Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 19, 2014 10:24 am Hi, Does anyone know of any builders who have viewable designs for living upstairs/sleeping downstairs designs? The particular block I'm interested in has spectacular views to the front which would be average from the bottom floor but perfect from the top. It seems damn silly to me to have the bedroom which is used at night and for a short time in the morning having the best position! I want kitchen, living and dining up high and front, with living either in the rear or underneath. Also, all the designs I've seen have the garage either as part of the ground floor, or tacked on next to it. Due to the site (and spying on how the nextdoor neighbours have renovated) it's perfectly possible to have the garage under the bottom floor and still be under the council regs. Has anyone seen a "standard" design that has the garage under? Thanks! Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 3Mar 19, 2014 1:30 pm Whoops - must change the profile! Sorry, I assumed being an Oz forum site we would talk Aus predominantly, and I don't care which state (or territory) the design comes from! (I'd be happy with designs from Mawson Station if they meet the criteria ). If it does help anyone, I'm talking about sunny, windy, rainy, hot, freezing, boiling Canberra. For any day, choose any two of the above. Note that sultry is not included . Generally, the project builders locally appear to be at or below the median level for Syd/Melb. I have firsthand experience with a local non-spec builder that has soured me against them as well (court action is pending). That view explains why, while I may seek some info from them all, sensible advice on what's *possible* isn't where I'll start. I'd like to see some designs before they tell me it's simply impossible under $1mil . Oh yes, don't get me started on local architects as well (yes - firsthand...). re: my request: I did find this - http://www.ruralbuilding.com.au/our-hom ... ey-retreat which at least meets a little of brief. I'm quite happy to keep googling "living upstairs" and other keywords. As I said, does anyone know of any builders who have viewable designs... Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 4Mar 19, 2014 1:45 pm Quote: If it does help anyone, I'm talking about sunny, windy, rainy, hot, freezing, boiling Canberra. The only reason I ask is that some volume builders only build in certain states unless you are going for smaller builders which would be even more local. If you are doing a one-off design why not employ a local building designer ? There are people who have built what you are looking for on these forums but I can't remember who they were - hopefully they will chime in here. Stewie Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 5Mar 19, 2014 2:02 pm I'm not visualising requirements very well in this one. Would it meet your request if you (*) took a standard "living down" design, where there's a kitchen or living near where the garage is situated. (*) swapped the floors (inverting the staircase). (*) modded the part of the design which USED to have the garage, so as to have a huge deck (remembering it leads off kitchen or living or dining or whatever). (*) use an entirely different "garage" underneath the whole kit & caboodle. Is that kinda what you're after, a 2-storey house without a garage and yet with an extra storey underneath it to house the garage? Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 6Mar 19, 2014 2:05 pm Thanks Stewie - I appreciate your help. I see where you're coming from about the volume builders being localised. I hadn't thought of that too much, but of course they are since they have their trades lined up, managers, suppliers, etc. The smaller local builder I've dealt with already over a build has been a mental case - I say this advisedly as my partner has years of professional mental health experience as a health practitioner. No names here, but if anyone is interested in who *not* to employ on any build, ask me away from the spotlight of libel . The local architect (not draftsman) from the build we've done is not so unstable, just not good enough in detail and is always late. I'm a professional, and meet other professionals every day. I use the word in the wider sense of meaning both someone who knows the content of their job very well combined with performing it in the "right" way. The building trade, from architects through to plumbers, seem the most unprofessional bunch of people I've ever met! Hmm, perhaps there's some feeling in the above... Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 7Mar 19, 2014 2:15 pm Forg I'm not visualising requirements very well in this one. Probably me not explaining well more than you! Let me try again... Forg Would it meet your request if you (*) took a standard "living down" design, where there's a kitchen or living near where the garage is situated. (*) swapped the floors (inverting the staircase). (*) modded the part of the design which USED to have the garage, so as to have a huge deck (remembering it leads off kitchen or living or dining or whatever). (*) use an entirely different "garage" underneath the whole kit & caboodle. Is that kinda what you're after, a 2-storey house without a garage and yet with an extra storey underneath it to house the garage? What I see in all of the volume house designs that are two storey is all the living space downstairs (living, dining, kitchen), with almost all of the sleeping upstairs. I'll ignore the voids/games rooms that are sometimes upstairs, and the sometimes single bedroom or even main bedroom downstairs on some plans. In general - living down, sleeping up. Due to the views from the (potential) second floor, I would like all the sleeping downstairs, and all the living upstairs. That is, the kitchen, living AND dining room. The living area would all overlook the front of the property to maximise the views. A (huge) deck is an addition I'd expect to negotiate on . I don't mind their being a bedroom upstairs and/or a play areas downstairs; neither change the major points of the house. re: the garage, the new house next door is bespoke, and has two floors of living AND a garage embedded into the hill as an underground "third floor". I'm tempted to ask the builders how much, but I'm scared what they'll say . Now, I doubt that volume builders can have too many designs for sloping blocks with the garage in that location, but I was hoping to at least find one (or more!) that have the living upstairs/sleeping downstairs setup, to which I can negotiate on adding the garage-as-a-third-floor idea. So, in answer, moving a single living area room (kitchen/dining/living) to the top isn't really enough - not enough to maximise the view potential of the property. Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 8Mar 19, 2014 2:34 pm OK then ... it sounds like what I was suggesting might work. Find almost any old "living down" design, and swap the floors. Probably cheaper if most exterior upstairs & downstairs walls are lined-up under each other, but I doubt that's a big cost issue. Then you'll have the garage suspended in the air; remove it, and put it under what's now the bottom floor. The void where the garage used to be could then have more living space extended into it, or if you're pushing the floor-space ratio it could just be left empty & the roofline gets adjusted to suit. Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 9Mar 19, 2014 2:50 pm Forg OK then ... it sounds like what I was suggesting might work. Find almost any old "living down" design, and swap the floors. Probably cheaper if most exterior upstairs & downstairs walls are lined-up under each other, but I doubt that's a big cost issue. Then you'll have the garage suspended in the air; remove it, and put it under what's now the bottom floor. The void where the garage used to be could then have more living space extended into it, or if you're pushing the floor-space ratio it could just be left empty & the roofline gets adjusted to suit. Thanks Forg. I assumed - not being terribly building-savvy in a BCA or architect sense - that simply swapping floors wouldn't be possible: the position of walls, plumbing, etc. would make it almost an entirely new design and incur lots of costs, whereas finding someone with a design already of the right form would have already done the design work. If you're right though, then simply swapping floors on an existing living-downstairs design would be perfect. I've seen a number in which the garage is more tacked-on-the-side than structural. Of course, finding one which has the staircase near the front and the living area facing the front of the block may be harder... Are you sure such a swap is feasible without huge (re)design costs? Note that I'm not saying the company(s) wouldn't *ask* for some costs, merely that in a building sense and architect sense is it eminently feasible...? Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 10Mar 19, 2014 2:58 pm I can't say I'm sure, sorry; however, changes made on-paper to our design really didn't make a massive difference to the cost of our place. It was really when extra materials or labour needed to be added that we had significant extra costs. You're not going to have significantly more wet-areas or drains or whatever going through the slab, because you've got "approximately" as many bathrooms as you've got kitchen+laundry. To be honest, I was specifically thinking of the Rawson Benham 33 design; I know at least a few other builders make designs like these, where the garage is totally separate. I'd be uber surprised if there was massive cost in turning it upside down; in fact, when you have the living downstairs that usually means long steel spans over the larger rooms (to accommodate big rooms & wide opening doors etc), whereas if you move those big rooms upstairs there's only the weight of the roof above; it's probably cheaper to build & that might make up for the extra cost for them to re-engineer the design slightly. Maybe give a company who does have one of these separate-garage designs a call, and whether there are huge costs in something like this, to one of these designs? I think Metricon had one as well as Rawsn, I just know the Benham 33 because we were considering it. Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 11Mar 19, 2014 3:29 pm Forg To be honest, I was specifically thinking of the Rawson Benham 33 design; I know at least a few other builders make designs like these, where the garage is totally separate. I'd be uber surprised if there was massive cost in turning it upside down; in fact, when you have the living downstairs that usually means long steel spans over the larger rooms (to accommodate big rooms & wide opening doors etc), whereas if you move those big rooms upstairs there's only the weight of the roof above; it's probably cheaper to build & that might make up for the extra cost for them to re-engineer the design slightly. Maybe give a company who does have one of these separate-garage designs a call, and whether there are huge costs in something like this, to one of these designs? I think Metricon had one as well as Rawsn, I just know the Benham 33 because we were considering it. Benham 33 is certainly interesting - turn it upside down, then turn it front-back so that the living areas have the view at the front. Turn the now-downstairs lounge, outside bed 1, into an entry hall with side entry from ground level straight onto the staircase. Alfresco becomes upper deck. Bit of an odd arrangement the design has in the sleeping area bathroom, but is probably ok. Hmm... I need to know whether swapping the levels on an existing design is monetarily feasible then - I'll ring around... I couldn't see with a quick look - how much is the base Benham 33? Thanks again! Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 12Mar 19, 2014 4:22 pm here is the metricon vista it may be in some of the lines you are looking for you could always go custom or design around a plan you like http://www.metricon.com.au/south-austra ... r-plans/45 Re: Living-up designs? Garage under? 13Mar 19, 2014 4:56 pm Not a garage underneath but these guys do living and masterbedroom upstairs with Minor bedrooms downstairs http://www.cedarhomes.com.au/display-ho ... ay-home-3/ opps they have the Garage Beneath in this one <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=62083">viewtopic.php?t=62083</a><!-- l --> Would anyone on this forum know of a builder/company in Brisbane with house designs for a shallow block. I have a block 20 x 20 so with front and rear set backs I need a… 0 4743 Your best bet might be to go visit the display homes and walk around in them, and take photos. Get a feel for it in person instead of deciding from the floor plan. There… 1 21437 I would be wary. Is you site demilished but nothing else done? Sounds like liquidity problems to me. Our builder did the same. Got hundreds of thousands of dollars of… 2 15393 |