Help with single level design

Andrew Stefa · Dec 05, 2022 7:25 pm

Hi, looking for some advice please!

We have a wide, shallow block and ideally looking at a single level design. Our land is 25m wide at the front on a splay and 21.9m wide at rear. The depth is 24.6m on one side and 19.3m on the other.

We really like the Dalkeith 27 but wondering if this can be built sideways with access to the garage coming from the other side. In essence, the front door will be on the left side of block and more a side door.

Has anyone does this? Is it even possible?

Thank you!

jas25t · Dec 06, 2022 7:03 am

There seems to be a gap in off the shelf designs around that size between say 16-18m frontage designs and full acreage block designs where the house is 25m+ wide.

Talk to the company (looks to be a clarendon design?) and see what they can do. I'm sure they will be able to accommodate changes, all subject to cost of course.

We are building on a similar style of wide and shallow (corner) block which has a slight splay. We ended up with a custom design as we couldn't quite make others work with our requirements. (see here View topic - KDRB - custom build - Floor plan • Home Renovation & Building Forum (homeone.com.au))

H A W U · Dec 07, 2022 4:29 pm

G'day, I would consider a custom design, started from scratch. Or if you go to a builder that does a lot of custom homes (not just off the plan), then chances are that they have previous custom designs suitable for your particular block.

Also consider orientation of the block, as it will have big impact on natural lighting and vibe of the interior space, as well as cooling & heating aspects.

AFALDT · Dec 07, 2022 8:43 pm

We looked into this with our block of land and found the following:

Vast majority of volume-builder designs are narrow and deep (targeting sardine style small blocks)
We found several of these designs that we felt could work if rotated 90 degrees, always with a change to the garage to allow entry from the new 'frontage'. Sometimes with a change of Entry as well (often replacing a Laundry).

Of the 3 volume-builders we approached to build in this way, 1 flat out refused (said the house would not look good on 90 degrees, and thus they wouldn't risk the brand damage), 1 flat out refused (saying they wouldn't alter the garage that way), 1 said yes but later cancelled (and refunded our deposit) siting the slope of the site was too great.

Eventually we had no choice but to go for a custom designed home. It's currently in construction, refer my other topic, and we're very happy with how it is shaping up.

Budapest · Dec 07, 2022 11:57 pm

In general, I wouldn't compromise the design to try and make it easier to fit a copy and paste house.

Like AFALDT and jas25t we did a custom design to suit the block: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=104814
With the shape of our block a cookie cutter house would never work, so we never had even the option to modify an existing. We used lots of houses for reference though.

We spent 14k for design (contour survey, engineering, stormwater, geotech, energy, full architectural drawings and liaising with local planning) - we are building in Perth.

Simeon (Ashington Homes) would likely have some tips on how to get started if you wanted to go down that path.