Design brief

So I knew from last time that the design brief would be important.

I finally sent it back to my draftsperson after delays from M.

·       House 33sq, upper floor 80% ground floor

·       4 bedrooms - master ground, master upstairs. Master min 15sqm, Bedrooms min 11 sqm exc wardrobe

·       Ceiling 9ft downstairs ?upstairs (effect on energy rating?)

·       Disabled friendly

·       No internal stairs ground floor, except small step/lip to garage

·       Open plan kitchen, dining, family

·       Prefer close off Living, with ability to open up to make bigger entertaining area with dining

·       Prefer garage min 6.5x.6.5m, as long as other areas are not compromised

·       No box gutters

·       No decking outdoors

·       Covered front porch

·       Alfresco coming off dining/living

·       Void over family

o   If you think it’s effective ie. Good design principle, aids in light to kitchen/dining

o   Only have void if wall aligned with upper floor.  At the same time want to limit overshadowing of 26 Hillside if needing to drop level to get appropriate side setback for building height

o   No obscure windows on upper floor retreat – setback retreat sufficiently to comply with overlooking

o   Enclosed mezzanine (retreat)

·       Prefer stairs to come off hallway (so able to close off kitchen/dining/family area)

·       Limit overshadowing of next door

·       Maximise alignment of upper floor and lower floor walls

·       Good upper floor insulation

·       Effective heating and cooling – passive design

·       Driveway slope needs to be able to accommodate mobility scooter ie. Not too steep

·       Floor waste to laundry, exhaust fan/rangehood vented external, tiled shower, shower niche

·       Landscaping – low maintenance, minimal pollen, minimal dropping of leaves

·       Façade look – don’t want standard upper floor render, ground floor brick. Prefer different textures, but cost efficient and low maintenance

·       Butler’s pantry – sink, with window above sink

·       Stair landing – open landing vs cupboards vs part of master bedroom

·       ?separate toilet upstairs master ensuite and bathroom

·       Doors

o   1½ doors to master bedroom ground

o   Roller shutter door to rear garage

·       Windows

o   Living room – highlight west window

o   Master bedroom ground – highlight south window

o   Master bedroom upstairs – highlight north window

o   Southwest bedroom –  ?highlight west window

o   Void window upper – big window spanning width of room

o   ?window in upper master bedroom ensuite to aid light to stairs

o   Front door – fixed pane above front door? Side window? To allow light to hallway

M = major stress

Sigh.

One of the major stresses from last time was M.  That's why before I agreed to buy the house this time round I said that if I was going to develop it, I would do it all on my own.  However she seems to have forgotten or said that she didn't agree to it.

It's already started.

I showed her my sketch plan and she doesn't like it.

Okay, some of the things she'd said I've already considered.  Like the powder room having no window. However I decided that the powder room is rarely utilised so it shouldn't matter.  Changing the orientation of the ground master bedroom wardrobe - which I'm still contemplating.  Also the stairs coming off hallway, instead of dining area so that the dining/family/kitchen area can be closed off - which I've eventually changed.

But those are the few that make sense, in amongst all these other suggestions:

Garage closer to south side, which doesn't comply with requirements of garage being 10m away from street.  Well then put garage on south side. Can't do that, because of street trees.  Well then, put garage in middle of house, between 2 street trees.  Who has ever seen a garage in the middle of the house?!  Doesn't want bedroom at front, wants it at back taking up the north light.  Or then move kitchen to back of house, again taking up north light.  Wants 2 kitchens for a house that will be less than 35sq.  Says I always complain about the fridge space that's used up, so therefore need to have a second kitchen.  Not bigger fridge, not second fridge, but yes, second kitchen.  Instead of kitchen/dining/family, wants to have whole space for living/dining for those few times that people actually come, and where I've made my design work so that the living space can open up onto dining.  Wants to have master bedroom semi ensuite for the sole purpose that a cleaner (which we don't have) does not need to walk through the bedroom to clean bathroom. Wants POS between 2 areas on south side so can eventually put wall there to block it up to make another room, as during winter I need to hang my clothes inside.  Wants POS on north side, but not continuous with rest of open space.  Wants POS on south/west corner where it doesn't get north light.  Wants no windows where POS is so that kids, who will not do this very often, can bounce ball on wall.  Simply extends the ground floor area to fit whatever she wants to, despite it then not complying with the 40% surface area.  Wants to build small covered room for scooter, even though it will compromise on rest of ground floor area and then exceed surface area - doesn't matter just speak to council and ask them if we can go over.  Wants south wall of house right on boundary so that it doesn't get west sun and makes place more secure, despite neighbour's garage already being on boundary, and then if wall is on boundary there is no access to the back for personal use either.  Wants laundry under stairs which is 1.6mx1m. Wants laundry in garage. Wants powder room by garage for all those times she wants to wash her hands when going from the garage. Wants powder room by living room in case it gets converted to an office for all those people that want to hire an office in someone's house.

The list goes on and on...

M's nonsensical scribbling

Hence, 3 week delay in sending my design brief to my draftsman.

Arborist

As this development needs to go through council, another necessary step is getting an arborist report.  My previous arborist was now charging nearly double what it cost me last time, so I went with one that my draftsman recommended.

This is one of the street trees - a really tall pin oak tree, looks nice in autumn and spring with its coloured leaves, however unfortunately drops all the leaves into what will be my backyard and gutters.  Also, I would prefer to put my garage on the south side, but this tree is blocking the way.

So I was hoping that the arborist report might show that it was dying and could be chopped down.  Although my draftsman said that it was better for it to be in good health, or bad enough health that it needed to be chopped down, otherwise if it was in between the tree protection zone (TPZ) would be increased, which would affect my ability to build over it.

Anyway the arborist visited the site last week and sent me the report this week. Good news is that none of the trees on my block need to be retained, bad news is the pin oak needs to stay, TPZ is 8.28m, which I think is not too bad... will see what my draftman says.