New Construction Plan Review

10 years ago

Hey guys! I've been reading this forum and another for the last couple of months gathering as much information as I can. We're in the final phases and wanted to send our plans out for feedback. We are building a 2300sqft ranch (I know it's big, but with 4 kids, we need it). Let me know your thoughts on the upper and lower. We're really having a hard time with the lower and may just finish the top and decide on the lower later......still an option.

There is one piece missing, under the stoop will be open for storage as well. Didn't cost us anything more to open it up!

Thanks!

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tweeterisu
Original Author
10 years ago
Basement
tweeterisu
Original Author
10 years ago
Exterior
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So all the other people that use this forum to tweak plans because if they let their architect do it it would cost them every time they redid the plans are lying? There are thousands of ways to do a garage apartment on my lot. I'm merely limiting the number before I pay for my architect to draw up dozens of plans that I don't care for. Isn't that why it's recommended to look at online plans first? To get an idea of what you want and what you would change? I don't think the time I've put into this has been a waste of time or a worry. I've changed my mind quite a bit over the process and each time having the architect redraw my changes would have cost me. What I don't understand is why you assume that my contractor is "obviously unknowledgeable". Because I didn't mention in my first post that he said my plan would need a lot of work and that I would need a professional involved? That's my fault and it's obvious that I didn't make that clear in my second post. It's unknowledgeable that he thought I should have a general number of what this will cost me before I dive deeper in? It's unknowledgable that we should make sure that my specific subdivision will allow this unique build before I have an architect draw up something that isn't going to be allowed? As far as the city issues go, perhaps it's just because I live in a smaller city and in an older subdivision, but it was a little more in depth than just looking up some zoning code. City planning had to rule on a decision, not just look something up in a book. I guess I didn't make it clear enough in the first post, but there is a rough design for the rest of the house. I only posted the garage section. Perhaps I shouldn't post anymore on this site. I was looking for general floorplan advice rather than have negative assumptions made about my GC. I do appreciate all the advice I've received across my threads. I know that their help in tweaking/changing my designs to something more efficient saved me quite a bit in architect costs, even if it took up more of my personal time. I've heard too many horror stories of additional architect fees to be able to dismiss all of them.
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If this were my kitchen, I'd rather have an L + larger island than a U + small island. The L will give you less counter space . . . but it'll be a more functional kitchen because you'll have better flow for traffic, and you won't have to walk around the island so much. Also, if you keep the U, you're going to run into two big problems: You'll have to deal with two corners, which are expensive and always inefficient. And with the U, you're going to end up with the dishwasher either next to the corner (so that opening it prevents you from accessing the upper cabinets) or separated from the sink on another leg of the cabinets. Lots of wasted space in the master bath -- square baths lend themselves to that problem because everything has to be around the edge. I'd make the shower larger. Is that set of lines in the master bedroom a division into a seating area? If so, where's the bed going to be placed? I don't see an obvious place. If you flip-flop the office and the laundry (which would also flip-flop your entryway /porch, you'd make the laundry more convenient to the master bedroom, AND you'd be making the laundry adjacent to the two bathrooms . . . which would save on plumbing. An out-front garage dominates the house. Do you have any other options?
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the master opens to the patio so he has light from two sides. Jonny, glad I could help. the other advantage is it moves the door further down so you now have more bedroom wall space and you're not walking around your bed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I am assuming your bed will go on the window wall? I assume the master closet is 6' wide? If so you can put hanging along the outside walls and then put narrow shelving including hampers along the bedroom wall. Additionally your shower is now a bit larger than 6' in length so you can add a nice niche area and bench seating.
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I think this house is ill suited for such a long narrow lot. It does nothing to work with the landscape. I have a problem when the foyer/hallway is larger than the dining room and some of the other rooms. The pantry is only 4' wide which means there is no way you can fit a freezer in the space. At a minimum the freezer takes up 25" which means the walkway in front of the freezer would only be 23" wide. The stairway sticking out into the foyer/hallway is just not good. The storage closet in the gym is only 4' wide with a door that's only 2' wide. Why is there a double door from the garage into the mudroom? Is that such an important room that it needs double doors? Doors that will also let in fumes from the garage? The mudroom leads through the kitchen area. It can be better. Why does the gym have double doors entering it? Is it that special a place? Also ho will you turn the lights on if both doors are opened? Going up the stairs and then seeing closets at the landing doesn't have a sense of arriving at the next spot. Why not have the staircase landing on an outside wall so it can have a window in the landing? And then when you arrive upstairs, what do you see? A linen closet. The upstairs hallway will be dark. Moving the stairs to an outside wall and adding the stairwell window will help somewhat. The laundry room is only 5' wide which means you can't have tall shelves on the opposite wall from the washer/dryer. A full sized washer/dryer sticks out into a room 29" which only leaves you 31" of space to walk and pull laundry out. Barely enough room if you don't have to bend over. As others noted, why is a storage closet getting prime real estate on a corner where instead the master bedroom could be? Instead of the master having cross breezes and light from two sides, it only has windows on one wall. With double doors into the bedroom, how will you turn on the lights? Same with walking into the master bathroom. The 2 upstairs bathrooms seem to have 30" between tub and vanity. It's doable but it will look and feel very tight. What's the idea with the desks in closets in the upstairs bedrooms?
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mrspete
10 years ago
I like the open floorplan and the way the three main rooms connect together. The kitchen in the middle makes a great deal of sense. Do not skimp on the windows in your dining area so you won't have a dark kitchen.

Your footprint is super complicated, and that's going to drive your price up . . . For no reason or function. Ditto for the roof. This is what I see as the #1 problem.

I do not like the exterior. It's too fussy: windows are too mixed, no real appeal.

Your plumbing is spread out across the whole house. This too will be expensive. I'd definitely switch the master bath and the master bedroom. This would allow you to have your kitchen and bath plumbing back-to-back, and it would give you better lighting in your bedroom (right now the bedroom will be dark because its only windows are under the covered porch).

I don't see a toilet in the kids' bathroom. Perhaps that's just the slightly fuzzy picture. The kids' bathrooms have lots of space in the sink area, but not large vanities. Also, their closets, with one wall used for the door and another a blank wall, are small. With four kids, I wouldn't skimp in this area. The jack and jill will work fine, but it could be executed a bit better. The space could be used more effectively, and this might be a spot to give a bit more square footage.

I'd switch the powder room and the pantry to make the pantry a few steps closer to the kitchen.

I don't like the master bath. It doesn't flow -- it seems to be pieces stuck together rather than a whole, planned unit.
lmccarly
10 years ago
It's a pretty good plan. Couple of things I would tweak.

I would keep the family room tray ceiling IN the family room. It is creeping into the "hallway" to the secondary bedrooms. You have symmetry with the fireplace and built-ins but the tray is off center.

I would swap the powder room and pantry. Don't like the toilet so close to the kitchen.

What is at the end of the cabinet run protruding into the dining area? Seems like it might make it tight in there with 6 people eating.

I like the two closets in the master. Your bathroom is a little cramped. How about pulling the double doors back toward the closets and making it a single door?

I don't care for the exterior. Lots of roof and the front just seems "messy" to me.
lazy_gardens
10 years ago
All the little zigs and zags along the exterior run the price up for no discernible reason.
tweeterisu
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I really appreciate them.

1. For the windows, my wife and I really didn't like the way they look here. We prefer the larger windows instead of the tiny ones he had put. Nice to know we weren't alone.

2. I have asked about the roof and to make it "less complex", so we'll see what happens with that:)

3. The J&J bathroom on the main floor was a little difficult for use to realize in our heads. We wanted a shared bathroom, but separate sinks. We are still a little iffy on the closets because of what was stated. Any suggestions to the closets? We wanted to have a walk in feel to them, so we thought about leaving them open with no door so we could use the 3rd wall. Also, with the vanity area, what would be a more appropriate size?

4. We went back and forth with the pantry/powder room. In the end, we wanted the powder room closer to the living room. I think its just come down to a personal preference, but we'll see when the framing goes in.

5. The Master bedroom has been a contention between us, because like was stated, we would be loosing out on the light with only the windows facing the covered patio. My wife wants it, I'd rather have it feel more open. Any good suggestions on how to lay that out? If I just switch the locations, I will be running into issues from access to the bedroom. All ideas are welcome!

6. Exterior - I AGREE with every comment here. I really don't like it. We were trying to go with a stone and stucco combo, but for some reason it looks really gaudy in the image. Not really sure what to do. Any ideas.

Again, thanks everyone for their feedback. All your comments I feel really help us better understand what we need to look for and there is always an appetite for fresh eyes. We get to tunnel focused and loose sight of the overall picture. I hope to iron some of these things out here and be able to start showing progress pictures as soon as we start the building process. I am probably going to start a building blog, so I will be sure to update this post and forum for all to follow the progress.

Thanks,
Matt

New Construction Plan Review

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New Construction Plan Review

Comments (6)

tweeterisuOriginal Author

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mrspete

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lazy_gardens

tweeterisuOriginal Author

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tweeterisu
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tweeterisu
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tweeterisu
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