I have to respectfully disagree with some of what shifrbv writes. 1) Yes, long span joists are costly, but a rectangular box is still the least expensive shape to build. I do agree with shifrbv tho that you appear to be going overboard on the "open floor plan" idea. Some interior walls that could also serve as support walls for the second floor would reduce your costs significantly by allowing you to use much smaller joists. And, some interior walls would make your home much more liveable. As it is now, your downstairs lacks any areas where a person could have a little bit of privacy or a couple could hold a quiet private conversation. Imagine adults trying to visit in the great room while a bunch of kids play in the playroom? Or part of the family trying to watch TV while someone in the kitchen is using the blender? Total chaos! Too much openness can be a very bad thing. Studies have even shown that productivity in the workplace is significantly lower in "open plan" offices as compared to traditional offices with walls separating offices. I think it is better to have a nice mix of open spaces and some "quiet niches." 2) Framing in multiples of 16" or 24" to save on lumber really doesn't save all that much. No matter how carefully, you design your exterior walls to perfectly fit 4ft wide sheets of plywood and/or OSB, the interior walls WON'T perfectly fit 4ft wide sheets of drywall so you wind up wasting drywall. Size your home to fit drywall sheets, and you waste exterior plywood/OSB. Bottom line, size your home to fit your needs, not the standard dimensions of lumber. 3) Yes, you do pay extra for bumpouts. And the extra cost is not just for the foundation. Bumpouts force a more complicated roof line - which is more costly to build. Plus, bumpouts result in a lower ratio of "exterior surface" to "interior square footage" so your cost per square foot goes up. Not saying you shouldn't have any bumpouts. Appropriately used, bumpouts lend style and allow you to design a more elegant home...but they do come at a price. 4) The statement that "You absolutely cannot run plumbing in exterior walls" is not necessarily true. It depends on how cold it gets where you live and how much insulation you're willing to wrap around the plumbing. Here in central Texas where the temp drops below 32F all of about two dozen nights per year and it almost never stays below freezing for more than about 24 hours, it is actually quite common to run plumbing lines through exterior walls.

I agree with all the advice given so far by my colleagues. In order to help work out a walk to the entrance, you'd need to provide, as Kentc mentioned, a PLAN view of some sort that shows the footprint of your house and drive on the property. (The aerial view is not a suitable substitute.) It could be from some of your construction documents, or you could draw it. It must be to a measured scale. I'm including an example at the bottom of the picture so you can see roughly what we're talking about. Since you've offered a picture that includes just the house and what's in front of it, I'm presuming it is the FOUNDATION PLANTING that your are concerned with in this thread ...? Even if that's the case, you need to also show space at the ends of the house. A landscape wraps around the house in order to create its setting. Even if we're dealing with just the front of the house, the front landscaping will extend beyond the house ends. In addition, your picture was taken from quite far away ... so far in fact that we can't see enough detail of the space to be planted. Below is an illustration that explains roughly where you should stand to take pictures of the front of the house ... about on the red spot that I've placed in the picture where you are lined up with the center of the scene you are photographing. When you move closer in like that, obviously, you cannot capture all the house and space at the ends in a single picture. Simply pivot the camera, shooting from right to left capturing slightly overlapping pictures. Do not move the camera location between pictures or it will totally mess up re-assembly of the pictures. Do not make a panorama out of them because it will shrink all the detail. If you provide good pictures, it will make your property more easily understood by us, and act as a vehicle for providing feedback to you.

Designing is like investing in the stock market in that doesn't matter what happened yesterday but only matters what happens tomorrow and in the future. An investment mistake doesn't get better by being preserved. The questions is always, "What's the best way forward from here?" Sometimes mistakes can be too costly to fix and one might opt to live with them. But if there is a fix and it is reasonable and it makes life better, then it should be considered. Sometimes there are cheaper ways to fix things than one realizes so they should not shut down options until all are exhausted. I would not worry that seemingly a mistake might have been made with driveway placement. I'd just look at options from here on out and maybe a future brainstorm will result in a palatable solution. What matters is that the site planning and hardscaping are arranged and organized such that they function smoothly and look good and whatever those solutions turn out to be, planting will adapt. Planting is a bit like upholstering. It's going to conform to what underlies and precedes it as fabric will conform to the structure and cushions of a couch. Therefore, I wouldn't be too concerned at this point about the size of the lawn. I think you'll have opportunities to make it as you wish so long as you arrange buildings and drive in a way that is efficient and sensible. "Do you see any problem doing this but bringing it all in closer from the road like shown?" In a word, yes. It looks neither sensible or efficient. If there was going to be a drive paralleling the road and close to it, it's redundant and not efficient. The drive is getting far enough away from the entrance that it's beginning to warrant its own separate entrance and skipping the connecting drive. It would be helpful for you to justify the outbuilding positioning in that last pic so I could understand what's driving the decision. Also, answer about whether the barn/garage can be a single building or must be two ... or if the garage already is part of the house. I'm confused about that. Also, justify the seemingly huge parking lot. Why must there be such a large area for parking near the home?

Cpartist do you have a door into your closet or is it just an opening? Sara could you send me a picture? I measured the actual space since they made an error on the concrete footings measurement so I ended up with more house then garage which benefits this closet. The closet at question measures 6’3 1/2” deep and 5’8 1/2” wide. Also at this point the door is centered giving about 18” on either side of the opening. I guess I could do hanging in the back and narrow shelves on the both sides. Or maybe I should have him move the door to allow for the 2’ L shaped hanging? But then the door swing may hit my vanity or bed table.