FAMILY HOME PLAN 58275!!

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Hello, I would like to get your opinion once again on the attached Family Home Plan 58275. I will be working with an architect to plan our dream house soon, but I have seen this plan in person, so I wanted to know your thoughts. Thanks.

https://www.familyhomeplans.com/house-plan-58275

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R T

4 years ago

Based on my brief experience on this site, I would recommend you seek advice elsewhere. It seems this board leans heavily towards responses such as you have received above. Hiring an architect is great advice but I know it does not answer the question you asked. Good luck

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Comments (15)

PRO
PPF.
4 years ago
Please see this thread for some somewhat related thoughts.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5764573/my-first-attempt-at-home-design-plan-review#n=10
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
Get an architect now why waste time fiddling with this stock plan. If you love that just the way it is then go for it but once you start redoing the plans it will cost$$$$ and could be much better designed for you.
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We just bought a plan from family house plans (gargling house) was a complete waste of money ,except we got floor plan . We just paid architect 3500. To fix what they did. Just find local architect to do it. We found a guy that our builder knows who charged us a $1. Per square foot. Somif you are seriously building a house stay away from online plans . Just find floor plan you like and take it to a real architect. And don’t use there modification service either they screwed up main beam in basement when they added basement . Unless you want to baby set them . Good luck with your project! What you are suggesting is copyright infringement and no licensed architect worth his license would agree to do that. Maybe a CAD designer, but not someone licensed.
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I’m bumping this as someone with a large family (8 of us currently) in smaller spaces (lived in 1600, currently in 2160, waiting to build). Let me tell you - our rental was the exact same square footage as this temporary house we bought last year, but laid out completely differently. This 2160 sq ft ‘69 ranch with no basement lives TEN times better than our newer build 2160 sq ft rental did, precisely because of these factors: 1) Storage. I have tons of built in storage, including medicine cabinets, a linen a d coat closet, and laundry room/pantry. 2) Layout. This ranch has all the bedrooms and main bath on one side, all the bedrooms on the smaller side. And a good 60% of the floor plan is then dedicated to the public spaces on the right side of the house. Very efficient, good sound separation, and we are fitting three kids in each bedroom without issue. Even being home all day every day be keeping homeschool junk and adaptive equipment everywhere, it doesn’t feel too small. These two factors are SO CRITICAL, that is why I’d side with the group recommending you pay an architect to help. They’re surprisingly reasonable for design time, given how much help they can give in making a cost effective, efficient space for you. This plan has some problems that a few posters, like Mrs Pete, have tried to address. But precisely because you and I have big families and tight budgets and space constraints, it is even MORE important we not try to make a plan ‘fit’ what is intended for a generic and usually-smaller sized family. Retaining design services was the best choice my husband and I made in planning our build. Hands down. We don’t have the budget to get this wrong. And out of four homes we have lived in only ONLY had solid layout and utility for us as is, the current ‘69 ranch home I detailed above. It’s just not worth it to shop stock plans when you can have a professional give you everything you need and with skill and insight into problems you may never have noticed or considered. I wish you the very best!
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Rachel please do yourself a favor and ignore DE. She really is someone who is here just to stir the pot. Plus she acts like she knows all about design and architecture but anything she has learned is just from one or two books. In fact each time she opens her mouth she more than proves her lack of knowledge and understanding of architecture and design. Better off listening to our excellent architects, Virgil, Mark, architectrunnerguy, RES as well as some of our contractors, Worthy, Millworkman, Jeffrey Grenz to name a few. In fact my house is as good as it is because I listened to Mark, architectrunnerguy and RES. Additionally are some very talented designers who regularly post.
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My thoughts are all about the master suite: - Do you think you'll want a TV in the bedroom? If so, note that you won't be able to place it at the foot of the bed, which would be the natural spot. - I'd move the bedroom door down the hallway. This allows you to eliminate the door from the bedroom itself ... and it allows you to move the bathroom door into that entrance hallway (illustration below). This keeps bathroom light from spilling out onto a sleeper, and it would allow you a shallow linen closet across from the sink. More storage is always welcome. - Note that by using double sinks, you've crammed one person up against the wall. I'd much rather have one nice sink with a good drawer stack for each person. - I'd flip-flop the shower door's direction; it'd be more natural to enter the shower without having the walk around the door. - I hate that you have no natural light in this bathroom. The same is true of the mudroom and the master bedroom entrance hallway. Dark hallways are not pleasant. - For a house this size, the closet isn't particularly spacious. Consider, too, that this layout requires you to walk the whole length of the bathroom to reach the closet. I'm not against bathrooms-in-closets, but they're often poorly arranged -- and this is an example. If you were to flip-flop the bathroom and the closet (make the closet a walk-through), the closet would become more convenient, and the bathroom could have natural light. - On the other hand, the bedroom seems oversized to me -- it's a lot of empty square footage for a room where you'll be asleep -- but I'm in the camp of "bedrooms aren't a space to splurge on space". - Where is the laundry room? Most people want it to be convenient to the master bedroom and/or the kitchen. - Are you going to be happy with a master suite off the mudroom? It may hurt resale. And the garage entrance: - Instead of making people walk catty-cornered across the mudroom, I'd place the door across from the kitchen entrance, which allows you a straight-line into the house. You don't lose any mudroom storage; it's just divided into two runs, which could work out well.
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beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
4 years ago
Well, I guess you could show the plan to an architect and tell them there's nowhere to go but up.
chicagoans
4 years ago
Since you saw it in person, I'd be curious to know how they furnished it. For example, the breakfast nook will only fit a small table, and even that will be a squish since it's a pathway to the MBR and the door swing takes up floor space. How did they vent the dryer? Did you see two full sized cars in the garage? It looks little.

PPF posted a good link. Since you're working with an architect, don't bring an internet plan to the meeting; better to bring a site survey and your lists of needs and wants. I understand the fun of looking at plans; you could do that and just make a list of what you like and what you don't.

minimum space needs for cars
beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
4 years ago
PPF posted a good link. Since you're working with an architect, don't bring an internet plan to the meeting; better to bring a site survey and your lists of needs and wants. I understand the fun of looking at plans; you could do that and just make a list of what you like and what you don't.

I would add to this, if you feel you need to show something to an architect -- and you really don't, because the good ones are adept at interviewing clients to determine their wants and likes and needs -- then I'd work instead on creating a bubble diagram,

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4351651/beginning-bubble-diagram-for-a-custom-home#n=22

And some other posts by Virgil, who's an architect,

What's A Well-Designed House?

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/whats-a-well-designed-house-dsvw-vd~5370217

Tips for Buying Land, Designing and Building A Custom Home Part 1 of 3

Tips for Buying Land Designing & Building Custom Home Part 1 Continued

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https://www.houzz.com/discussions/tips-for-buying-land-designing-and-building-a-custom-home-part-2-dsvw-vd~5079485

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https://www.houzz.com/discussions/tips-for-buying-land-designing-and-building-a-custom-home-reposted-dsvw-vd~5213136

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https://www.houzz.com/discussions/buying-land-designing-and-building-a-custom-home-part-3-dsvw-vd~5213150

and also

What are you doing to make your house enrich your life?
jmm1837
4 years ago
What did you like about the house you saw? Was it the organization of the rooms, their size, the placement of windows, or the look of the exterior? What appeals to you about this (or any) plan?
bpath
4 years ago
Upstairs, you will definitely want to move the doors of Bonus Room and Bedroom 4 in, as it is for Bedroom 3, to open up the hall a little bit. Nothing like stepping out your bedroom door to a sudden drop off (shades of the movie Beetlejuice). Wish there was a way to do that for the bathroom.
PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
4 years ago
The circulation pattern takes a significant chunk out of the family room. You should lay our your desired furnishings and arrangement, to scale, to see if it will fit in the family room.

I think you may be surprised to find its smaller than you think.
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
4 years ago
It takes less effort to design a home from a list of needs and wants and a site survey than it does to gently critique a client's design.
D N
4 years ago
I don’t like having the sink and range aligned. Difficult for two working at once; opening the oven door interferes with the person at the sink; I don’t like having to pivot 180 degrees with a heavy pot of water etc (personal prejudice on the last)
tatts
4 years ago
Haven't we seen this one before? I know we've seen that stupid Bonus Room before--10% to 15% of the total square footage in an unusable space that you have to pay to build.

And anytime someone flushes the toilet in bedroom 2 bath or the upstairs bath, everyone in the house will hear them because both toilets sit on a common wall with the great room. Priceless.
hummingbird678
4 years ago
Bonus rooms like that are becoming more popular in tract houses. And now a builder by me is starting to call them "smart rooms" (?? I guess because they're smart enough to turn into whatever you want them to be? I have no clue).
PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
4 years ago
Well...after comments about the interior space planning and flor plan...is it time to comment on the amateurish and very clunky exterior?

I would be embarrassed to live in such a poor design...

OP it's possible to do so much better. Take this to your architect and tell her/him you expect MUCH better...
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
4 years ago
Start building your dream home with YOUR dream, not someone else's. Spend your time making a list of your needs and wants to give to your architect.

FAMILY HOME PLAN 58275!!

R T

Comments (15)

PPF.

Patricia Colwell Consulting

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