I probably should have given more information up front. It will just be my wife and I living in the house with 2 small dogs and a cat. We will be in south east Alabama as I had said so there may be some things done differently in building down here then where others live. We are close to Florida and close to Hurricane possibilities and tornadoes. We want the whole house to fit under a symmetrical hipped roof. These types of roofs stand up better to the high winds, plus they are cheaper to build and cheaper to maintain and have less places to fail or take damage or leak. Also we lived in a house almost exactly like this (minus the garage) for four years and we very much enjoyed the floor plan. That is why we are looking at creating the same one for our forever home. It was said that there are better floor plans out there. I was wondering where you might find one that had a simple roof like this and an open lay out? If you could direct me, I would appreciate it. I have not been able to find any that don't have multiple roof lines and that have the guest rooms separated from the master. The garage does need to be smaller. We want to keep the size of the house down since there is just two of us. I had thrown a big garage on the end because I like big garages, but you are right that it should be smaller. It will be the same depth as the rest of the house and the walk door will now be on the side of the garage for better curb appeal although we don't need curb appeal because we are building in the middle of our 120 acre wooded property. I suppose when I wrote this I was actually thinking people would give me ideas of ways to better make use of space, but most the recommendations have done the opposite. That would be okay if the house was very large, but not when it is small (I know the dimensions were not clear in the picture, but I did say the halls were 4 feet wide and all doors but one was 3 feet wide so it would be relatively easy to interpolate the general size of the house from those measurements. Pocket doors save space. Having the closet doors behind another door saves space. If you were to flip the closets as suggested you would lose 12 feet of usable wall space. So for us, they don't have the same problem, but rather they have the same solution. We would rather have usable wall space than easier access to closets. The master doorway being where it is also saves us space. It allows us to put a wood stove (the dashed lines next to the master door and master closet) in the corner where it can be better seen and positioned to radiate to the whole living, dinning and kitchen area. The door to the hall provides for energy efficiency and guest privacy. The only people staying in those rooms will be guests and being able to close that door allows them to separate themselves from the rest of the house while still being able to use the bathroom. When it is just the two of us as is the usual, we can leave the door closed so that we only have to heat and cool the main area that we are using. By having the HVAC in the attic we can have shorter lines to the vents and have two returns, one in the hall and one in the main area by the master, allowing us to more efficiently cool the house even if the door to the hall is closed. When we don't want to cool beyond the hall door we can close the vents in those rooms and close the doors and limit the flow of cold air and return air to and from that area. When we are just using the wood stove the door keeps the heat in the main area if that is where we want it. Concerns of the HVAC leaking are the same as if it were on the first floor over a basement. If it were to leak it would damage the ceiling below it in either case. In the attic it is set on its side in a metal pan that will collect any leaks and has an auto shut off switch if too much water were to build up. Having the water heater in the attic saves space and would be similar case with the HVAC if it were to leak over a basement as I mentioned earlier. We will not have a tankless water heater. We will have a propane tank water heater because we prefer the faster supply of hot water to the faucet when you turn it on. With a tankless you have to wait longer for hot water at the faucet. We also prefer the consistency of temperature from a tank when hot water is being used at multiple sources. Tankless water heaters can have significant temperature changes when two faucets are drawing hot water at the same time. Also, even though a tankless water heater only heats the water when you are using hot water, it requires much more energy to provide that hot water than it does to just keep hot water hot in a tank. Probably around three times as much energy, and propane is very quick to reheat water in a tank. The up front cost of tankless is more and it ends up using about the same amount of energy so there is potential depending on how you use it that you could spend more money up front and more money over the long run. If you were to save money on energy it would not make up for the up front costs. I lived in a home for 6 years with a propane tank water heater and I lived in a home for 4 years with a propane tankless water heater and I watch my my energy consumption very closely. The master closet is a hurricane and tornado shelter so it would be expensive to widen and we are frugal people with not much need of a large closet. It can be very hot and humid in AL and there are lots of insects and critters so we do not keep our garbage in the garage. We compost all vegetable, and fruit waste as well as replant it. Any meat or non compostable food products are kept in a container in the freezer until trash day and other trash products are put in the garbage next to the sink. Once a week on trash day I take the trash to the large can and the county comes to get it. Also, walking 20 feet from the garage door to the refrigerator is insignificant to us. Our kitchen table is only 4 feet by 6 feet at its largest. The island is 4 feet by 6 feet just to give you an idea of spacing, so it should not interfere with getting to the utility room or bedroom when it is fully open, but it is normally only 4 feet by 4 feet when it is just us. In the spare bath we will keep both sinks but expand the vanity to 6 feet wide vs 5 feet wide and make the linen closet 2 feet wide vs 3 feet wide. We think that would be a better use of space. We like to have two sinks in the spare bath because the people using it are our guests. Whether it is just a husband and wife visiting or a family, we generally all tend to got to bed at the same time and the two sinks get used at the same time every time. I think I covered most things and our reasons for doing them. I appreciate everyone's input and anyone's future input. This post was edited by ReinitoDePiedra on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 14:38

Sophie, having just gutted two bathrooms and a kitchen I would have to agree. My master closet cabinets with island were significantly more than the cost the OP wants to spend on the entire project. And that was just the master closet. However, the OP should plan the space then get bids and access what are must haves versus what she wishes. I deleted the tub because I don’t take baths and I wanted a large shower. As long as she has a tub somewhere in the house it is not an issue. At that point, she will have a better idea of what her budget should be, but based upon the space I would guess closer to $50,000

While your children are small, girls sharing one room and boys sharing the other isn't that much of a problem. As your children reach their teens, there can be more conflict over "privacy" issues. You might consider discussing a design for your "forever home" with an architect and begin looking for a place to construct your home to meet your specific family lifestyle needs. Consider putting your master bedroom suite on the main floor with a great room and mud/laundry room -- adding any family room and guest suite in the basement -- leaving the upstairs for bedrooms and bathrooms for your children. With four children who will be teenagers at the same time, at least a small kitchen in the basement family room and a large porch for entertaining would be well worth considering. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1328&bih=617&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=Thu1XdvuB4m55gLn16yQAg&q=images+upscale+large+outdoor+porch+with+kitchen&oq=images+upscale+large+outdoor+porch+with+kitchen&gs_l=img.12...3486.7352..9284...0.0..0.395.1307.12j1j0j1......0....1..gws-wiz-img.l2xexzCCnHY&ved=0ahUKEwjbzZO_y7vlAhWJnFkKHecrCyIQ4dUDCAY#imgrc=wOXTnHaQ0Q615M:&spf=1572150107797

@Mark Bischak So we met with several builders (custom, semi-custom, and tract builders) and most of them told us this would take about $700,000 without land or improvement. No big surprise. This plan was meant to be a launching point to get started with, not a set-in-stone “must have” list That is a hybrid of my and my husband‘s wish-list. I’ve spoken through the Internet with a few architects and would LOVE to have a home designed BUT then I’m in the “full-custom” category and they are charging far more this year than what we were quoted per Sq Ft last year (for obvious reasons). We also met Yesterday with a semi-custom builder that quoted us $450,000 for something similar that has been pared back a lot. Of course, we still need the lot and improvements which will put us right at $500,000 or beyond. (They said $5,000 for the messy kitchen btw). But the part that I have trouble swallowing is that these builders are making their base homes have quartz countertops, hardwood or LVP, and MASSIVE owners suites when what I really need is stripped down function. I can add nicer finishes and fixtures over time but I can’t easily add zero-step entries, pockets doors, a mud room, widen hallways, or relocate a laundry room. Ive played with the Semi-custom floorplan for a little bit today and came up with the following. They’ve told me relocating the Master and kids room was no change in cost. the main additional cost is bumping out the garage to make room for the mud room. So I’m in a catch-22,. If I get a home designed by an architect (who will match it to the lot), only full custom builders will build it (and for $65 more per sq. ft.) OR DIY modify one of a “semi-custom“ Builder’s plans which makes me give up important function while being forced to pay for extra “wiz-bang” and “bling” I don’t need. Do I just need to keep looking perhaps for a builder who will allow me to use more ”humble” finishes or is this just something I have to accept at this price range? Just accept the pre-assembled plans that aren’t functional and try to get them to widen doorways etc? Or perhaps I should just buy an already-built house, widen what doors I can, and hope He get enough walking at therapy to recover his ability to walk. I can cut out a few more small things (use a stack W/D in a closet, no pantry) but pretty soon I’ll be losing the openness that makes it possible for him to walk and the function for the rest of the family. Maybe we could just put the garage on later but I doubt my husband would go for that. Here‘s the Semi-custom plans after I played with them. The only part of the footprint I added was bumping out the garage 5’ to make room for a mud room and bumping the bath and laundry out a few feet. Not beautiful but hopefully more realistic. The ”Messy Kitchen” and Laundry will just have rough plumbing until we can get cabinets later. No builtin yet, just space for them. My husbands home office and Library/Loft is where he meets with clients so that’s our bread and butter. And FYI, when you have 3 kids per bedroom using triple bunks, you can’t have toys in there (for a dozen reasons) and so the playroom becomes pretty close to bare minimum, even when we keep toys pared down aggressively. Homeschooling will just be done at the Dining table in the Morning room until we can maybe add on later. (The Morning room is the source of light for the Kitchen, not just the Great Room, FYI). I never could have imagined ten years ago that a Half-Million Dollars would be consided so little in an area that is historically so inexpensive to build. I’ll brace myself for the next onslaught of criticism....