You don't way where you live. When we lived in Maine, I was so surprised to see gorgeous big houses right on the road, even where there were huge parcels of land behind. Duh! Less driveway to plow to get out!

So, if weather is not a factor, I'd want my house well back from the road. If the shop is used only for your personal use, put it well out of sight; if it is used commercially, put it nearer the road and use landscaping to hide it from your personal residence.

The driveway is a given on that long narrow strip to the street

I'd want to see what is on or what is proposed on the adjacent lots before making a decision on the house and shop. I know I'd want lots of distance and sound barriers between my home and the pool on the adjacent lot. And a north -south orientation for the principal living areas.

It appears you have a flag lot. Obviously you can only build on the major lot area furtherest from the road. Obviously the driveway will go from the road to wherever your house and shop will be located.

With that featureless aerial photo, it's impossible to see contours, know about views, adjacent land uses, and the like.

Thus, generally speaking I recommend you locate all of the major public spaces of your house facing south, and avoid any major elevations facing east and especially west.

Good luck on your project.

I would walk the lot, including the perimeter to see what the adjacent land/views are like, with an architect to find out what the lot and adjacent areas are like, to help determine where to site the house. My own preference would be to build as far away from the neighbors as possible, but that's just me : ) .

I would also take into account Virgil's good advice, about locating "all of the major public spaces of your house facing south, and avoid any major elevations facing east and especially west".

Once you determine where to locate the house, then you can determine the locations of the shop and the driveway.

Dusty, your local government (municipal, county, what have you wherever you are located) should have all this septic information available online. An architect would also be able to help you with this, and this discussion could be included in a site visit.

He needs a well for sure. If you are in a snow country your snow plowing bill would be high due to that extra long driveway.

Do you have gas line to your road? Propane is not cheap.

If I recall my geography lessons correctly, only Louisiana and Alaska have parishes. If you're in Louisiana, this is the information which your architect and builder should be up to speed on,

http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/oph/Center-EH/sanitarian/onsitewastewater/PlanReMechTreat.pdf

And if you're in Louisiana, you won't have to worry about a snow plowing bill : ) . If you're in Alaska, then snow plowing just comes with the territory!

the only thing you control is your own property. A well known photographer on my road placed his home well back in his property near a corner. Fast forward 10 years and the adjacent parcel next to him was purchased and pretty much clear cut - exposing 2 sides of his home to the condos and townhomes. And he has all that acreage in front / side- his house is wearing a hospital gown - pretty open in the back. ;-)

BUFFER is your friend.

Contours would be helpful too, as well as if there are any specimen trees that you want to save.

Get a crystal ball and determine what is going to happen on all the adjacent properties for the next 75 years. Share the information with the architect that walked the site with you, then take their advice because they know more about the factors that influence the proper location(s) of the structure than anyone else here.

Looks like an all electric home to me, which means an energy efficient design and construction if monthly utility bills are important. The various categories of heat pumps should be compared for initial and operating costs, particularly since the major annual load will be cooling.

This sort of home is designed and built daily in the U.S. south, so there's tons of data and lots of information to draw upon.

Good luck on your project.

Have you walked the property? Our house is going in 13 acres of trees. There is a lot of contour. Regardless, there is one spot that spoke to us for the house site.

Green squiggle is the first buffer of trees you are going to plant. Teal is the building, yellow is the outdoor living area.

You said "parish", so snow plowing is not a problem. It's flat, so there are probably no views to consider, therefore make it self-contained, creating your own views.

Back of house facing away from the neighbors, with room for more screening trees if you need them.

Lazy gardens concept sketch is a good one, so long as it allows the majority of public spaces of the house to be oriented south.

Most of you driveway will be straight, I'd do pebbles, those that you can compact:

Modern Tuscan Estate · More Info

Aerial View · More Info

I'd start the whole thing by planting the trees

Don't forget the front gate, bridge, fountain, and statuary.

And the outbuildings for the gardening staff.

Line up fruit trees (cherry or apple) by the long driveway, they don't grow too tall.

I wouldn’t build on that lot. Period. Flag lots are huge PIAs. Put it up for sale and buy something else. 2 acres is way too small for what your expectations are from this. You aren’t going to be able to do half of that.

Well...if we are going to illustrate man's dominance over nature, and illustrate the long perspective view, there may be no greater example than this, all designed for a view from the "house":

Palace or Versailles

Well, the Palace itself is bigger than that little lot. Much less it’s surrounding 2000 acres. And it isn’t accessed from some tiny little flag stem that makes everything you do that much more difficult and weird.

2 acres simply is not a very big lot to have to contain all that is on that list well. It’s far from private as well. You’re building in someone’s back yard. Several someone’s back yard. And they will be right up in your business, no matter what you plant. Because of the shape of he lot and it’s size.

I don't really understand Sophie's comment. All that I see on his list is a 2000 sq.ft house and a 30x40 shop. I'm no pro, but I think he'll be able to do at least half of that on 2 1/2 acres.

My front yard is 2 acres. If someone put a house there, I sure could see everything they did. It’s not far enough away for actual privacy. Or close enough that a fence would give any privacy either.

This absolutely needs a topography and flood map. We can’t help you if we don’t know the shape of the land and where there may be drainage issues or grade.

Laughing at Sophie's comments. She obviously doesn't live in a suburban neighborhood. I can only wish my front yard was 2 acres...

Dusty, what you are missing is that the aerial photo doesn’t give us details that would help us help YOU with the layout. Is it dead flat? Does water puddle anywhere? Do you need minimum clearances between buildings? Setbacks on front, rear, and side?

Keeping some tree buffer is a good idea, but you didn’t really draw that in on your pictures either. If you go to your local GIS page you can get contours of the property. Here are some of mine:

Now, if I just showed you the aerial picture you’d see this:

And then you’d have no clue that it’s on a decent hillside, and over two acres. Asking where to put a house on the aerial picture is stupid, because you can’t tell what you’re looking at. It looks like there might be a slight hill along the top rectangle and off the driveway leg of it, not a substantial climb and only really one spot to put the bulk of of house. It doesn’t give you a sense of how water flows or where a common sense location for an outbuilding or pool would be, either. None of these things could someone on the Internet glean from the one middle picture. Even one basic elevation shot would help:

That itty bitty van behind the bush at the cul de sac is my enormous Nissan van. At least with this picture you can tell the basic elevations, view, and even sun exposure. And ALL of those should impact how you position your home and any accessory buildings.

We want to help, but we need more and better data. Make sense?

@dsnine.....would you please tell me more about a GIS page to view contours of a property? Sorry, don't mean to hack OP thread...just interested.

Sure - your locality should have a page for things like plats, hydrant locations, topography/contours, etc. it’s usually called a GIS map or service. For example, mine is Greene County, Ohio GIS. If I google that it brings up the page, whereby I can enter my parcel number or address and find the tax info, voting precinct, and the maps I mentioned above. It’s really invaluable when you’re building, though getting a survey done of your own property can give you much the same information (but this is free).

"I'm looking for ideas of where would you build your house and shop? I bought this 2.5 acres all wooded lot out of town. I want 2000 sq.ft house and a 30x40 shop. also where would you put your driveway?"

Based upon the information provided, place the structures in the northeast corner or in the northwest corner or in the southeast corner or in the southwest corner or in the center or just east of center or just south of center or just west of center or just north of center or centered on the north edge or centered on the east edge or centered on the south edge or centered on the west edge. Locate the driveway from the road to the house and shop.

Or contact a local architect who will gather the remaining information (zoning restrictions, predominant wind direction, soil conditions, topography, vegetation, sun's paths, utilities, neighboring property structures and use, nearest nuclear power plant, sewage treatment plant, papermill, and surrounding area vibe) required to rationally locate your house and shop on your site. Anything less will do you a big disservice.