jaymd_123

I use FloorPlanner. It costs about $5/£3.50 a month for 4k renders. Great for quick concepts, although I have spent more time on that platform than I care to admit. So, this living space I have used in 20-30 different designs. Many of them are bungalows. A handful with 1.75 sleeping areas. Whilst I completely agree with what you're saying regarding cost, I can not figure out how to connect the two areas of the building without some form of spacer; it just looks really weird on a 1.75 (which is what the quick renders are great for showing). The living area is almost a steading style, which suits the area well (new building, not renovating anything) and the sleeping section is much more modern. EDIT* Fair point with the windows -- I've designed the living area to be able to flip it around. Taken into account what you've said and made edits. Thanks for pointing this out.

These are awesome. Thanks for sharing! Using the feedback above, my wife and I have started playing about with some new floor plans, blending a 1.75 story bedding area with a single-story living area. I would love to hear your thoughts on the initial concept. It's 220m2 vs 230m2, but we do lose the garage which would need to be a future project. On the positive, it allows us the expose oak trusses with end glass panels and separates the kid's area so they won't be disturbed when entertaining. It also allowed us to cluster the bathrooms. We took inspiration for the living area from Storries Scottish Steading (just up the road from me). Note: The exterior renders are really rough and need more thought. Just knocked this out for concept.

Thanks a lot for the feedback. It's appreciated. We already live in Perthshire (Pitlochry area) and plan to build within about 5 miles of where we are now. The reason land has taken so long is, it's hard to find land here! We have kids and family support here so moving away isn't something we're really considering. Maybe I should have clarified in my welcome that we're building in Perthshire, in the town we already live in. Judging by some of the comments before, I feel a few people have assumed we're looking to build in rural Scotland, which isn't really the case.

Smart! I accidentally did something similar with my entrance hallway, though admittedly, very different on the ground floor. What floor size/number of bedrooms are you at? I might need to go back to scouting out plans and reconsider 2 stories.

Fantastic. I will be lucky to land a view like that! Not far enough north.

Your view sounds truly fantastic. Got a photo of the glen from your home? I completely get your idea of a 1.5 story house, and I am really open to the idea. After designing countless attempts, we started copying houses that we loved (all too big for what we assume is within budget) and scaled them back to work. It just happened, the final was a bungalow. A downstairs bedroom would make a good office for sure. We have looked at many 5-bed houses with this in mind - solid advice and we're aligned. Your idea about reusing the excavated soil to flatten the land isn't something I had considered. Certainly food for thought. There is a plot here (out of budget and larger than we need) which is a on a slop so we disregarded it straight away... Might be worth another look...

These are nice. A lot like the ones I created in the past. The problem I found with this layout is space. I have two kids with another on the way. Ideally, I would cluster their bedrooms in a way that isn't disturbed by the rest of the house. I would love to see what you can do to help us improve our idea. Genuinely, would deeply appreciate it.

This is great confirmation. Getting mixed reviews for my floorplans - I'm all ears. Hoping to get enough feedback on here to make suitable changes so I don't need to get an architect involved.

No need to apologize. Happy to take on constructive, useful feedback. Any tips on how you would make things more to your taste that you feel would be worth considering?

I didn't include the plans for the basement...

The design isn't final as such. It is more a representation of what we want and how we believe we could make it work if that makes sense. Something we could do whilst saving and looking for land. It's all part of the "dreaming" process, right? Or maybe more like keeping the dream alive whilst we got our finances together. I had to get my better half on board and she's nearly completely visual when it comes to believing in it. There would be many ways we could redesign - this was just the first floor plan we created that ticked all the boxes, was a really simple design, and could be realistic within our budget. It's 27x11m

Solid advice. I appreciate that. Hopefully number 3 isn't our outcome, but I did say I would never renovate another house, two houses ago 🤣

Sound advice. I appreciate it. We're on our third renovation, having completed a lot of work on previous jobs ourselves. I've been told an architect isn't necessary and we can move forward with a combination of structural engineer and architect technician. Hopefully, this is true and will prove a fruitful shift from much of what I've read.

I totally hear you. I'll grab a pen and paper and see if I can figure out something that will work within our footprint. Each room in my current plan is "essential" (or so I am told!) for this build. Room sizes are also edging on small so, as mentioned above, I may struggle to fit in the additional landings and staircase.

These were all points I had considered when designing. I'm hoping we won't need to move home again after we build this, so future-proofing was in mind. I also agree with your statement on space for stairs and landings. I had designed a handful of 2 story plans (could have worked as 1.5/1.75) and I couldn't keep the footprint down due to these areas, which typically added double-digits to the footprint. That said, I can certainly appreciate why a 1.5 or 1.75 would be desirable... Especially when land is at a premium like it is here. Maybe I need to go back to the drawing board.

We wanted the vaulted living area so we stuck to a single story. I would certainly consider a 1.5 or 1.75. We didn't find a plan we fell in love with that met our requirements and was small enough to fall in budget (office, garage, kids living space, three kids bedrooms, vaulted living space, simple rectangle design, etc) My wife wanted a large all-in-one living space (nostalgia from our old flat-life days) for socializing. I hear you on minimising corridors. We have tried to do the same here, which is why the living space is central to the building.

Love this haha! Cheers, Pocster. Top 3 pieces of advice you could offer for someone in the very early stages?

Evening all, New here but I've been following this forum for over a year. We're currently making baby steps toward building our first self-build and still trying to leave the dreaming stages; it's all a little overwhelming. We plan to build a 230m2 bungalow (190m2 heated) in Perthshire. I've attached plans and renders I created using Floorplanner for anyone interested. We've spent several hundred hours over the two years redrafting our floorplan based on our findings and recommendations, and learning what is most important to us. I will admit the current flaws I can see are: the bathrooms are far apart and will create additional cost, the utility next to the office isn't ideal, no mech room (we will likely use the garage), and the kid's rooms are slightly smaller than I had hoped. We're on a pretty lean budget for the construction, at around £1300 per m2 for the total build. I've renovated a few properties previously and will be doing some of the work myself, using friends & family to help where appropriate, and managing the project myself. Glad to finally have taken the plunge to sign up and share the above. It makes things more real. Next step is to find a plot and hopefully figure out a way to work out plans in (though appreciate we may have to start again!) Cheers J