Very 1st draft of my dream home

[Youngredders]

Hi all

 

Very first draft of my proposed house below. Very little definition has gone into it (as you can see), but the fundamentals to how we want the house are there.

 

I am aiming for a size of 200m2, over two floors but with usable loft space.

 

Any comments and critiques welcome.

 

[Crofter]

Hi

Two suggestions if you're at the very early stages of design:

- Read Calliwag's free ebook about house design

- Learn to use Sketchup

It's maybe also worth looking up the standard drawing symbols for e.g. Doors, windows- this will make it easier for others to interpret your designs.

[ultramods]

You might find this useful: https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/room-sizes/

 

I used https://www.roomsketcher.com/ to design my house, might be more basic that Sketchup but i found it easier to use.

 

It''s worth letting us know the orientation (where is North, South, East and West) of the house and also what the plot is like, as you may have views you would like to erm... view, or you may have neighboring houses that need to be taken into consideration.

 

Something else I did when trying to decide room sizes was visit showhomes to visualise different sized spaces.

 

I also looked at various architect websites and FB pages for houses that I liked, then tracked down the plans on the council planning websites.

 

Houzz.com is also very useful for inspiration.

 

From the design it looks like the living room is 12m deep and the kitchen is 8m, if that is correct that would make the ground floor dimensions about 20m x 35m which is 700 sqm.

Edited April 11, 2018 by ultramods

[Dreadnaught]

19 minutes ago, Crofter said:

Read Calliwag's free ebook about house design

 

Aunty Google couldn't find that one. Clue?

[nod]

1 hour ago, Youngredders said:

Hi all

 

Very first draft of my proposed house below. Very little definition has gone into it (as you can see), but the fundamentals to how we want the house are there.

 

I am aiming for a size of 200m2, over two floors but with usable loft space.

 

Any comments and critiques welcome.

 

Wow that a big house

  Need a big budget 

[jack]

I'm assuming the 8m and 12m indicators aren't related to the underlying drawing, as that would suggest a house much larger than the 200m² (100 up and and 100 down, I assume) you mention.

The long, skinny utility and storage rooms won't work, and the kitchen/diner aspect ratio also seems wrong.

 

Another way you can approach this is to think of rooms as blobs, and just draw out where each blob is relative to the other blobs/rooms - this sort of thing. This will focus you on function. Once you have that, you can start thinking about room dimensions and relative positions.

 

Also important is where the sun is, and where views (and things you don't want to look at) are located.

[Youngredders]

1 hour ago, Crofter said:

Hi

Two suggestions if you're at the very early stages of design:

- Read Calliwag's free ebook about house design

- Learn to use Sketchup

It's maybe also worth looking up the standard drawing symbols for e.g. Doors, windows- this will make it easier for others to interpret your designs.

Thanks for that mate. I'll look into both of those later this evening.

[caliwag]

You will need to add a disability accessible toilet on the ground floor...appreciate it's at an early non-detail stage...a simple plan so far! Ferdinand might provide a link to the free book, I no longer have it. I can sell you a copy for £15 inc P+P if you fancy...Paypal. The site is on Facebook or email me at lofthousestudio@hotmail.com You get an expanded version with illustrations (not many mind...no waffle). Technically it supersedes the freebie, but as I say, Ferdinand dug out the reference and posted it. Cost me £10 to print the thing...huh, so much for self-publishing.

[Youngredders]

1 hour ago, ultramods said:

You might find this useful: https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/room-sizes/

 

I used https://www.roomsketcher.com/ to design my house, might be more basic that Sketchup but i found it easier to use.

 

It''s worth letting us know the orientation (where is North, South, East and West) of the house and also what the plot is like, as you may have views you would like to erm... view, or you may have neighboring houses that need to be taken into consideration.

 

Something else I did when trying to decide room sizes was visit showhomes to visualise different sized spaces.

 

I also looked at various architect websites and FB pages for houses that I liked, then tracked down the plans on the council planning websites.

 

Houzz.com is also very useful for inspiration.

 

From the design it looks like the living room is 12m deep and the kitchen is 8m, if that is correct that would make the ground floor dimensions about 20m x 35m which is 700 sqm.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

The plot is 750m2, I intend the house to be 10x20 = 200m2, almost total rectangle, with separate garage. There is a requirement for the front (kitchen) to face the view of the west coast, which is the main reason we bought the plot, great views.

[Youngredders]

23 minutes ago, jack said:

I'm assuming the 8m and 12m indicators aren't related to the underlying drawing, as that would suggest a house much larger than the 200m² (100 up and and 100 down, I assume) you mention.

The long, skinny utility and storage rooms won't work, and the kitchen/diner aspect ratio also seems wrong.

 

Another way you can approach this is to think of rooms as blobs, and just draw out where each blob is relative to the other blobs/rooms - this sort of thing. This will focus you on function. Once you have that, you can start thinking about room dimensions and relative positions.

 

Also important is where the sun is, and where views (and things you don't want to look at) are located.

Hi Jack, yes these are very early Visio sketches. I need to find some more suitable software i think.

 

My intention is to have a 20x10m rectangular house with separate garage.

 

Whats wrong with the basis premise of the utility and storage?

 

Thanks for advise that's great.

[ultramods]

1 minute ago, Youngredders said:

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

The plot is 750m2, I intend the house to be 10x20 = 200m2, almost total rectangle, with separate garage. There is a requirement for the front (kitchen) to face the view of the west coast, which is the main reason we bought the plot, great views.

 

But over two floors 10x20 x2 = 400 m2????

[Youngredders]

2 minutes ago, ultramods said:

 

But over two floors 10x20 x2 = 400 m2????

 

That shows how naive I am, I always thought to work out the m2 it was simply the length x width. Therefore 10x20 = 200m2

[ultramods]

That is correct, however if you have a ground floor and a first floor and the total floor area of the house it to be 200 m2 then it would need to be for example:

Ground floor: 10*10 = 100 m2

First Floor 10 * 10 = 100m2

Total House floor area = 200m2

Edited April 11, 2018 by ultramods

[ProDave]

Okay, if this is West coast of Scotland, you won't be allowed 2 storey. 1 3/4 at most, i.e. rooms at least partially in the roof.

 

A 200 square metre footprint on a 750 square metre plot sounds too big, especially when you talk of a detached garage etc.  I hope you have mains drainage available otherwise you are going to struggle.

 

Utility and storage is way too thin. The kitchen / diner is too thin as well for its width.

 

If the front faces West, and has the view, then I would make half of that the kitchen (with dining facing the back / east) and then you can have a nice big living room triple aspect east, south and west making the most of the sun and the views.

 

Your location would help then we know which building regs and which local vernacular to follow and a plot layout with respect to neighbours as well etc.

[jack]

14 minutes ago, Youngredders said:

Whats wrong with the basis premise of the utility and storage?

 

Nothing at all wrong with the premise, but you really don't want a room that's 6 or 7 times longer than it is wide. 

 

Why do you have a particular square meterage in mind? One way to think of this is to look at your budget for the building itself, and divide it by the anticipated cost per square metre. You might hope to get this down to below, say £1800 per sqm, but depending on where you are in the country, even that might be optimistic if you aren't doing some of the work yourself.

[ultramods]

As Jack says, start with your budget and work back from that.

 

If you are in Scotland I would say you should be able to build for a lot less than 1800 psm. I am looking at around £1050 psm and that is with me doing none of the work myself. However the house is 2 storey and quite big (326 m2), which helps bring the cost psm down.  Also this excludes all professional fees and service connections which are an additional £28k. 

 

[Dudda]

If I’m honest as an architect I’m a bit worried looking at them plans. It could be better in so many ways. Why not get an architect? Yes you can get bad architects but look around, get recommendations and meet a few in your area before making a decision. You’re going to need someone to do planning and construction drawings and sign off on stuff for you so why not look for an architect now rather than later? If you go to far down the wrong route you could end up with planning refusal having wasted thousands. If you’re spending several thousand on a house then its a small investment that will pay for itself over the build. In addition the architect will know about local planning regulations (number of stories, accessible toilets) as well as getting the optimum room sizes, light, views, etc for your budget. 

[newhome]

23 minutes ago, ultramods said:

If you are in Scotland I would say you should be able to build for a lot less than 1800 psm. I am looking at around £1050 psm and that is with me doing none of the work myself. However the house is 2 storey and quite big (326 m2), which helps bring the cost psm down.  Also this excludes all professional fees and service connections which are an additional £28k. 

 

 

I built 350 m2 in Scotland for circa £750 psm but that meant doing a lot of the work ourselves, and being very heavily involved in the budgeting / ordering and making some compromises in places to keep it on budget. For some those compromises may have been a step too far but it’s an individual decision. 

 

If this is your dream home and you want to stay there for the rest of your days you may not mind putting money into it that you may not get back when you come to sell, but if that’s not the case then you do need to be mindful of what the house may be worth in the area that you have chosen once completed. For me it was important that I could sell it for at least what it cost to build so the budget was set, and rigorously adhered to with that in mind. 

 

350 squares metres is a pretty big house. 400 square metres is a warehouse . 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by newhome

[ultramods]

2 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

I built 350 m2 in Scotland for circa £750 psm but that meant doing a lot of the work ourselves, and being very heavily involved in the budgeting / ordering and making some compromises in places to keep it on budget. For some those compromises may have been a step too far but it’s an individual decision. 

 

If this is your dream home and you want to stay there for the rest of your days you may not mind putting money into it that you may not get back when you come to sell, but if that’s not the case then you do need to be mindful of what the house may be worth in the area that you have chosen once completed. For me it was important that I could sell it for at least what it cost to build so the budget was set, and rigorously adhered to with that in mind. 

 

350 squares metres is a pretty big house. 400 square metres is a warehouse . 

 

 

 

My parents build a 160 m2  bungalow for £700 psm in the Highlands around 5 years ago.

[epsilonGreedy]

Is this a school homework assignment?

 

If not consider that the design will likely cost £750,000 including the plot but the market value will be substantially less due to the strange room layout.

[jack]

If you're in Scotland, the build cost will be far cheaper than in the South East (friends of mine in the outer reaches of Surrey are having trouble getting anyone to quote less than £2800 per sqm for a fairly ordinary build).

 

Bear in mind, however, that it's much easier to overcapitalise in many areas of Scotland. Even if you plan to live there forever, if you have kids, you may want to at least consider what you'll eventually be leaving them.

 

26 minutes ago, Dudda said:

Why not get an architect? Yes you can get bad architects but look around, get recommendations and meet a few in your area before making a decision. You’re going to need someone to do planning and construction drawings and sign off on stuff for you so why not look for an architect now rather than later? If you go to far down the wrong route you could end up with planning refusal having wasted thousands. If you’re spending several thousand on a house then its a small investment that will pay for itself over the build. In addition the architect will know about local planning regulations (number of stories, accessible toilets) as well as getting the optimum room sizes, light, views, etc for your budget. 

 

I agree. With absolutely no disrespect intended, I'd be concerned about how efficient it will be for the original poster to design a house from scratch. Some people on Buildhub are anti-architect, but I personally think they can be very useful (we used one when we built, and we're very happy we did so). Many architectural technicians are also very good.

 

One way or the other, I'd encourage you to at least have a chat with a few local house-designer types to see what they can offer. Given the size of the house you have in mind, it's possible that a good architectural technician or architect could actually save you money through good design choices.

[newhome]

With an amazingly tight budget and a huge amount of control and self discipline you might do that for £300k (without the cost of the plot) but that assumes a serviced plot with decent access from the get go. Without that it will be much more. How are you going to afford to heat a 400 m2 house? Don’t under estimate how much a house that size will take to run. 

 

 

[Youngredders]

Thanks for all the replies guys. As I said this is the something I knocked together over my lunch at work. I intend to engage many architects to gauge their respective experiences and expertise. The house I have a vision for will be 200m2 over two floors. 

 

The main driver for this property is to provide sea views with large open plan kitchen/diner with the same dimensions for the living room on the first floor. 

 

Ive got a long way to go I appreciate that. But thanks for all the great positive comments nonetheless. I can already tell this social community is going to provide much needed help and inspiration. 

 

Thanks again

[PeterW]

Visio has some really neat template items you can use to do floor plans and walls etc - I can ping you one of my designs if you want to use as a basis..?

 

If the views are good then why not swap upstairs to downstairs and have kitchen and lounge first floor and bedrooms downstairs ..? You may even be able to partially sink the house to get over the 1 1/2 storey issue so you don’t end up with pokey windows upstairs. 

[Youngredders]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

Visio has some really neat template items you can use to do floor plans and walls etc - I can ping you one of my designs if you want to use as a basis..?

 

If the views are good then why not swap upstairs to downstairs and have kitchen and lounge first floor and bedrooms downstairs ..? You may even be able to partially sink the house to get over the 1 1/2 storey issue so you don’t end up with pokey windows upstairs. 

That would be great please. I obviously need all the help I can get. 

 

I intend to to have the kitchen on ground floor with large bi fold doors and the same arrangement upstairs onto a balcony.