By forcing the living spaces to conform to an arbitrary rectangular shape you have created an awkward house both inside and out - a common result of a first design attempt. They say all good writing is rewriting and it is also true that all good design is redesign. Keep it up until all the spaces work well, even the closets. You might try starting again and looking at it from how you live and let the walls move as needed; the cost of corners is not as important as you might think. Sometimes it helps to turn the plan around for a new viewpoint. You might consider pulling the 1st floor bath and entry out a couple of feet and pulling in the living room wall the same amount in the back. You might also consider turning the roof so the gable faces the street and increase the roof pitch for a stronger front elevation and more usable attic (cheap space). One thing that a small house can rarely afford is the landing area of a switch back stairway. Also, check to be sure it is sized correctly. It appears there are enough risers for a 10 ft ceiling and that's pretty tall for a small house. If the fireplace is gas and will be vented make sure there is adequate space for the vent to go to the roof or the rear wall.

We just moved a 1300 sq ft old frame house 8 months ago. We moved it 13 miles. The moving company also built the foundation. It was 2' wide by 2' deep concrete chain walls with cinder block pillars. We wanted the house raised 3 1/2' off the ground. The move took 9 hours and had its drawbacks due to our parish and city authorities being the usual #$#holes they are. The problem involved low hanging Oak tree limbs and no utility companies showing up to raise the wires. Out house had to be cut in half to move it down our narrow country roads. The company did an excellent job and unless you're looking at the floor between the door jamb of the hall/den, you can't tell it was ever cut. We're in the process of totally remodeling the house right now and adding on an additional 500 sq ft. I'm having a blast and would love to do it again! Here is a link to all my Haulin' House pics and the inside of the original house. Here is a link that might be useful: Haulin' House

A foundation that has been repaired and is still buckling and having moisture infiltration problems is a very serious issue. Enough so that it's puzzling that after several offers and inspections from non specialists that the owner wouldn't get their own engineer's report. Perhaps they are afraid of what he'd find, and then they would be required to share that with any future buyers. So, they don't get the report, and put the onus on the buyer to do so. IF the sellers would pay for the report, I think I'd let the offer ride for now subject to that report. If they refuse, then you could pay for it yourself. ($500-$700 would be typical) but, you might be out that money if the report comes back with major work being needed and you decided to walk away. The problem is obviously more of a serious nature, and the fix will be in the thousands to fix it. How many thousands depends on the root cause and the ultimate fix. Completely regrading a lot with mature trees in existance on it that is adjacent to an easement not owned by you is fraught with unknown costs, including the potential for having to remove several trees and paying to connect to a storm drain instead of just doing some type of swale to direct water away from the house. I think that if you truly LOVE this house, that you should consider this part of the birth pangs of acquiring it. IF you can get it cheap enough. What "cheap enough" is, well, that will be up in the air until the engineer's report. Getting that report is probably worth it to you, simply because you've fallen in love. And, the other flip side to that is, if you provide the homeowners a copy of that engineer's report, they are required to disclose that information to any future buyers, so that would be the absolute FIRST thing I'd do with the report. Make them a copy, send it registered mail. They can't deny the facts now. And now, they are required to share them. This is going to sound nasty, but it "contaminates the field" for the sellers. They can't claim ignorance then. They either have to reduce the price to deal status for you or anyone else who might consider the property, or else they have to keep paying the mortgage on a house they've already moved from, or they have to let it go into foreclosure. Either way, you're the winner here, because you're the bird in the hand. If you push that angle, then you might end up with a substantial price reduction to make it worth repairing the foundation and drainage issues.

As a clarification, our house is 120 years old and the existing foundation is showing it's age. I doubt it's going anywhere, but adding to it is questionable at best. The idea of the mushroom footings and columns is to avoid adding stress to the existing house. The new piers would replace existing piers along the back wall of a one story addition which started out as a porch. My initial description is incorrect. Thanks mightanvil for pointing that out. There would be four mushroom cement blobs buried 4 feet under supporting typical 10" cement columns along a 14 foot wall. The columns would support 4' lengths of lally (exposed to the elements), then 4X4 wood columns would run through the first floor wall and carry a beam for the second floor 2x12x18 24" o.c. joists. The 4X4's would continue to the roof line and support another beam for the flat roof 2x10x18 16" o.c. joists. Maybe those are called rafters, but it's a flat roof so they might be joists. The structural engineer designing this is the architect, designer, and owns the contracting company. It's a design/build outfit that's been around a long time, and the city inspector relies on his stamp of approval. I'm concerned about minimal requirements. For instance, we had some options to upgrade from 2X10's to 2X12's for an 18 foot span. I thought that was a good thing. So as part of a $3,000 work order change I was surprised to see the plans had the 2 X 12's at 24" o.c. After he explained that his plan met Massachusetts building code, he wants another $300 to make them 16 o.c. and thinks it's a needless change. If he didn't have our 1/3 deposit ($8k) and a ($3K) change order to beef things up, I'd move on. I've only seen piers supporting decks, and some houses along oceanfront properties. Been searching the building codes and haven't seen much written about this design. Code is linked at end of posting. Any assistance or words of wisdom appreciated. I will pay attention to the bracing within the walls of the 4x4' columns as suggested above by early1. Here is a link that might be useful: Mass Building Code online