What would your idea home footprint be?

[BobettaHouseBuilder]

I am in the lucky position of having 5 acres of land, which I have been advised is buildable and have been nudged by the village to think about selling it for building. Apparently they have a set number of homes they need to build for the area and the consensus is that this parcel of land is accessible yet not overlooked by any other homes, so less contentious than others.

I have ideas of planning 5 homes on the land (each with a nice 1 acre plot). I want them to look traditional rather than modern (no flat roof/shiny black/office block styles) so maybe Georgian or converted barn in style? L shaped homes seem to be rather popular with double garages and the above used as an annexe?

Thoughts and advice?

I was thinking that you were only going to build one house at the start. We have 2.5 acres and don’t find it big or unmanageable.

I think our town has a legal minimum of 1 acre plots

I’m not in the market for a 5-bed alas, but when we were looking for houses we ended up ruling out new builds because they ALL had titchy little gardens. I know the low maintenanc

I think you should look at providing a variety of sizes and not just add more luxury housing stock, people need smaller homes too!

I have a terrace house with one reception room, the thing we miss is a second reception room. I think new houses should all focus on being energy efficient and future proof, for example, easy to access and a downstairs toilet. Bin storage too.

oops sorry!

I know the low maintenance appeals to some but there’s plenty of us that do want gardens bigger than a welcome mat, and not many new builds meeting that requirement.

Subdividing into a mixture of self build plots would be amazing- there’s such a shortage and it’s the best way to get high quality houses that people actually want!

There is a program on C4 on that at the moment isn't there? The Street or something?

My ideal home footprint? I am going to 'ideal dream realistic home' here.

Updtaiurs
3 double bedrooms

1 Single room/nursery/study room
2 bathrooms

Downstairs
A large family room - kitchen - diner with lots of light opening out onto the garden.
Utility/boot room with side access porch
Level access shower room
Wide doors so downstairs fully disabled accessible
2 other reception rooms downstairs. One of which can be used as a 4th bedroom next to the downstairs shower room.
Porch to the front as well

Driveway for 2 cars
Double garage for all my bikes, a workshop and other fun stuff

fiber direct to home
loads of plug sockets
Energy efficient. New heating tech (ground source? Solar?)
Radiators upstairs and carpeted
All one flooring (LVT?) downstairs and UFH

This is very interesting! My ideal footprint on the bottom floor would be a semi open plan living/dining/kitchen, a good size utility/mud room, a study, a guest loo, and ideally a little granny suite with a bathroom (handicap accessible walk-in shower) and maybe double doors that open onto the garden. The kind of place where you could have your elderly parents with mobility issues stay for a while. Upstairs, four bedrooms with decent-size closets (one room a master suite with en-suite and proper walk-in), a family bathroom and a linen cupboard. I’d also love to have a finished basement that could function like a multipurpose room (play space for young kids, rec room for teens, etc) with a loo/shower room and a nice size storage room for things like luggage, Christmas decorations, etc.

I think you’ll find that the planning permission will be contingent on certain build criteria being met, not 5 mega homes. It’s also not very commercial, but that’s a separate issue.

Anyway to answer the question:
Separate sitting room
Downstairs study
Gym
Loo
Large kitchen diner
TV area/ room
Garage linked to main house
Large hallway
Boot room/utility (with laundry chute)

4 large double bedrooms with en-suites
Master suite

Money tree in large garden

Ooh I’ll buy one! Can I have please:
Downstairs
central hallway with boot room off or at least a large built in cupboard for shoes and coats.
Spacious kitchen diner with utility/pantry off.
Downstairs loo
Large light living room
Sun room/second smaller living room
Downstairs double bedroom with en-suite for guests or when we get too old for stairs.
Upstairs:
4 double bedrooms, one with en-suite
Family bathroom
Study
Outside:
Patio/terrace running full width of house
Double garage
Lots of lawn at back
Low maintenance at front
There are loads of houses built nowadays on small developments which are modern but traditional style.