Maximising 24x50m block

[Parker]

My wife and I are looking at buying a nice level block with the above dimensions.
We want a nice sized house, but once you consider the front set-back, anything big seems to leave very little room for anything else, particularly a bit of a workshop.

It seems there is very little in the way of medium sized 2 story house plans available from local building companies, with most being 300 sq or so, when we prob want about 240 ish...

Anyone have any general pointers on what would tend to maximise the available space, or maybe some suggestions on plan samples that might be suitable?

The land is going to be 52-60K and our budget over that for the house would be 200ish

ANY input appreciated.

[Justin]

G'day Parker,

I'm going to be a bit confusing here and talk in old fashioned squares, as opposed to square meters that you've quoted. 1 square equals around 9.2 square metres, just for reference...

Your 240 square meter place works out to about 26 squares. I'm not sure about life in Wagga, but here in Melbourne a lot of the double storey places that are advertised are around 35 squares plus. Remember that most places have a garage that's around 6x5.5 metres.

Your budget of $200k for 26 squares works out to around $7.6k per square. Prices in Melbourne start at rock bottom no frills of around $4.5k, and the sky's the limit but very high quality generally kicks in at around 15 to 20 k per square.

At your budget I'd say you'd need to go with an existing design from a volume builder, or modify an existing design. We went the modify route - liked the ground floor design, shrunk it a bit, and did our own design for the upstairs bit. Hopefully we start building in May, if we can find a bloody rental property

In terms of the use of space, will you have an integrated garage or a portico/verandah ? remember that if it's under the roofline it's all counted as squareage....

Put your workshop right down the back, and right on the fenceline. Will you need space for a water tank, deck, clothesline etc ? It all cuts into your block. Got any rugrats, or planning any ? If so you'll need space for a swing/slide/cubby house/sandpit - your choice.

Check out this site for some more ideas, not the most lively in terms of posting frequency but some good stuff nonetheless :

http://forum.homeone.com.au/


Good Luck,


Justin.

[Parker]

Thanks for the tips - some good info!
I'm discovering there is a lot to this building game.