Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 141Dec 01, 2012 6:06 am I'm not building a McMansion, council wouldn't approve the giant golden M I wanted to erect in my front yard.... Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 142Dec 02, 2012 4:07 pm It's all personal choice as to what someone wants to build. That said, there has to be some type of common sense when it comes to the size of properties. It's not just the size, but also the environmental efficiency of these homes. Standard construction techniques are ridiculously non efficient. The marketing of the energy star rating makes a 5 star home sound fantastic. But in reality the star system goes up to 10 stars. Personally we sold our 2 bedroom apartment and bought a small established house with a 580sqm block, big backyard but the house is only 14 squares. We have a daughter who is 3 and may be planning one more. It's got three bedrooms. Plenty of space for us. It's not only the cost of the house, but the cost of heating and cooling and electricity, time to clean. My sister built with Porter Davis. They are a good builder, but at the price range there property was at $200,000 it was the cheapest of materials. Tiles instead of floorboards, cheaper carpet, cheaper underlay, cheaper fittings etc. If I was you, I'd pay an extra $15,000 to get an architect to design the plan that will suit your needs and design the house to suit the location/orientation of the block. You can still make it 4 bedrooms, but maybe without the home cinema room etc. Whilst the display style home are nice, it's off a plan, so it's not unique. You can choose your own materials with an architect and have a house that suits your needs perfectly. Another personal thing to consider is if 2 or 3 kids don't happen. We didn't realise how hard it was to have children before we started trying. And kids don't care how big their bedrooms are or if they have their own TV area, they just want to spend time with their parents. IMO, too many people building houses to separate the kids. With working full time and both parents at work, it just means less time for the kids. If you don't mind me asking where are you building inner eastern suburbs? Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 143Dec 02, 2012 4:47 pm mynameisjonas And kids don't care how big their bedrooms are or if they have their own TV area, they just want to spend time with their parents. Until they turn 13 Building a Delta 21 at Craigieburn - http://homeofzero.blogspot.com.au/ Deposit: 26/02. Contract: 22/05. Settlement: 29/05. Site start: 18/10. Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 144Dec 02, 2012 6:11 pm Wow....yours reached 13, mine ask me to not drop them at teh school and then werent even 10. and the car is a nice car too..... Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 145Dec 02, 2012 6:13 pm akashra mynameisjonas And kids don't care how big their bedrooms are or if they have their own TV area, they just want to spend time with their parents. Until they turn 13 Yeah teenagers are another ballgame that's for sure... I think kids have too much these days. I had to share a room with my brother who was 7 years younger than me. I hated it at the time, but at least I had a roof over my head. Kids now have home cinema rooms, computers and tv's in each room... separate ensuite... It's pretty crazy when you think about it. Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 146Dec 02, 2012 6:46 pm We have a few people comment that our house is 'huge' (based on floorplans as it's not built yet) but I really don't think it is. All up it is (455.4m2) 49sq. it's single storey at the front and double at the rear (downward sloping block). The 49sq is as follows - 240.2m2 of living 52.6m2 of garage 64.7m2 of balcony/alfresco and lower deck 5.8m2 porch 92.1m2 of basement (which is the rumpus/mancave area), under the house storage (instead of buying a garden shed later on) and a small bathroom that has direct access to the backyard (we intend to put a pool in so we thought we'd put a small bathroom to allow a quick shower or use of toilet without having to go upstairs). I personally don't count the basement area/lower level as we have having that built as 'unfinished space' (except the bathroom which they're doing for us) and that area will be hubby's project. It actually worked out cheaper for us to build this way due to the slope of the block. The house consists of 3 bedrooms, 1 study, open plan kitchen/meals/kitchen, 1 ensuite, 1 bathroom and a theatre room. The theatre room will get plenty of use as we currently use our formal room as an unofficial theatre. We have a decent sized walk in pantry and good sized walk in robe. The other bedrooms have built in robes with sliding doors. All the bedrooms are of good size but not huge compared to others. Master bedroom is 4m x 5m and other rooms are 3m x 3.49m. Our garage is slightly larger than standard and we have a nice wide entrance and hallway. We wanted a spacious house, but not a huge house. So although the house seems large if you just look at the figures (ie 49m2) we haven't built more rooms than what we currently need, we've just ensured that each room is a nice size. It's just the 3 of us - hubby, his 12yo son and myself. My other step kids come to stay occassionally so they'll use the spare bedroom. Our house is a custom design and when we designed it we worked off a list of things we wanted to have and I honestly thought as it was a 3 bedroom plus study home it would be approx 30sq. When it was drafted up it was 49sq, that's just the way it turned out. We then had two options - downsize (and get rid of the wide entrance, wide hallway, large pantry etc) or keep it as is and put up with the "49sq for only 3 of you comments". We chose the latter as the whole point in choosing to build rather than buying established is because we had certain wants/needs that we couldn't find in an established home. At the end of the day, whether you're building for now or for when you have your future children, do what is right for you. Stuff whatever anyone else has to say! ETA: we are building on a 1000m2 block and the footprint only covers 33% of the land so I doubt it would fall into the McMansion category ie. small block/large house Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 148Dec 02, 2012 8:33 pm HomeAngels ETA: we are building on a 1000m2 block and the footprint only covers 33% of the land so I doubt it would fall into the McMansion category ie. small block/large house Yes. It is important to remember that if everyone had the chance to build a house on the quintessential 1/4 acre, a house of that size would still not dominate the block and would therefore not scurrilously be labelled as a McMansion. What really galls me is the hypocrisy of some people who live in small houses on large blocks in old suburbs, whining about the asset greed and extravagance of McMansion builders, yet subdivide their blocks to enable the construction of a unit which they can either sell or rent out due to their $ greed. The house that you build for yourself and your family is a lifestyle choice and is also an asset - NOT an investment - the value of such an asset will be determined by its functionality considering the requirements of the people living in it. No-one should be made to feel guilty for building a house simply because it is 'large.' If every room is used often, what's the problem??? Geoff - Decophile. Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 149Dec 04, 2012 3:54 pm mynameisjonas akashra mynameisjonas And kids don't care how big their bedrooms are or if they have their own TV area, they just want to spend time with their parents. Until they turn 13 Yeah teenagers are another ballgame that's for sure... I think kids have too much these days. I had to share a room with my brother who was 7 years younger than me. I hated it at the time, but at least I had a roof over my head. Kids now have home cinema rooms, computers and tv's in each room... separate ensuite... It's pretty crazy when you think about it. We are not building anything too large it's personal choice, coming from a mere 15sq house and three kids later the current build will be about 36 squares Unfortunatly if you are in my family that's apparently more then enough!! We did accommodate for the kids and made sure the plan we chose had a small play area! More for our sanity not theirs Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 150Dec 05, 2012 5:34 am Was told by a real estate fellow the average size home being built these days is 40 squares. Average was 12-15 squares in the 80's. Seeing as modern kids spend all their time in the bedroom on the computer what are we all using the extra 25 odd squares of house for.....dust collection. Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 151Dec 05, 2012 7:45 am roadrunner14 Was told by a real estate fellow the average size home being built these days is 40 squares. Average was 12-15 squares in the 80's. Seeing as modern kids spend all their time in the bedroom on the computer what are we all using the extra 25 odd squares of house for.....dust collection. Depends on the area you are talking about-I can tell you that no way is 40 squares the average house size in this corner of Victoria! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 152Dec 05, 2012 9:36 am Deemaree roadrunner14 Was told by a real estate fellow the average size home being built these days is 40 squares. Average was 12-15 squares in the 80's. Seeing as modern kids spend all their time in the bedroom on the computer what are we all using the extra 25 odd squares of house for.....dust collection. Depends on the area you are talking about-I can tell you that no way is 40 squares the average house size in this corner of Victoria! same here. 30 squares is considered generous in the new build suburbs around us, including garages and outdoor paved/decked areas. Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 153Dec 06, 2012 8:26 am It also depends on your definition of house size in squares. Some models only count habitable areas (excluding corridors and landing areas too). Most Aussie builders count everything including garage and porch. When you take these away a 30 sq home shrinks to 20 or less Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 154Dec 06, 2012 9:04 am We are talking about dwelling floor space Eve Dweller-with porch, garage,alfresco & verandahs extra. So yes, here a 25 square house would robably be marketed as 30 sq+. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: Are you building a "Mcmansion"? 155Dec 06, 2012 3:00 pm Yes I guess we are. In our suburb however our house would not be considered overly large as most are over 500sqm in living area. In fact just down the road from us someone has just completed there $4mil (build cost) mansion. That is one massive house!!! Looking to start the journey of becoming an owner builder in SA. Feeling pretty (overly) confident on the building and construction details, but really struggling to find… 0 8417 No. It's not original. Circa early to mid 90s would be my guess and maybe even as late as early 2000s 1 6631 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5806 |