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Presenting plans to our builder for pricing. Need honest opinions!

7 years ago

This is the home we are considering. We would do a 12' ceiling in the great room instead of 2 story foyer which would create some attic storage. Taking 1 bath from upstairs. Also closing off open railing. Go ahead and give me your critiques!

https://www.architecturaldesigns.com/house-plans/modern-4-bed-farmhouse-plan-62544dj

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PRO

Charles Ross Homes

7 years ago

If you are uncertain about a particular plan and have given it to your builder for pricing, then you're wasting his/her time. You should finalize the plan before asking someone to price it. Collect all the opinions you want on houzz.com, just don't do so while your builder is pricing a version of the plan that's likely to get revised and need to be repriced, repriced, repriced.

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Comments (44)

User
7 years ago
The "living room" looks like an after-thought. Do you need it? With three bedrooms upstairs, I'd have a laundry room up there too, assuming you have enough children to fill those rooms. Why are you deleting one of the upstairs bathrooms? Do you need a door from the odd hallway to the screen porch?
cpartist
7 years ago
Where are you building and what direction does the front face?
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Comments (20)
When I said she went on strike, I was serious. She is intentionally letting everything die. The picture I posted is only a small portion of the huge mess of overgrown rotting veggies that are currently being neglected. Bkay and Cher, I predict that their marriage won't last long enough for them to have children. And, she's not MY DIL and he's not my son. He's my DH's son from his first marriage. Actually my DH originally said no to his son because he knew I had made plans for hostas. Even though I had a feeling that they would end up making a mess, I was the one that gave them the OK to use it. I know how much joy my DH and I get out of gardening and thought they might too. I could live with the eyesore until next year, but not the groundhog. I really valued everyone's input on this. I wanted to make sure that I got unbiased opinions. I just read this whole thread to my DH and now he says the veggies have to go TODAY and he has to figure out a way to get rid of the groundhog before we have a bigger mess on on hands. Thanks so much to everyone who replied! Gesila
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Could use some opinions on our floor plan w/master on main level!
Q
Comments (5)
Nice plan but a few things you might want to think about before finalizing: 1) This is a very complex shaped house design (i.e., lots of exterior corners). Be aware that the least expensive home to build is a basic rectangle and that every variation from the rectangle increases costs. All those juts in-and-out increase costs per square foot because they result in a higher ratio of exterior walls to interior square footage which means more framing material, more insulation, a more complicated roof-line and foundation, etc. Not saying you should change a thing... just thought you ought to be prepared for the sticker shock you may receive when you start getting bids. 2) You kitchen island is positioned so that any dirty dishes in the sink will be on display to anyone in the Great Room. No problm if you're the kind of housekeeper who keeps the sink area spic and span at all times. Me? I would want the island turned so that the raised section helped to hide my sink from the great room. But that would pretty much require an entire reshaping of the kitchen and thus the rest of the plan. So, you will probably want to keep it as is. 3) No windows in the kitchen itself? Patio deck doors and great room windows may be rather far away to provide much natural light for kitchen. You don't mention the direction your house faces and, if the wall that the fridge is against is a north wall, you might not want any windows there. But, in that case, I would question placing your screen porch on that side of the house. 4) The laundry room and mud room seem a bit cramped...especially for a home with three kids. Since the garage juts forward anyway, unless you're already running up against lot-line setbacks, consider pulling the snout of the garage forward another couple of feet and then extending the mud room and laundry room forward an equal distance into the garage to enlarge them. The cost to do so should be relatively minor compared to overall cost to build because, although you would be adding a bit of square footage, you would not be increasing the complexity of the design in any way. 5) Make ABSOLUTELY certain that your pantry is wide enough to accomodate the freezer you want to put in it... not just the one you have already. Measure the depth of the freezer you want to purchase and then add about three inches. A freezer can't sit right up against the back wall. You have to leave room for air circulation and you don't want the freezer sticking out so far into the pantry aisle that you can hardly squeeze past it. I thought I had left plenty of room for a freezer in our mudroom/pantry but freezers today are bigger than my old one. Our new one just BARELY fits. I have just exactly enough space between the freezer and the counter across the aisle to fully open the freezer door... nor an inch to spare. It works - but if my pantry/mudroom were 6 inches wider, it would feel a whole lot more spacious! Also, speaking of freezer doors, you probably don't want to put the freezer right up against the side wall or you may not be able to fully open the freezer door. It needs swinging room. Finally, make sure that at least one of your pantry doors is wide enough to get the freezer in and out of the pantry! We had to have the interior door of our pantry reframed to 36" wide b/c our builder installed a 32" exterior door on the mudroom/pantry instead of the 36" wide one specified on the plans... and we didn't notice THAT error until after we fired him and took over the build ourselves. (By that time it would have cost us thousands to reframe the exterior wall, get a new exterior door, have the cabinets on the exterior walls remade to fit the reduced space, etc., etc., etc., GRRRR!!!) 6) Similar issue to above...how much room is there between your refrigerator and your kitchen island? Unless you get a "counter depth" fridge, your new fridge could stick out as much as a foot beyond the edge of the surrounding countertop. 7) Have you thought about furniture placement yet? Bedroom 2 looks a bit problematic b/c the best position for a double bed seems to be up against the bathroom wall. But that would mean one would have to walk around the bed to get from closet to bath. Perhaps you could flip the bathroom vertically so that the tub is against the front wall and the bathroom door is close to the closet door. 8) In bedroom 3, would the door fit on that little angled section of wall? If so, I think you'd find it easier to place a full-sized bed and other furniture in the room. Besides, that would give you a nice section of wall space in the landing/hallway for a bench or maybe some book cases. 9) Not sure I agree with zookeeper93 about combining the closet and laundryroom (especially not if you can increase the size of the laundry room.) It can be nice to have a separate closet that isn't subjected to laundry room lint. And I definitely would not want my freezer in the laundry room area. Guests helping me cook sometimes need to access the freezer when my laundry room is simply not presentable. LOL! 10) I do agree with zookeeper93 tho that the angles in your master closet are going to limit the actual useable hanging space. Unfortunately, I don't think you have room enough for a door into the commode room if you try to just straighten out the wall by the commode room. I can't tell what those two little niches are between the master closet and the master bedroom (seats?, inset bookcases? art niche's?). If it were me, I would get rid of them and incorporate that area into my master closet. I would also swap where the shower and commode are. I think that would give you enough room for a closet with nice-sized USEABLE his/hers sections. Maybe something like this with a pocket door to the master bath: BTW, you need to be very careful when using pocket doors to make sure that you're not planning to attach closet rods or the supports for something like an Elfa closet system to the walls where the pocket door "hollow space" is. Remember, there are no STUDS in that space and you need STUDS to support the weight of clothing hanging on closet rods.
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Honest Opinions...What would you do?
Q
Comments (13)
Give it the Ramen test....will you have to eat noodles? But, seriously...I think that if you can swing it and feel relatively confident that you'll be able to use the wwhite panels in the new house (they sound versatile) then go for it. There is something to be said for the emotional benefit of having a room that feels done and makes you happy. It would be nice to put the struggle with the paint behind you. You're looking at a year or two of transition which is not an easy time. If those panels would bring you joy (and no guilt!) then do it. And post pics! :-)
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Honest Opinions on my house pictures - need to sell!
Q
Comments (13)
Picture #3 - Your entry seems cramped by the amount of furniture. One piece of the other is plenty (although I'd take down the picture, it isn't necessary) Picture #4 - Remove the treadmill. Remove the flat screen TV. Nothing says we have limited wall space like a TV on top of a fireplace. Picture #5 - Remove the gate. They may be there for children or it may be there for pets. Any suggestion of pets will have people thinking twice about viewing your house. Picture #6 - The blue arm is very distracting. Also, the mirror reflects the living room. You may want to replace the mirror just for a re-shoot, and then put it back up after a new photo is taken. Picture # 7 - Remove the white gate. Remove the pot. The orange color that your counter is painted seems to make the counter super large and the cabinets super small. This makes me think you have limited cabinet storage. Picture #8 - Ummm this picture does you no favors. I'd remove it completely and not attempt a re-shoot. Picture #9 - Why? it is dark, it highlights the gates and it doesn't really show anything. Maybe it is supposed to covey room flow but it actually makes your house seems dark and dingy. I'd remove this picture. Picture #10 - I don't get a feel for the size of your master bedroom from this picture. Picture #11 - Lovely bathroom, too bad the photo is so horrible. It makes the sink area where someone will shave, put on make-up etc look dark. Your picture #12 is much better. It shows a bright sink for shaving, make-up etc. Have picture #11 retaken. Picture #13 was taken too far away from the bathroom. It is too much doorway, not enough bathroom. Have that one retaken. I actually like the $150K price and would not advise you to lower it to $149,900 just yet. Why? You will catch people in two search ranges, both the $125K - $150K range and the $150K - $175K range. If you lower by $100, you will lose the second search range. Now, if you find that you are five or ten thousand dollars over priced, certainly lower the price. But, for $100 you aren't gaining anything and you are losing an entire search category. One of the best ways to know what you are selling against is to go out and view some houses for sale in your general area. Drive by the house for curb appeal and view the inside of the house at Open Houses. You may find that you stack up very well against your competition, or you may find that you are overpriced compared to what else available. When I sold two years ago, I was $10K higher than the house down the street (and we were priced under $100K). I sold in less than a week, that other house took months. Someone might have said I was priced too high (I was actually under priced as it was a divorce sale and I wanted out), but I knew what I was competing against and that my house would sell and sell fast compared to the competition. And, it did.
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Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
I agree about the living room being an after thought. We would have to figure out how it would affect the front elevation if removed. We are giving up a bathroom upstairs due to cost. We wouldn't be adding the screen porch at this time so that would affect the doors. We are building in SC and I'm unsure of the direction!
PRO
Anglophilia
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
That very high ceiling makes the room feel like a converted church. It will be hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It also makes the kitchen feel like a cave. I'd rather have the unfinished attic above it than that high a room.

If you can't afford a 2nd bath upstairs now, at least gave them rough in the plumbing and electrical- you can finish it if and when you need it and it will be good for resale value.

It sounds as if you don't yet have your land. It's pretty hard to design a house without knowing the land and it's topography and which way the house will face.
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
This is giving me a lot to think about. Our current home faces east/west and it makes the back of the house very warm in the evenings. I did like the extra living room thinking it could be a playroom/guest room for my in laws. I love the idea of somehow creating a full bath downstairs for that option.

The living space really makes me pause. We have a small space now and it's been a huge issue. We do have a lot now but will have to see which way it faces.

i do realize the kitchen seems like a cave but it has 9ft ceilings. We have 8 ft now and we are changing the living space to 12ft. The 2 story living space is NOT what we want so we will be changing that. Does is still seem like a cave now? Wonderful advice.
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
Since the master is on main, I really like the laundry being connected to our larger closet and at the bottom of the stairs for the kids. We have a laundry on our main floor now close to kitchen and living and it always makes a mess.
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
Here is the land with a long skinny house on it. We thought something wider on the front would maximize the lot.
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
As far as I can see, the house design would set on the site . . . poorly; unless bleachers would be built outside the only window that faces Onoree Farm Way.
Farmhouse Family
7 years ago
I love this houseplan! I do think that you making it your own and changing it to better fit your needs is a great idea, though. Good luck!
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Here is my partial list of ‘don’t likes’ in any house design:

Preconceived house designs plopped on a site

Clothes closets laid out so hanging clothes are inaccessible

Clothes closets off bathrooms

Rooms without windows

Barn doors without good reason

Toilet stalls

Double doors into a bedroom

Large expanses of exterior walls without windows

Kitchen sink located across from a cooktop

Microwave ovens

Powder rooms with a view in from entry

Bathrooms with more than one door

Ceilings with excessive height
worthy
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
It seems that a home built on a relatively generous corner lot should take that lot size and double exposure into account. This plan doesn't. p.s. microwaves are OK in my book.
doc5md
7 years ago
Mark, That list looks like the beginning of a new separate thread on dislikes. :)
bobbyboob
7 years ago
Mark Bischak -

You don't like microwaves in any house design?

Could you explain?
artemis_ma
7 years ago
I like microwaves, even if I only use mine about once a week. If what you dislike is them being visible, we'll just have to disagree. And, yes in the right house, barn doors are lovely, and if the doors are used often, better than pockets.
artemis_ma
7 years ago
Mscoulty, how do you plan to use the rest of that lot?
Renee Texas
7 years ago
I look at the photo and think the front looks like a parking lot. You are blocking the view of the home if not in the garage, and if any one visits/there is a party, everyone is weaving between cars parked in your drive- also blocking the view of your home/house numbers.
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago

I agree this house isn't a great fit for the lot...just fell in love with it. The entrance is supposed to face enoree and the builder was hoping to do a rear or side garage off Acushnet due to slope of lot. I'll post the plan he had suggested. I'm not in love with it.
Naf_Naf
7 years ago
Mark's first comment nailed it.

I am not a fan of courtyard entry garages - unless the site/lot requires it. They can be perfect for some sites, your site is not one of them.

All you can see is an ARID front when standing at the porch and it can get horribly hot depending on where this house is - then, the snout garage makes the actual house sit too far back that you end up with a small backyard.

In the sketch I placed the house 30' back. Your construction line is set at 20' (dashed line). If I place the front wall of the garage where you have the footprint, you would end up with a 10' backyard.

If you love this house, and provided that you can fix the things that are wrong with the floor plan, you could place the garage on the left side of the house with driveway/doors on the left side.

So...what are you going to do? (I have been watching shark tank lately lol)
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
What to do is the question...maybe move on to a better floor plan!
PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years ago
What would happen if the house in the site plan above was rotated 90-degrees with the driveway access off Enoree Farm Way?
Naf_Naf
7 years ago
Virgil, that would give the house some privacy to the back porch (top sketch)

Read Virgil's comments here (house orientation)
Naf_Naf
7 years ago
I just got this on my Pinterest feed. When I clicked, your plan showed up. Looks like someone built your plan without the snout garage.
worthy
7 years ago
.33¢ vs. US$3 s.f. that I'm paying for a custom plan. Somebody's fooling themselves.
Farmhouse Family
7 years ago
naf_naf, the garage is in the back in that photo.
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
The garage on the back may be a good option too! The footprint just may be too big. The address is on Enoree so front door should be facing that way. Not sure if that is negotiable or not!
just_janni
7 years ago
You can likely change your address... It seems odd to have the "front" on the narrow side - but figure because that's how the rest of the neighborhood lots are - narrow, but deep, lots.... I LOVE the idea of moving it around and having your garage on the end / back...
Farmhouse Family
7 years ago
I actually like the look of the home with the garage in the back.
Architectrunnerguy
7 years ago
The address is on Enoree so front door should be facing that way. Not sure if that is negotiable or not!

Huhh? Then why is your plan one with the door facing Acushnet?

And regarding the garage, from looking at the plan I'm thinking this is how the conversation went..

"Ok, folks, I'm done. Here's my finished design!"

"Wow!! Looks great but where's the garage???"

"Huhh?!?! Oh geez, I FORGOT the garage!!!....Back in a sec!!"

"OK, I'm back TAA DAA!! We have a garage!!"

Seriously, you have some special things going on here...a corner lot, entry ID on the short side, a requirement for a big garage (I guess) but hopefully a concern for minimizing it's perceived mass (right now it's a FEATURE) and a bunch of other stuff. Don't sell yourself short.

But irregardless, the best of luck with your build. Exciting times ahead for sure!!
Mimi
Original Author
7 years ago
The house that is on the plot is a small narrow house that is facing Enoree with a rear entry garage. Something that would probably be more suitable for the lot but we didn't like.
Architectrunnerguy
7 years ago
I know that but if the "front" of the house (door as you say) needs to face Acushnet, how will your selected plan work?
cpartist
7 years ago
What to do is the question...maybe move on to a better floor plan!

What to do is find a person of design talent who can give you a plan that suits your corner lot and works with you to design the house for how you live.
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
7 years ago
I Googled "microwave oven dangers" and found this, along with many other articles:

https://www.safespaceprotection.com/news-and-info/microwave-oven-dangers/

Somewhere in the article i think it also talks about Preconceived house designs plopped on a site.
jpniner
7 years ago
There is a market for consulation on this before present to builders. Someone that can help/advise on lot and plan given budget that knows general cost, etc.
PRO
Charles Ross Homes
7 years ago
@jpniner you're right--at least in our experience. Involving a builder early in the process can help you avoid purchasing a problem lot or falling in love with a plan that can't be built within your budget.
Stan B
7 years ago
The Frank Betz plan you posted is a disaster. Who would want to enter the master bedroom through the mud room? Why would the laundry room open into the dining room? The toilet and shower doors collide in the master bath and both block the entrance to the closet.
jpniner
7 years ago
@CharlesRossHomes - Its an obvious role of a realtor but they would much rather push you into buying a used home instead is problem.
Denita
7 years ago
If you are working with a Realtor that wants to "push you" into a direction you don't want to go - find another Realtor. Not all Realtors are the same. Some actually listen to their clients!
rgadams
6 years ago
did you decide to go with 63544DJ? If so, I would love to see your progress. My husband and I are building this plan just north of Atlanta.
msuvig
6 years ago
rgadams-We are getting ready to build this plan in Texas. How is your build going?
Jenna Reese
6 years ago
I’m looking at building the same plan. Did you finish your home and do you have any pictures you could email me. I would really appreciate it!!!
293summer
6 years ago
Jenna Reese - check out StrangeFarmhouse on Instagram. They are building that plan.
Jenna Reese
5 years ago
Is there Anyone who built this plan willing to share there building cost? For he home and not land? Curious to to see what the cost was.
cpartist
5 years ago
Jenna, the cost means nothing because a lot depends not only on where in the country you are building, but also the finishes you choose to put into your home. Are you doing builder basics with formica, carpet, vinyl flooring, and basic moldings, or are you planning on level 5 quartzite, marble, wide plank oak flooring, and complicated details? And that's just on the interior.

My own house depending on the materials chosen could have cost $500,000 to build or 2 million plus.

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