Floor Plans

The great benefit of building a new home is that you get to pick the floor plans and design to meet
your exact requirements. Why buy an old house designed for the way we lived in the past when
your can pick the best new design ideas to create a comfortable living space to fit you and your
family, your furniture and your lifestyle.

Top 20 new home features

Let’s say you’re looking to build your new home. You visit a few show homes, flick through some
new house magazines and search the internet for new house design ideas. Have you covered
everything?
We’ve got a list of 20 top features to get you started for a comfortable home:
1. A large kitchen with granite benchtops, an island and stainless steel appliances

2. Home study or office wired for high speed internet

3. Private covered veranda, deck or patio with space for the hammock, BBQ, ceiling fan, exterior
power outlets and outdoor table and chairs

4. Master Suite with extra space for a pair of comfy chairs, walk in wardrobe and a spacious ensuite
bathroom with spa bath and luxury tiled shower

5. Low maintenance building materials like brick & tile

6. Energy saving Ultra insulated walls, ceiling and floor, insulated exterior and garage doors

7. Noise reduction insulation around bathrooms and toilets

8. Three car garage, we need space for our toys!

9. Bamboo or hardwood laminate floors

10. Open plan with raking ceilings or 2.7 meter stud height to the living room and kitchen

11. Huge 4 to 5 meter wide bi-fold or sliding doors to the living room with all windows double glazed
and tinted

12. Ducted heating and heat recovery ventilation throughout the whole house

13. Heat pump hot water system for energy efficiency

14. Wide hallways and level entry access for when Grandma visits

15. Guest suit for when friends and relatives visit

16. Home security alarm system wired for CCTV

17. Under floor heating

18. Central vacuum system

19. Plenty of built in storage cupboards in the house and garage

20. Space for desks in all bedrooms

Custom Designed Homes

 Small is the new big
Consider the overall comfort of your home not just the overall size. Rooms with generous
proportions will allow more options for placement of furniture, more room to move and allow more
windows for natural lighting.
However, increased house size comes at a greater cost:
 More building materials required

o flooring

o walls

o roof and ceiling

o insulation

o labour

 More space to heat and ventilate

 More land

Ever increasing energy costs and financial restraints has brought about a new trend to build smaller
homes of better design, with more insulation and higher energy efficiency. With building costs
running at about $1500 per square metre, wasted space becomes very expensive. For about same
 cost as a large house, designing a slightly smaller house that is well insulated and fitted with ducted
air conditioning and heat recovery ventilation will keep you far more comfortable than a house
without these features.

Universal Design
Universal design is about making your home comfortable for all stages of life and allowing for future
needs, accessibility and enjoyment of life for those that have disabilities whether from old age,
illness or accident. Making allowance for future needs is much easier at the design stage than
making alterations to a house later on.
Universal design can be incorporated into the floor plans by allowing for:
 Step-less entry

 Low window heights so wheelchair users can see outside

 Well designed bathrooms for easy use

 Hallways and passages built to a minimum width of 1200mm wide

 Door sizes minimum 810mm wide

Ask your builder, designer or architect to modify house designs and floor plans to fit your
requirements, budget and your building site.
 Create your own floor plan designs
If you want to try creating your own design, start with a floor plan that shows a scaled layout of all
the rooms in a house including locations of walls, doors and windows, as well as showing bathroom,
laundry and kitchen fixtures. Consult with a design professional to check room proportions and to
have proper building consent drawings prepared before construction.
Each room in your house will require a specific floor design to suit the activities that take place in it.
For example, the kitchen is the heart of every home, a hub of activities takes place in the kitchen. It
is therefore important when choosing a house design to incorporate one that fits your lifestyle.
Recommended minimum room sizes:
 Double bedroom 4m x 3m

 Single bedroom 3m x 2.8m

 Bathroom 2m x 2m

 En suite 1.8m x 1.8m

 Walk-in wardrobe 1.6m x 1.2m

 Singe wardrobe 1.2m x 0.6m

 Double wardrobe 2.4m x 0.6m

 WC 1m x 1.8m

 Hallway 1m wide

 Laundry 1.8m x 1.8m

 Single garage 3.6m x 6m

 Double garage 6m x 6m

 Triple garage 8.5m x 6m

 Living room 4m x 5m

 Family room 4m x 4m

 Study 2.2m x 2.0m

 Home Office 3m x 2.8m

 Media room 3.6m x 3.6m

 Stairway 1m wide

 Dining room 3m x 3m

 Breakfast nook 2.4m x 2.4m