IMHO - All I can say to you future DIYers out there is caveat emptor...and I'm not assuming for a second that there haven't been, and won't continue to be MANY fantastic DIY projects/results...heck, I've seen them, as have you all, and I'm always particularly impressed when I see a great DIY job... That being said, I gotta agree with Worthy on this one...reading articles, talking to pros, watching shows, devouring the content of this site, knowing your way around a work bench, and interviewing lots of Subs are all great resources, but there are literally hundreds (really) of decisions that a good builder/developer/GC makes (often on the spot) during the course of building a home that most of us can't even begin to comprehend....and trust me, I don't have any delusions of grandeur or anything...after all, it's just a house... I'm a Realtor, and I list and sell new construction regularly. I've also been in the business for a while, so have seen and been around houses a lot, and think I have a pretty sound understanding of how a house works...to make a long story short, my wife and I are in the process of building our first home (very simple 2400 sq/ft New England farmhouse-ish colonial), and my FIL happens to be our GC...he's been a builder for 30 years, has literally built hundreds of homes, and has an excellent reputation...anyway, my schedule is flexible, I'm not that busy right now, and I'm fascinated by the process (plus learning a TON), so I've been at the job site 20-30-40 hours a week for the past few months...sweeping up, doing little odds and ends, and helping out where I can...During that time, I have witnessed or seen the results of dozens of little tweaks, changes, or last minute decisions that my FIL has made (that NEVER would have occurred to me) that have kept things moving efficiently, smoothly, on time, and within budget...and even then, there have been snags and bumps along the way....Subs who can do their job well are hard to find, Subs who do their job well and clean up after the guy who was in the house before them are exceptional, and Subs who do a good job, fix the previous guy's mistakes (and there will be mistakes), AND prep the house for the next guy....well they're one in a million, and that's why you need a good GC....plus, and this is petty, but unless you have the opportunity to make this your full time job, you're going to pull your hair out just making sure everyone shows up and does what they're supposed to, when they're supposed to do it... I have nothing but respect and admiration for those of you who have successfully completed large (or small) DIY renovations/builds...but to assume GCing/Building is anything less than a difficult, full-time job for someone with specific industry experience, is a bit ignorant...and to have not even broken ground but already anticipate hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity seems extraordinarily naive...

I had some free time this evening (DH is out of town!) and I love playing around with sketching floor plans, so I decided to pull out my non-professional CAD program and see what I could come up with to fit your property. Idea was to see if I could give you all the rooms on the main floor that you wanted including space enough for 30 - 40 family members to gather, while maximizing the views of the lake, and allowing light to enter all major rooms from 2 directions and keep the heated/cooled square footage down to under 2800 sq ft. I also wanted to minimize west facing windows because those can bring in way too much heat. And of course, I wanted to make the main floor fully wheel chair accessible. I kind of like what I came up with so I thought I'd show it to you. The floor plan is below and below that is the house situated on your property as best as I can figure based on the photos you posted. **************************************************** FYI - all single doors are 36" wide, the staircase to basement if 4 ft wide, hallway leading to mud room is 5 ft wide with a 4 ft cased opening to the foyer. I didn't put a fireplace in the Great Room. It could go on either interior wall. His part of closet is 5 ft wide, hers is 7 ft. Shower is 50" x 102" so plenty big enough to roll a wheelchair in. I think the only thing missing is the "sun room." I left that out b/c, except in the far north, sun-rooms are one of those ideas that sound a lot better than they often work out to be. But, if you really really want one and otherwise like the plan, the banquette could be shifted over to where the patio doors are, the kitchen patio doors moved to where the banquette is and then a sun-room with south and west facing windows could be placed in the corner between garage and kitchen. Even with windows on just two sides (south and west), I think it is likely to get way too hot for regular use tho. Besides, another alternative would be to make the sitting room into a semi-sun-room by using floor to ceiling glass. South and southeast facing windows would get plenty of light without admitting quite so much heat. Anyway, if you like the layout, feel free to use it as is or with any changes you see fit to make. I just do this for fun so I'm happy to waive all copyright claims.

If you do get a nice big lot, as you hope, are you sure you want your garage in front? I wouldn't call 3/4 - 1 acre a big lot, but still it's big enough not to have the dreaded garage-out-front situation. The garage is rarely a particularly attractive part of a house, so unless you're building on a lot so small that it's listed in feet instead of acres, why put the worst part of the house out front to set the tone of the whole house? Can you elaborate more on why I need to have a lot first? You certainly have ideas already about the type of house you want, but the specific lot -- especially when you're talking about an acre or less -- may dictate the type of house you'll choose. Examples: - If you choose a corner lot, you may opt for a side-opening garage placed at the back of the lot so that it'll provide some privacy for the back yard ... whereas that layout wouldn't work at all if you choose a typical lot. - If you find a great neighborhood that happens to have narrow/deep lots (or a neighborhood with large set backs), this house plan you've drawn could easily be too wide. Or vice-versa, you might fall in love with the last lot in a neighborhood, and it could be wide and shallow. Or, yet again, you might choose a cul-de-sac lot that'd necessitate a rather narrow front dimension. - The neighborhood you choose may specify what you can and can't have in a house; for example, the neighborhood in which we're going to build specifies only all-brick or stone and at least 1900 sf. Some neighborhoods require that the house plans are approved by committee, others require very specific items such as a specific roof pitch, a garage of a certain type or size, insist up on two-stories, even mailboxes of a certain type. - You may find a great deal on an oddly-shaped lot, and this fairly predictable rectangular house may not work on it. - You may find that very simple lot that you think has no real distinguishing characteristics and can accomodate pretty much any house plan, and your builder may tell you that because of geographical features of the lot, the driveway /garage MUST be placed on the left instead of the right ... and that throws off what you wanted to do. So until you know where you're going to build, it's absolutely not a waste of time to go through plans and develop a strong sense of what you want ... but don't get your heart set on anything specific until you've chosen your building spot. To get the square footage down, I think the size of your bedrooms are way too large. My master is 15 X 16 and it fits a king size bed, two end tables, GC stand, a dresser and a recliner. I think the rest of the bedrooms could be sized down to 12 X 12. It really is enough room. Your guest bath could also bescaled down. Just don't skimp on the closet sizes. Agree. Your bedrooms are all master-sized rooms, and that's not really a plus in a house -- it just means you need more furniture and your heating bill will be higher. Also, ask yourself if you need a walk-in closet in the guest room; I think this, like the upstairs walk-in storage, is a space that just fell into existence -- you want to control the rooms, not allow them to control you. I think you've defaulted to "oversized rooms" throughout this plan, especially in the bedrooms ... but in other areas you're skimpy. For example, you really don't want to build a study that's only 9' wide; by the time you account for wall thickness, this is going to be a massively tiny room -- it might work if you open it towards the foyer and use double French doors, but in its current rendition it's essentially the same size as your closet. Note, too, that once you allow walkways on three sides of the great room, you're going to have a fairly small area for seating. Yet in the dining room you've allotted space for a long table, yet really too much width -- the proportion of the room's going to feel "off". You might say "elegance" instead of proportion; an elegant room is properly sized, fits well into the grand scheme of things, enhances the house ... this first-draft house plan feels more choppy and haphazzard than elegant. Back to bedrooms: I also agree on fairly large closets; large closets allow rooms to be smaller and keep rooms neater. With that being said, all of those components, no matter their layout requires a decent amount of footprint. I don't want to have to compromise on these spaces because of the land. Consider that an average house in America is between 2000 and 2400 -- you're looking at building something significantly larger. Is this realistic in terms of budget? Not just building, but also maintaining, insuring, cleaning? If it is budget-appropriate, do you really want to dump this much money and this much time into your house? Is this over sized house going to fit on the rather modest sized lot you're anticipating? If you needed to sell it, would a house of this size sell easily in your area? I'm in no hurry to do this and would rather find the perfect land that would accommodate a house with these spaces. I agree that "right" trumps "fast", and I have the impression that you're very much still in the "developing ideas" phase. Don't rush through this. So with all those constraints are we talking 0.5 acre, 0.75 acre, or more for minimum? More. If you want a large house, an over sized garage, a pool and a garden, you realistically can't do that on 1/2 an acre. Test it. Go onto your county's GIS system and look at lots and houses -- pick houses that have pools -- you can easily see the lot size, the square footage of the house. You'll find that 1/2 acre lots can support a house of about 2000 sf and a medium pool ... but they're really tight. At an acre you can include the larger house, the deck and screened porch ... but not with a whole lot of room between you and the neighbors. Upstairs: the kids will not use the kids study. They just won't. Those are long, dark, narrow hallways. They separate the boys from one another, and from the action downstairs. Agree and agree. No reason the kids can't study in their bedrooms. I agree that this floorplan has excessive hallways. Why not just give each bedroom its own bathroom, or let them share one bathroom with hall access? Again, agree. This bathroom is overly complicated with too many doors. What it doesn't have is storage space by the vanities. I suggest a plain and simple 3-piece bath opening on the hall. Not set on 2 staircases. Husband wanted that....I think to have an easy access to the bonus room. Staircases require more square footage than you realize, and they are a very big line item in the budget. Other thoughts: - Pay attention to all your doors. For example, note that once you place a table in your dining room, you won't be able to comfortably reach that door. You also don't want doors that open towards the outside ... think about the hinges, think about what's going to happen to the doors in the rain. - Look, too, at where the interior doors "park". The study has it right: When the door is open, it lays against a wall. Now look at the master bedroom -- the door is in the middle of the room, meaning you have an uncomfortable spot "behind the door". You want doors to open into the corners of rooms. And look at the guest bathroom: When you walk in, you're looking at the toilet -- nicer to walk in to a view of the sink/mirror; it makes the room feel larger. Also, if this door is left open (and it will be), it blocks the hallway. - Note that you could easily use the guest bathroom as your downstairs powder room. It's in a private location and is accessible to guests. This would be a very big money saver. - Pay attention to sizes in bathrooms; for example, neither the guest nor master bathroom has a vanity of adequate size to support two sinks ... and neither one has any storage at the sink. In both places, you'd be better off with one sink and a stack of drawers for your necessities. Note, too, that the toilet closet in the master bathroom is minimal in size; it'll be uncomfortable to use and impossible to clean -- since the 2'6" door barely opens into it, I'm thinking it's smaller than code. - You say you're not clear on "good flow". Consider the pathways you'd take through the house to complete daily tasks. Here are two examples: Look at the red line. It's the flow between your master closet and the laundry room. It's awful. Look at how many turns, how many rooms you must walk through, how many doors you must open -- all while carrying a laundry basket. Don't miss the "pinch point" formed between the coat closet and the island. This is too complicated a line. On the other hand, you have very good "food flow". Look at the blue line. You come in from the garage, and the pantry is located near the door. You put your food away before continuing on into the house / no interruption of the cook, no traipsing through the kitchen. Then when you're ready to cook, the food comes out of the pantry, moves to the sink, is cooked nearby and it moves straight on to the table for serving. This keep-things-moving-in-one direction is what you want. Consider other daily patterns. Think through your return home from work, your kids setting up their materials to do their homework, washing the dog. In all cases, you want to arrange the house so that you have space and storage where you need them -- not too far, not too close, no backtracking. Often houses with good flow have a circular pattern, which allows people to move from one area of the house to another. For example, look at this oh-so-simple houseplan:You could use the foyer to reach any room, or you could "circle through" the butler's pantry to reach the rooms. Everything's close together and accessible. This is what's meant by "good flow". - What's the elevation going to look like? And the roofline? I'm not able to visualize a roofline from these drawings. - You've placed the two first floor bedrooms on the sides and a screened porch on the back ... the result is that your living spaces, the places where you'll spend most of your waking hours, are squished into the middle. They'll have less natural light than the bedrooms. You could alter this by moving the guest room upstairs (and it could use some of that walk-in storage or the bonus room). This would allow natural light into your kitchen. - Consider, too, that you want to attempt to "stack" your walls and your plumbing in a two-story house. Two-story walls are easier to build, and electrical and plumbing can be run "straight up" to the second floor. This is a big money saver. - I'd move the dog cubbie to the mud room. It'd be quieter for the dogs, and it'd get them out of the way when you have guests who don't necessarily want to be around the dogs. I'd also move the coat closet out of the kitchen and into the mud room.

Random thoughts: - I've seen that dining room picture before, and I love it; however, your proposed dining area is deeper proportionally. - I don't like that incoming traffic + laundry traffic will all be funneled through the kitchen. And the island seems to be facing the "wrong way" ... that is, it would seem more functional for the island to face the other way, allowing traffic to flow between it and the dining room, while the majority of the work happens between the island and the cabinet run with the stovetop. - I mentioned laundry. Consider the twisty-turny path you'll walk as you carry laundry to/from the bedroom closets. - I like Jack-and-Jill bathrooms, but I don't like the way the toilet seems to be squished into a too-narrow space. I fear a person's knees would touch the shower while sitting on the toilet. - Why does the other secondary bathroom have two doors? It seems that Bedroom 3 has two bathrooms available to it. I'd also reconfigure that bathroom so it's more simple /doesn't have water in three different walls -- simplicity works. - I'd consider making Bedroom 2 into the guest bedroom /letting the kids have the other two spaces. Why? Because Bedroom 2 seems to be the worst of the three. Its only window faces the carport. - Front porches are lovely, but they're also expensive for the amount of use they receive ... I'd consider making this a half-porch. This would also fix the problem of people being able to look directly into your master bath. Would you think two vanities should still be possible? There's a pretty large age gap between the two boys that would be using this bathroom so I would like for them to have their own space. I think the real question is, are two vanities advisable? I'd say no. Kids don't tend to use the bathroom at the same time. Storage space is more valuable than duplicate sinks (of course, I think the same thing about master baths). Instead of these two lackluster bathrooms, I'd consider one nice bath (opening into the hallway) to serve all three bedrooms.