E97 - My Forever Home LIVE – Floorplans and Getting Them Right

My Forever Home

In this Facebook Live, Frances discusses the steps to take if your floorplans are not quite what you want. She outlines the steps you should take to have them meet your objectives, and who you could turn to, to help out in getting them right. Floorplan is king, so you must be happy with your plans before starting any build works for your renovation or new build.

SHOWNOTES

It's an easy trap to fall into when you have your floorplans and they are not really what you want, so you start to find solutions and re-jig the floorplan yourself to ‘fix the problem’.

My experience shows this is not the best approach. You've engaged an architect, building designer, or draftsperson to design the floorplans for you, so it's best to leave this to the experts.

So what should you do when your floorplan is not working for you, and it's not how you want it to be?

Go back to the Brief you provided your architect/builder designer/draftsperson

• Identify your core objectives for the home, what you set out to achieve, and your non-negotiables.
• Check what you communicated with your architect, building designer, or draftsman about what you are trying to create. Has this been reflected in the plans?

Review your plans

Refer back to the brief and review your plans to see how the response from your architect, builder designer or draftsperson has met your brief.

• Has it been designed around your core objectives and non-negotiables>
• What's missing?
• How is the floor plan meeting your brief, objectives, and requirements?

Review your floorplans with your Building Designer

You need to be clear about not providing the solution, but rather giving your building designer the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

• Refer them back to the brief to focus on areas that have been missed, or are not quite right.
• Be clear about what's not working for you in the plan.
• Let them explain if there is a reason why something cannot be achieved.
• Allow them the chance to review your comments and come back with a revised version.

For instance,

• Mudroom is not big enough to store 5 school bags
• There is no connection to the views we have.

• There is not enough space in the kitchen for two people to cook

Consult another expert

You may feel more comfortable having another set of expert eyes go over your floorplan to ‘sanity check’ it's as good as it can be and you're not missing anything.

For example, an interior designer will look at things from a completely different perspective.

Cut your ties

At the end of a lot of backwards and forwards trying to get your plans right, but you still don't feel like you're hitting the mark, it may be the time to cut your losses and find another architect or building designer.

As painful as that sounds. it's going to save your thousands of dollars and so much heartache. Imagine you build a home, you know at floorplan stage is not right, where you'll forever regret you didn't sort it out before you started to build.

Resources and Services Mentioned in the Podcast

Floor Plan Sanity Check

Save Yourself from Costly Mistakes

Book a floor plan sanity check today.

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Your Forever Home Book

Keen to know more? I have dedicated a whole chapter to Floor Plans in my book ‘Your Forever Home’. You can order your copy here.

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