It seems there's a universal dislike of architects among builders in this area. We have interviewed several in depth, talked to several others less formally, and not a single one thinks that working with an architect is a good idea. The common complaints are They're too expensive. They don't respond in a timely manner. They do what they want, not what the client wants. They don't know how to design a house for a specific budget. The plans they provide aren't any better than what you could get from just telling a draftsman what you want. I do like an architect's process better. The builders ask, "Which plan of mine can we alter to do what you want?" The home designers ask, "What rooms do you want, and how big do you want them?" and the architects say, "Tell me about your family and how you live." The question for me is, will the architect's process actually result in a better plan? Will it be better enough to justify the higher price? Given the amount of problems that people point out here on the forum with floor plans, even architect designed plans, I wonder if the best bet isn't just to post here and keep refining the plan until all the kinks are worked out.

I personally like the second plan better than the first. If you want a shower on that main floor you can likely remove that entry/closet way and rearrange bath for the same, or steal space from that "tandem" garage which looks really small anyway. 20" wide for a garage is tighter than the original plan, though. If you can add 2-4" feet width, I advise it. I am not saying choose that plan, as I think if you really want to build here and are tied to this builder, you should take some time to really look through all the available plans, and find out if you can tweak things or not, before you settle on one. Are you able to hold the lot with a refundable deposit or anything while you decide? Knowing what lot you are building on will affect what plan may be best, too. You have not said if you are a first time buyer, or in what you consider a "starter house" or not already. I don't want to assume this is your first ever house and therefore maybe you need to start "smaller" or should go for a fixer upper. As for planning a house for future kids, @lindsey does make some very good points, and it is true you never know what the future holds and whether you will or will not be able to conceive, but there are of course other ways to add to your family other than by conceiving yourself (be they human or the furry kind), nor does not having children at all mean you need to choose a small house, or devote your free time to home renovations, and be moving in under 5 years to accommodate a growing family (where unless you sell in a hot sellers market and move to a buyers market, you may be losing money anyway...especially if you sunk money into many renovations). My husband and I are in our late 30s and early 40s and child-free by choice. Still, we recently took what was originally a four bedroom plan with our builder and arranged things to fit our needs (i.e. removed a wall in one bedroom to make it a media room, changed another to be a large laundry/utility/sewing room). Either one or both can be converted back to bedrooms rather easily if a future family needs or wants it, but we aren't worried about that, that is something to concern ourselves with later. It is not a large house by comparison to many houses I see on here, under 2,000 sq feet, though it feels large to us, and we put a lot of thought into what worked for us, and we plan to be in this home for as long as we are able. I know a few couples (without children, or whose children have left home) who have "more bedrooms than they need" because they use them for offices, or hobby rooms, gyms, or create a reading room or library in one. Lots of options to use bedrooms for things other than bedrooms, when you don't need them as bedrooms. You need to think about how you live. We are also building new as, quite frankly, we don't have the time or desire at this point in our lives to be doing renovations on a "fixer upper". A bit of been there, done that, and based on our looking at the resale market for a good length of time, and a bit of we prefer to spend what free time we do have outside of work traveling or doing other things other than home renovations. It is okay if you don't want to be ripping out carpets and redoing kitchens either, for whatever reasons. I will say I definitely have not had experience of lindsey with 50% of my friends, peers, and colleagues in their 20s and 30s having trouble conceiving or unable to. In my experience as a childfree person, who is now in their late 30s, it was/is actually rare through my later 20s and right through my now 30s to meet people who don't have children. Even if it took a few months or years longer than planned (but years is rare among my friends who have kids, most conceived in under a year...a year is considered normal length of time to take before seeking medical help; a couple couples I know chose to adopt). So no, you can't predict, but the majority of women DO indeed have children, by some means so it is not unreasonable either to be considering that in the shorter term. According to 2016 stats (which do not distinguish between childless by choice or not) 30.8% of women 30-34 in the U.S. are childless, and by 35-39 that hits 18.5% and between 40-44 that drops to 14.4% (https://www.statista.com/statistics/241535/percentage-of-childless-women-in-the-us-by-age/) To me, as human beings, it is normal to "plan" and dream; sometimes those plans come true, sometimes not. For example, I can also tell you of people I know who spent a lot of money to build a forever home planning for wheelchair access and all sorts of things with dreams of retirement and aging in place, and then had to sell in a year or two because "life happened" and the home they planned to be able to age in place in, was not longer suitable for them. A realtor friend of mine is actually in this situation now; he and his wife, both in their 60s, built a home - architect designed with fantastic views - for one-level living (hard to find here) less than two years ago which was their dream home with beautiful finishes, but now are selling due to other family obligations, and are having difficulty selling, despite there being a larger "older" population here, partly due to price to try and recoup what they spent, but also I think (having seen the home myself many times) because the layout is too specialized and not "mainstream enough". And it does not work for younger families at all, which are the other big buyers segment here. It can be hard to keep some perspective sometimes on this site with all the promotion of getting architects and having nice large lots with south facing views, and in no way am I saying those aren't appropriate considerations, but also quite honestly many people live very happily in tract or production homes too. For some that is their "compromise", and for others that IS their dream - for many people it will always be a dream. It is a privilege to even be able to consider home ownership at all, in my opinion. And area matters too as to what is realistic or not - I have many friends in a nearby city who have to pay $500,000+ for a tiny 0.7-0.9 acre zero lot line property, before they can even build or tear down, and so many compromises are made when it comes to the actual house, compromises that others would likely criticize on here when it comes to layout, or windows, or the number of stairs, but compromises that allow my friends to also have their dream of a home in a location they desire (rather than a 1-2 hour one-way commute)...and they are happy with their homes. Yes, resale can be a factor when you are building in a new area where there is still lots of active construction, especially if you are buying into it one of the earlier phases, but this is also market dependent. I watch the market around here a lot, out of personal interest but also my career, and construction that is 1-5 years old, where new builds are still going up down the road, still sell well if they are competitively priced, have been maintained and have other benefits a new construction does not (i.e. landscaping, upgrades, decks, etc). You have the advantage of being able to price for less than new builds, in that you paid 1-5 year old prices for labour and materials...new buyers are paying current prices which are more apt to be higher than lower). Here on new builds you also pay taxes, so that leaves some incentive for some to buy "slightly less new" if they can; your area may vary. If you build, go into it planning, and hopefully, staying in it for 10+ years though. But remember what I said about plans ;) There is a builder here that has some plans with a courtyard space like the second plan. Here are some photos of how they have set it up in one of their former show homes:

First off you put this in the fireplaces category(?) so not sure how many responses you’ll get. I would NOT plan a kitchen around a table. Do what you want and like, trust me tastes will change and you might want a different table down the road.

I see where you are coming from on the lights. This is just bad measuring/laziness. The brick work is lazy patch work as well. Sometimes I noticed during my build, that shortcuts and double checking did not happen. I had rooms that were not the size they originally were supposed to be. That was a big issue, but I kept my measuring tape on me when I would check on the framing after hours. Two walls had to be moved in my build, but I caught it soon enough. Contractors like to work fast and juggle multiple jobs. It’s best to check everything they do. Just be more cautious checking the finish work. I found a lot that I had to personally fix myself. I am just trying to give you guidance from a person who is not a contractor. Just on the receiving end as yourself.