are a few things you can do.
1. Most builders have no problem with you extending rooms, you could simple take each room out wider.
2. Position it on one side of the block giving yourself a side yard. Then rearrange/resize windows and doors to make the most of the space. You could then run a private deck along there off the bedroom for example.

Do you have a picture of the plans and placement on the block?

Our block width and house width were similar to Steve4216's, but that is what we wanted, as we are putting a pool at the wider side.

But also creating a nice outdoor space/garden would also be good use of space if you didn't like the idea of extra grass to mow. It also lets you have a bit more of a gap between yourself and the neighbour, so instead of 1.5m boundary (or whatever the minimum is for your area) to the fence you could have a 2m gap to the fence on the narrower side.

Thanks all. Plenty of ideas!

We are looking at something like the Oslo 29 from Boutique homes that id 12.5m wide.

https://www.boutiquehomes.com.au/home-design/oslo/

The blocks we are currently eyeing off are 17-18m wide.

Itll really depend on the Orientation of the block, but as a whole, yes narrow builds can work well.