Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 09, 2008 4:57 pm Can anyone recommend a good plan from a volume builder, with the rear face of the house made entirely of living areas?
(Preferably with 4 bedrooms and 18-25 squares) I am trying to maximise solar access for energy efficiecy, on a north-south block, and just about going mad with most volume builders plans!! Almost all have side-facing or a mix of side and rear with a bedroom also at the rear. It is actually amazing how certain builders seem to think they know exactly what you want, and every one of 500 plans is almost the same! It actually makes me wonder, what with the level of global warming panic and guilt out there, whether there is a business opportunity for an eco-volume builder. A range of floorplans of each size, each designed for different block orientations... 7 star standard with 8, 9 or 10 optional, etc... Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 2Nov 09, 2008 5:01 pm Have a look at the Alpha by Simonds. It's a bit different, with the kitchen living dining at the side toward the rear, but with a rear lounge room as well. So two living area face the rear. 25sq from memory.
Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 3Nov 09, 2008 9:49 pm russell Can anyone recommend a good plan from a volume builder, with the rear face of the house made entirely of living areas? (Preferably with 4 bedrooms and 18-25 squares) I am trying to maximise solar access for energy efficiecy, on a north-south block, and just about going mad with most volume builders plans!! whether there is a business opportunity for an eco-volume builder. A range of floorplans of each size, each designed for different block orientations... 7 star standard with 8, 9 or 10 optional, etc... We had the some trouble here in Adelaide. We ended up doing a custom design. Since then a major local volume builder, Hickinbotham contracted the services of an eco-architect to produce a couple dozen designs for varying block orientations. http://www.affordable-housing.net.au/affordable.htm A passive solar design is fairly easy to achieve if you know what you are doing. The limiting factor is usually (as you have found out) building convention. You should also anticipate the possibility that your neighbors do something that will reduce your solar access in the future. Going from good to excellent efficiency won't be achieved by further modifications to a passive solar design. To make the most of the floor plan usually involves upgrading your insulation (including double glazing), thermal mass and window proportions. This is when things get significantly more expensive. http://forums.envirotalk.com.au/Thermal ... t7887.html http://forums.envirotalk.com.au/Thermal ... t8093.html http://forums.envirotalk.com.au/Insulat ... t7876.html http://forums.envirotalk.com.au/Overvie ... entry24083 Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 4Nov 09, 2008 9:57 pm Thanks both of you
dymonite69 Going from good to excellent efficiency won't be achieved by further modifications to a passive solar design. To make the most of the floor plan usually involves upgrading your insulation (including double glazing), thermal mass and window proportions. This is when things get significantly more expensive. Yep, this is why we like the Burbank Evolution, 7 star rating within our budget. They do whatever it takes to reach 7 stars on your block, for a fixed price. Still I would rather have all that insulation and double glazing working from a good basis of passive solar design, but the amount of rearward facing living space with windows on that design isn't great. Given that pricing structure you'd think it would be in their own interests to have a variety of orientation-optimised floorplan variations... shrug. Our next step will be to see whether other builders with better plans can do double glazing , eaves and decent insulation at a reasonable price. Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 5Nov 09, 2008 10:00 pm Burbank and PD have some of their smaller houses in the style you want. I think GJ Gardner had a really good 24-30sq design, with two main living areas facing the back.
When we were considering PD they were happy enough to delete a fourth bedroom so a living area had a better north aspect. In the end we went with another builder and completely changed their plan too - removing the fourth bedroom, pushing our kitchen backwards and enlarging the family room (removing the rumpus) so that it had an unshaded north aspect. If you want four bedrooms maybe look at the plans that have three bedrooms at the front of the house with just the master at the rear. There are lots of good plans out there that will suit your block. Pity you don't live in SE Melbourne, could drop off a box of builder's brochures for you!!! Edit: Adding to this: GJ Gardner has the Laguna, and I do recall a similar layout in a slightly smaller design. http://www.gjgardner.com.au/regions/DesignFeatures.aspx?id=26-6762 Orbit Homes - Chateau Porter Davis - Inspiration (just change the windows) Metricon - Grandview, few others similar Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 6Nov 09, 2008 10:00 pm joles Have a look at the Alpha by Simonds. It's a bit different, with the kitchen living dining at the side toward the rear, but with a rear lounge room as well. So two living area face the rear. 25sq from memory. Jo Thanks Jo, that does fit the bill but not some of our other wants! makes me realise just how picky we are being... hmmm... what's the premium for custom builders? Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 8Nov 09, 2008 10:18 pm Lyn Do you have any size constraints Russell (other than m2)? Are you building in Central Vic? Yep, we only have 10 m frontage and want room for rear vehicular access, but the block expands towards the rear, to be 30 m wide at its widest, 45 m back from the street. (Which is one complaint against the Alpha, it shrinks to the rear instead of expanding to the rear.) a 12 m setback would give us 15 m across, fence to fence. And yes, in Kilmore. Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 9Nov 09, 2008 10:33 pm Note my edited post above... can probably edit it again and remove some of those houses now!
If you had a wider block I was going to suggest a homestead-style house, but the limited width does complicate things a little. What about Orbit's Neo? Too small? http://www.orbithomes.com.au/homes/vic_neo2.html Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 10Nov 09, 2008 10:33 pm russell just about going mad with most volume builders plans!! Almost all have side-facing or a mix of side and rear with a bedroom also at the rear. A recommendation made by builders when doing a renovation is not to think of rooms as tied to a particular purpose. I was wondering if you were to look at these plans afresh and see if it is possible to redesignate sleeping quarters and living areas. A modification may just mean shifting an interior wall (which may not be load bearing) or changing the location of joinery. Check out some ideas here: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs432.html Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 11Nov 09, 2008 10:41 pm dymonite69 A recommendation made by builders when doing a renovation is not to think of rooms as tied to a particular purpose. I was wondering if you were to look at these plans afresh and see if it is possible to redesignate sleeping quarters and living areas. For example, one of our minor "bedrooms" is north-facing, but we installed extra phone and powerpoints so it is my home office (much nicer to work in than our south-facing study). Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 12Nov 10, 2008 8:13 am Inspiration by PD!!
http://www.porterdavis.com.au/#homeview ... iration/34 It has the living, study and alfresco in the rear! Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 13Nov 10, 2008 9:33 am Archieein Inspiration by PD!! http://www.porterdavis.com.au/#homeview ... iration/34 It has the living, study and alfresco in the rear! Does that web page work for you? For me all PD house pages just sit there saying "Initlialising" forever. Did this last night too. Tried several browsers. Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 14Nov 10, 2008 1:44 pm Try downloading the PDF
Inspiration 34 http://www.porterdavis.com.au/content/Houses/Inspiration/Floorplans/inspiration34.pdf Inspiration 30 http://www.porterdavis.com.au/content/Houses/Inspiration/Floorplans/inspiration30.pdf This plan really suited our block (due north is in the direction the gallery window faces), but we didn't want the alfresco. Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 15Nov 10, 2008 2:36 pm Hi Russell!
I completely sympathise with you!! I have an odd shaped block and want the living areas to the north. I have been looking for over 12 months and still have not found a plan that suits while still having everything we want. I hear you when you say all the plans are the same - it's like don't you builders have any imagination? And with a lot of the builders the ones with the rear living areas are tiny. Are you after single story or double story? We have resigned ourselves to going either custom or two story, but here's a few single story ones I've found but for one reason or other aren't quite right for us... Carlisle Homes - Pagoda 32, Monaco 32 Henley- Monterey 383, Carinya Porter Davis - Lawson III, Inspiration Simonds - Riverview (but I heard this was being discontinued), Langham GJ Gardner - Laguna 323/373 Places Home and Life - Glendale 28 JG King - Belgrave 200 Dennis Family Homes - Hartley 330 Orbit Homes - Chilton 31 Ashford Homes - Goulburn I've also got a list of two story ones if you want it... After 2 false starts, a year living overseas, two more world trips and 3 years of uncertainty we are now starting the build process again - hopefully for real this time! Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 16Nov 10, 2008 2:43 pm Thanks muzman, but it looks like your finds will all be a bit big for our budget.
GJ Gardner's Yarrambat is possibly the closest we've found so far http://www.gjgardner.com.au/regions/Des ... id=26-7887 solar access still not ideal with that rear-facing bedroom but they are much more generous with their kitchens, laundries and cupboards than many of the other volume builders who apparently seem to expect people to eat only takeaway and wear disposable clothes . Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 17Nov 10, 2008 2:55 pm muzzman Dennis Family Homes - Hartley 330 Great list! Prefer the Hartley 300 - lots of east facing windows to heat the living areas up on a winter morning, can easily add doors to zone off the rear living area and bedrooms... hmm, why do I suddenly want to build again? Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 18Nov 10, 2008 3:51 pm Russell, what about the Madison in Casrlisle's T range? It is 14.6m wide with all living to the rear and 4 beds. Here's the link, it's worth a look.
http://www.carlislehomes.com.au/floorpl ... adison.pdf I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 19Nov 10, 2008 3:55 pm joles Russell, what about the Madison in Casrlisle's T range? It is 14.6m wide with all living to the rear and 4 beds. Here's the link, it's worth a look. http://www.carlislehomes.com.au/floorpl ... adison.pdf A little bigger than we can probably afford but it's great to finally see a plan with ALL living areas across the back! Thanks! (Although I would be deleting the Alfresco ... what a waste of sunlight!) Re: Rear-facing living areas in volume building plans 20Nov 10, 2008 4:00 pm Might give you something to work with... if you were to delete the alfresco and maybe the study if you didn't need it (push the rumpus down to meet the laundry), it would bring it down to under 26 sq.... might be worth a pop in to a sales centre. Don't know if they building kilmore but they do build in Gisborne so might be worth a shot.
I keep thinking about this... there is a house for you Russell.. I can feel it! I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110592 Hi, Seeking volume or semi-custom builder in victoria(east), which have existing double story wide floor plans. Seeking 18-20m wide homes with depth of 12-15m long. Or… 0 25171 i did click it, still couldnt make it out rofl. in any case, doesnt look like too extreme a slope, you may be in luck. Just shoot out some emails to volume builders in… 3 18575 |