Hi all! I've stalked this site for the past few years. Now hopefully i can give something back by sharing my build. We're already a month through, so i'll be playing catch-up with the posts.
This whole process actually started in 2008 when we started subdividing a 10 acre block. It took a lot longer and cost a lot more than what we'd originally planned, but by the start of 2015 we had a second title on which to build our new house. My wife's a real estate agent and works with a number of builders to sell spec homes. She wanted Classic Homes to build our house because their workmanship was consistently high. Coincidentally, the owner was looking to do an acreage build to include in his portfolio, and offered to help design and build the house for an exceptional price.
We'd been mulling over house plans for years and had selected a number of favourites, including the Metricon Denver, and GJ Gardner Rochedale and Somerset.
Somerset
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/mickmac_42/New%20House/Somerset_zps00guo1rg.png
Rochedale
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/mickmac_42/New%20House/Rochedale_zpsxrxtphdu.png
Our new house needed to have 4 bedrooms and an attached granny flat with space for 3 cars and a camper trailer. I wanted a study and workshop, my wife wanted a media room (i wasn't so keen on this) and large walk-in robe, and we both wanted the kids bedrooms and play room to be isolated from the main living area. The living area would be the central focus of the house, and we wanted the entry to lead straight into the living area, which in turn would open up to the alfresco with views over the dam to the rest of the property.
In January 2016 we came to the builders draftsman with a basic plan. We then spent about 6 months fine tuning the plan. My wife and i had many disagreements about what would work and what wouldn't. One of the big sticking points was the media room. She thought it was important to have a second living area to ensure the future value of the house. I couldn't see the point in having a second room that wouldn't be used very often, but she was insistent and sold me on it when she started talking about a big screen, surround sound, and reclining theatre chairs. I got to thinking about how i could do up the room as a home theatre, but that dream was short lived when she told me the budget wouldn't likely stretch to allow anything more than a second TV room.
We were still fine tuning the design when halfway through June the builder told us we needed to do our colour selections because construction would be starting in the first week of July!
Our final floor plan
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/mickmac_42/New%20House/Cropped%20plan_zpsdqxtbo6f.png
Facade
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/mickmac_42/New%20House/Plan_zps3jsp9mnc.png
Colour scheme (on generic Colorbond facade)
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/mickmac_42/New%20House/Colour%20scheme_zpsqqigxlv0.jpg