Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 24, 2016 4:32 pm Hi all, long time lurker first time poster. My husband and I are planning to build on our 5 acre sub-tropical bush block in SE Qld. The block is pretty much flat and pretty much completely vegetated, with many large trees, so we will need to clear for a building envelope. We've just started thinking about the house design. We do have some initial requirements that are informing the basic house shape, but as for the interior layout I'm a bit stumped. Here are the major needs we've identified for the building: - Elevated/pole home design (single storey, but double-storey height if that makes sense) - for treetop views and to catch the breeze - A roof design/angle/orientation that's optimised for off-grid solar with most, if not all, of the roof facing north with a 16 degree pitch (since our power loads will be greater in summer) - we figure this style of roof will also be good for rainwater harvesting - 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, one large open-plan kitchen/living/dining. - A large covered north-facing deck that gets winter sun. We're thinking of a long and narrow design at this stage (with long edge facing north) since that shape gives us the correct roof orientation for solar, and a narrow/one room deep house (where possible) will also provide the most cross-ventilation (prevailing winds are from the south-east). I've come up with one idea so far: http://www.houzz.com/au/photos/55271570/plan The iPad app I'm using doesn't produce elevations, but I'm imagining the main part of the house will have a single sloping/skillion roof sloping to the north side of the house, with some clerestory windows facing south for light and ventilation, and the bathroom/laundry area will have a separate roof (below the clerestory windows) that slopes to the south. That means there will be clerestory Windows in the 2 bedrooms at each end and also in the open plan area. (Also, the bedroom on the west side of the building will be a spare room and not used frequently.) I haven't thought too much about window placement on the south side yet except that I've read they should be kept quite small to encourage cross-ventilation through the larger windows on the north side. Anyway, sorry for the huge post, and if you've made it this far (!) I would love to hear if anyone has any other ideas on layout for a long narrow north-facing house design, or any suggestions on my current layout... Thanks Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 2May 25, 2016 8:53 am Hi, Love the house plan. I have a very similar plan to build a house like that on similar size land, in same part of the country. I am a first home owner and looking to build to take advantage of government incentives. I really dislike all those project home designs. My issue at the moment is figuring out if I can afford the type of home I want to live in. If I can't afford a home similar to yours I wouldn't bother building at all. I'd rather live in a cheap shipping container then live in one of those project homes. Would really love to see pictures and find out all the costs involved. Happy Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 3May 25, 2016 9:08 am What you've come up with looks pretty good. Really easy to extend in the future if needed by removing wardrobes and extending the corridors on either end of the home. That looks like a smart plan that gives you what you want now and offers a bit of future proofing. Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 4May 25, 2016 11:30 am Will you be building your house in a bushfire zone? If so, your house being elevated may not be possible unless you spend a lot of money to get it up to compliance. Stewie Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 5May 25, 2016 7:59 pm Thanks all for your reply Toddgilligan, this is our first build too so I'm hoping we will be eligible for some kind of grant, I haven't really looked into it yet... and yes I'd much rather have a smaller house that's custom built for me and hubby and the way we live, than a generic project home (but that may be because none of the project homes I've seen are really suited to our block...) We are still in early days yet, next step is to call up some architects/designers and just start to get our head around the whole process - when we do start in earnest I'll be sure to start my own thread Thanks Frye for your comments, we are trying to keep it simple and keep costs down - we're also planning to leave enough room underneath to build in a first floor in the future, if we need the extra room. Stewie D, great point about the bushfire rating - I've done a self assessment using the vegetation type provided to us by council, and it looks like we're in BAL 19 (so should be ok with elevated house). However, this BAL rating is dependent on clearing something like a minimum of 12 metres all round the house, which seems reasonable to me - but we are in a vegetation overlay where the council has to assess on a case-by-case basis how much we can clear and where the preferred building envelope/s are... All of which means that our BAL rating could change depending on how large the cleared area around our house is...! But yeah you're right, if we go above BAL 19 we'll have to build out the bottom floor if we want 2 storey height. So much to think about... So much to research... I've only just started and already I feel like I'm falling down the rabbit hole! LOL. I think we'll be getting in touch with some local architects/designers sooner rather than later, to help us navigate all the different levels of bureaucracy... (Someone also suggested a lawyer familiar with the planning laws too, to make sure we get our development application approved first time, and just to make sure we've dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's) Anyway thanks again all for your comments . I already have some ideas for tweaking the plan so will be sure to post an updated version in the near future. Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 6Jun 15, 2016 9:42 am Any news yet out the cost of building your custom home? Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 7Nov 03, 2016 10:52 pm Why have you decided to separate the bedrooms? The one on the west side is right next to the living area (so if someone is awake + watching TV, hard for them to sleep). It is also across the entire house to get to the toilet. I would zone the home, with living areas along the north /side of the house, and the bedrooms along the south (if possible). You may want to consider the laundry on the north side, with its own external door. For example - You're washing the clothes - hang them straight out on the deck if need be?). I would move the toilet to a completely separate room - separated by a door, especially if you only have one bathroom. Instead of two sliding doors, have you considered stackers? It would be amazing to be able to open up your entire living area onto that large deck. No linen cupboard, no pantry? - more storage the better! Building a Madison 45 with Porter Davis Madison 45 Blog (Send me a PM with your email address to be added) Re: Custom house plans - any advice welcome 8Nov 18, 2016 3:48 pm Hey, good on your getting stuck into some design! Can I ask what software you used for this? Which way is north on your plan? Is it up the page? If so you will need to consider some shading over all that glazing to prevent the place overheating in the summer Tradie may sit at home but will need to get house plastered as well or will you sit it out? 6 10342 It is in lake macquarie area and dimensions are width 14 m and depth 8 m and the slope is 1/5 going down from the road. 1 7782 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 6219 |