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Okay, so today we're going to talk about custom designs and how to kind of navigate that process on working out what you want in your home and giving you step, step-by-step tips on how to break down that process so it's less overwhelming. So there's a few things about custom designs now. It depends what your builder offers.

Now, some builders will only offer base plans and no changes, and this means you can only pick from their standard base plan range, and you cannot custom design the home or make changes to that. Some builders will offer. Changes for free. Now what this is, is essentially you can have a base plan or you can start from scratch.

It's always good to ask these things as well. If you are talking to a builder or a sales rep and you are. Unsure about what they offer. This is something that's really crucial to know before you get too far into the process, especially if you want to make changes to a home to suit your lifestyle. Now in the industry, it is a lot easier for people and reps and builders to stick to standard base plans.

And that's because it moves through the system quicker and time is money. So they're spending less time on it with drafting and estimating the sales consultant spending less time on it. And that means they can spend more time on other people and other jobs that then move through the system versus spending more time on one job that moves slower, that's going in and outta drafting and making changes.

So. That's kind of like how it works on the backend industry wise. And that's why some builders won't offer changes because they just offer standard base plans that then move through the system quicker, which is easier on the backend because they know what they're working with versus having to do new working drawings, new changes, new costings and things like that.

I believe, and I know every family and lifestyle and couple or person is different, so. Home should be designed to that person. Like you're building your own home, design the home how you want to live. Like functionality for me is gonna be different for functionality for you and possibly different for your partner or if someone that's living with you or things like that, you know?

So if you are building your own house and designing it. Design it to your lifestyle and your functionality and what you want. So it's super important to get that understanding at the start of the process. When you're talking to a rare pro builder or a broker, what is their process on custom designs and how does that work?

Do they charge? Is it set off base plans? Can I tell you what I want? And you design it? How does all of that work now? Some builders will charge, like I mentioned before, and other builders won't charge. So you can have a plan and you can be like, oh, I kind of like this, and it's always good. That's the most cost effective way to do it as well, like having a base plan and then making some changes.

If you are staying within the same parameters of square meterage and wet area and tiling and all those kinds of things, it doesn't usually cost. More. Obviously if you extend the kitchen or the cabinetry, that's gonna cost more 'cause you've got more cabinetry or materials and labor and things like that.

If you extend the garage to add storage in or a workshop or something like that, that is also going to add in money because you're. Adding in more square meterage materials, labor, et cetera, to the home. Making a change doesn't cost anything, but the materials and the labor is what gets charged. So you're not necessarily getting charged to make the change, you're just getting charged on what it costs to build that with materials and labor and things like that.

So. Super important to understand because that's gonna help you navigate the start of the process on one of the questions on which builder is the right builder for you. If you know you're a shift worker and you need the bedrooms away from the kids, or you are a hairdresser and you want a salon on at the front of the house with a door on the side, that doesn't, you don't have to bring clients through the front of your home.

Do you need a home office? Like all those type of things, like what's your lifestyle like to be able to understand what you want in your home? There are a few things, yeah, that you wanna think about and you wanna break down. Obviously, you wanna understand what your budget is first in your whole package.

What is your budget? Let's say we're working off 700,000 and your block is 300,000, so you have 400,000 now left for a build. You also wanna understand, so you've got your area that you've just picked and you've got your block. You wanna know what is your block, shape, and size. 'cause that is going to determine what type of design and what changes you can do on the block.

This will also affect your zoning and R codes and things like that, which is going to be very specific to your block and your council and your area. The most common thing, and the best thing to understand is your block width and your block size. You know, is it a corner shape block? If it's a corner shape, block, a 12 and a half meter frontage.

By 30 on a block is not going to fit a triangle shaped corner block. So that's gonna be more of a custom design, and you wanna be able to design that home best suited to the functionality of the block so you can get the most out of it. Super important to understand that same as like, you know, if you start going around and looking for home designs and or, and display shopping, for example, and most of the time display homes are usually a 15 meter wide block.

If you fall in love with a display home or a 15 meter wide plan and you end up with a block that's 12 and a half meters wide, it is very hard and not possible to squish that down to fit that block size. It completely changes the way the layout and the plan is done. So it's really important to start with that block so you know, and you have the right foundations to then start designing your home from here.

Once you've got your block and you know your frontage, your shape, you wanna know what's your orientation? Where's north facing on your block? Now when you're designing a home in wa. You want your living areas facing north, this is gonna maximize your solar orientation and your natural light and your energy efficiency.

Now when you're facing north, you'll get that all day sun setting over the top from your morning sun to your afternoon sun. So you ideally want your living areas, kitchen, living, dining, alfresco, facing north. 'cause that's going to get your sunlight. All day long and that's gonna help with energy efficiency, cooling, heating, summer, winter, and natural light coming into the home.

That is like where you kind of wanna start is sometimes obviously not possible on every single block, and it really depends on what block you get, where you're living and things like that. But that ideally you want your living areas facing north. Then you can kind of work out, okay. Some things to think about if you're like, where do I, I didn't even know where to start.

Looking at floor plans, it's so overwhelming out there. There's so many different options. What, in your home, and you could be at your parents, you could be in a rental, you could be with a housemate. What in the home do you currently like that you live in, and what do you hate? And write a list. And especially the, you'll be surprised, like the things that you hate are really, really important to tell your broker or your sales consultant or your builder 'cause those things that you ha Like I always ask people like, what do you like?

But I always ask my clients, what do you hate? 'cause what do you hate? We need to know those things to not put them in the home, essentially. Start a list from there. Then, you know. Pinterest is helpful, but it's also sometimes not super helpful 'cause it's more about the interiors and the color versus the layout At the start, you really wanna get clear and understanding on your structural layout.

'cause once you sign off on that, that's something that you can't change later. So your windows, walls, roof door layout, ceiling height, garage windows. Your full structure of your home is what you wanna get a good understanding on first. This you cannot change later. Other things, painting, cupboards, taps, bathroom, all of that you can customize and pick and choose later.

So really important. I always tell my clients, kind of split the process into two parts so you don't get too overwhelmed if you start thinking about where the. Tap's gonna be 50 mil to the left or where, you know, these little bits and pieces are gonna be, and what are the colors? You might miss something crucial like a door opening or a window height or things like that that you can't change later that's going to cost you.

So you really wanna work out your layout. Now, when you come in the front of the home, you'll have your garage on your left or your right, and then you'll usually have a room at the front. Now do you want your. Master at the front. Do you want your minor bedrooms at the front? Some. Some people will either be yep, master at the front.

Don't want the minor bedrooms that are gonna be like the kids' bedrooms or things at the front. Otherwise, you can have, if you have a theater or a study in the floor plan. You can put the theater or the study at the front, so depending on what you want and if you want your rooms separated. So do you want the master and the minor bedrooms to be separated or you don't mind them being together?

Because that will also make a decision, help you make a decision on. Where you split them. And some of these things will overlap. So you'll find as you go through the process, you know, if you're like, oh, I want my master at the back, but I also want reopen living. You can't have reopen living and master at the back.

So one or the other will have to give or compromise. It's the same as like, oh, I want, um, reopen living, but I also don't want my minor bedrooms and my master bedroom to be really close together. So, okay. We might have to put, let's say a bathroom in the middle of the, of the bedroom and the master, and then the rear living at the back.

So it does get a little bit tetsy, but it's about working out okay. On your list. What's more important to you in, in how that works if you want? Okay. Let's say with some clients that want to walk through the garage, go through a. It's mud room laundry into the kitchen if you think, okay, the garage is down the bottom at the front of the house on the left or the right hand side, walking through the mud room, into the laundry, into the kitchen.

Now the kitchen is gonna be like in the middle section of the home, on the left or the right, you can't have. A mud room and laundry, and then to the kitchen, but then also have your kitchen opening onto the alfresco with a scullery, uh, with a servery window. Not a scullery with a servery window. Because if you wanted the kitchen at the back with a sy window, the kitchen's gotta be at the.

Back of the house, close to the A fresco, not to the middle, above the garage. So you can see how those two kind of overlap and contradict each other. You really wanna work out, okay, what's more important to me and where do we want things placed in the house? Do you want full height windows in the living area?

Things like. High ceilings. Okay, high ceilings. You can't change later. It's structural. You can't add it back in later. Do we want high ceilings in the living area? So most builders, standard option 25. Course in the garage and Alfresco. And 28 course throughout 28 brick course. This is for wa. 28 brick course in your living and through your bedrooms.

Then builders will have different inclusions. That's your kind of like base standard inclusion. Your higher inclusion is 31 brick course through the living area. This will be higher, and then you can also bring your. Our Fresco to 28 course, and you can raise your garage to 28 course too. Now, obviously when you're raising it, you're adding in more money, more materials, more labor.

So this will. Cost, and it really just depends on what's important to you guys. You know, do you have a high car that you need to allow for four wheel drive, roof racks, things like that. It's something you can't change later. It's important to be able to park your car in the garage so you know, upgrade that two and a half, $3,000 to increase the garage height.

Then you've got your kitchen area. So your kitchen, you know, do you want a scullery or a walk-in pantry? And this also depends on what your definition of a scullery in a walk-in pantry is. Walk-in storage is obviously great. Sometimes it doesn't necessarily give you more storage. It's actually just using more floor space and square meterage in the home that possibly could be used for something else, especially if you have a smaller design or a smaller block.

If you wanna walk in pantry and it's essentially just four open shelves and walk in off the side of the kitchen. You might be able to save this space and add it into a bigger kitchen or a bigger living area, and then adding in two double door laminate pantries. You know, I had a double door laminate pantry kitchen up in my old house, and I ended up adding that in instead of a walk-in pantry because it ended up being more storage with the double door.

Pantry attached to the kitchen, which finished off nice and flush, versus having a walk-in pantry that I had the same amount of shelves and storage. It was just open, but having it open took more square, meterage and size out of the home, versus I could have that same amount of storage with the shelves in a double door pantry, and then I got to reallocate that.

Open space somewhere else, which made the kitchen or the living room bigger, which was a more functional and more usable area. Same as walk-in linens. Sometimes walk-in linens aren't necessarily more storage, they're just taking up space. So having a double door linen, sliding cupboard is the same, if not more storage than it would having op a walk-in linen.

The idea of a scullery is essentially like if you want an area to put your appliances and your dishes and your, all your dirty stuff, hide it away. Once you've got guests that come over, you know, it's a real like kind of butlers pantry style. You know? Do you have your dishwasher, your sink in there, your microwave recess, you've got cabinetry.

It's essentially like a small mini kitchen off the kitchen where you. Can prep, you can get everything ready. You can shut the door and keep everything in there. And your kitchen's a clear entertaining area. You know, you might have one single sink on your island bench off to the side, so that way you've got more prep space, but.

Uh, having everything else off the side, you know, sculls as well can get quite expensive, and it really depends on how much cabinetry you have. If you've got plumbing in there, like have you added an extra sink? All those bits and pieces that. Add, the cost adds up. So it really depends on what your budget is and what's more important to you.

You know, some clients we have absolutely love cooking and the kitchen's super important to them, and they wanna entertain and have people over and be able to hide all of that. In the scullery and other clients we've had focus on a bigger kitchen, bigger space, bigger bench, bigger island bench and more functional area, and not having the scullery in the walk-in pantry.

But that really comes down to what your budget is, what your block size is, and what your design is like. So especially with designs at the moment and budgets and blocks being smaller, it's super important to maximize. Functionality of what you've got to work with. So, and that comes down to, you know, those walk-in areas.

Are they actually giving you more storage and more cupboard space, or is it just taking up square meter each? Then you've got, you know, your bedrooms. Think about your size bedrooms, what kind of beds are you gonna have in there? What size windows do you want? Do you want your windows to go all the way to the floor in your bedrooms?

Do you want sliding doors in between your bathroom and your en suite? Do you want it open? Do you wanna walk through your. Master to your wardrobe, to your en suite, or do you want the walkway to your en suite and your walkin rob separate? You know, that's something also to think about. How do you want your bathroom layout to look?

Do you want your toilet enclosed or opened? What kind of storage do you want in your master? It's the same thing with walk-in robes. You know, what kind of storage do you want in your wardrobe? Do you want sliding door storage? Do you want. A big, big, big walkin robe en suite. That's kind of that lux feel.

Um, put all your clothes, your shoes, makeup, no makeup, recess, and create that little lack. En suite, open master retreat vibe. We've had clients do things like that before. Study. Nook in the hallway is another good little one. Also storage in the hallway too, you know. Where do you want your storage? Do you want extra storage in the garage?

Do you want your storage or your linen cupboard close to your laundry? Or do you want it in your hallway? And that will also depend on bits and pieces of how everything fits together with the other bits of your layout. If you have a theater or a study, do you want, you know, having the theater away from the living area so you don't hear if you've got two TVs on.

Or if you don't mind, then that's okay. And you know, your, the theater, or let's say if you've got a three bedroom and a theater slash a fourth bedroom, that fourth bedroom can be multipurpose. You know, it can be a theater, it can be a study, it can be a bedroom. And when you're designing your home, you wanna design for.

Future growth too. So you want to be able to have a multifunctional space that can grow with you, your partner, your family, like if you're having kids down the line and things like that. Having that room that is multifunctional. Multipurpose. Are you big entertainer? Do you like having your friends over watching the footy?

Do you want a S servery window? A big alfresco? How do you want your backyard to look and feel? Do you want your kitchen connected to your alfresco? All those, all those things that you wanna think about, how do you live, what do you like, and breaking it down on what your non-negotiables are and what you are willing to compromise on.

That's super important to get clear on. Because that will help you through the design process. What do you like? What do you hate? What are your non-negotiables? What's your budget and what's your block size? And then being able to pull that all together and bring it to life step by step, you know? Well, it's super important to focus on the layout, as I mentioned before, because you can add in the cabinetry or upgrade the tiles and do all those bits and pieces at Pre-start or.

Remove the paving and add, add, aggregate, concrete down later, all those types of things that aren't structural you can do later. But if you've got a, and we all have a budget, doesn't matter if the budget's 600. 800 or a million, we've, our dreams and reality are always a little bit far apart and we've gotta merge them together.

So being able to be like, okay, what's really important to me when I wanna work out what my custom design and my floor plan looks like to suit me. Spending my money on the structure. And this will also come into play in your overall budget on where do you wanna live? Is the home design more important to you or is the location, you know, we have some clients that go.

A smaller block, better location, smaller design. And we have some clients that might move 20 minutes further down the road and they go for a bigger block that's cheaper and they can spend more on a bigger house and a bigger design. So that comes into play at the start too. And knowing your overall.

Budget and then working backwards. Okay, this is how much I wanna spend on my block because location's important to me and I'm happy to compromise on the design, which means I'm gonna get a three by two, or I want to go 25 minutes further south because the blocks are cheaper and I'm gonna get a bigger block, and that means I can spend more on the house design.

Super important to get really clear on those things. And then that gives you a bit of a guide on, okay, what can I do and how can I establish what I want in my floor plan and my custom design so that you get really clear to communicate with your broker or your sales rep or your builder on what you want.

'cause being clear or like knowing those things and having a little bit of a guide will give you a better start on being able to be like, okay, cool. If you can tell someone all of that, they should be, you know. Be able to pull all those things together and then work on a custom design for you, make changes to a base plan and pull it all together.

We will ask our clients these questions and then we go away and we're like, okay, cool. Let's pull this here, move the master here, change this, maybe suggest this, move that, or we've gotta think about the budget here. Let's get this costed, move that do this, and then we kind of. Work on all of that. Do the hard stuff, bring it all together, get it updated with drafting, get a cost for it, and then go over it with the clients.

We make changes and we go back and forth, and that's kind of how it works. Until you're happy with the sketch, the quote, and the spec and the builder, and then you kind of take it step by step from there. That pretty much wraps us up for today's episode. If you want more tips and tricks and questions and things like that, I've created a building unfiltered, which is our weekly.

Email newsletter. Um, each week we'll be dropping tips in there. So if you want more helpful tips, join our email marketing. I'll pop the link in the, in the show notes below, and if you have any questions that you'd like, um, answered on there, please let us know. We'd be more than happy to answer those questions for you in our next lot of emails, which will be.

Uh, weekly on every Thursday. Thank you so much for tuning in to the home building like a Boss podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learn something new. Remember, you've got this and I've got your back. Until next time, stay inspired, stay informed, and stay confident on your building journey. I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode.

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