This is weird. Maybe they have a good reason for their choices and maybe they will love it and live there forever and ever, but I think that it is very common that people spend all their time looking at floor plans but don't pay attention to site situation. These people may have just been happy to get this good lot facing the woods and never thought again about making sure that they specifically had the views that they want.
I've never built, but it seems like there are a million decisions to make that you might not even think about until it's too late. If these people, hypothetically did pick a bad layout because they weren't thinking about views I wouldn't think they are idiots at all. It's just an overwhelming process.
You mean not everyone makes their builder stake out all levels on the lot so they could check all if the views before finalizing like I do because I'm such a control freak? LOL
I agree it's very overwhelming and a full-time job. There's so much to think about and it's very easy to overlook things. Their builder also could have forced them into those things (but hopefully then they negotiated a lot more off the price).
Judge away IMO. It's not about a person, it's a critique of a house. So what? Like critiquing art/photography/whatever. It's not like you're calling their baby ugly. Sure, it stung when I sat through the critiques in my photography class and heard about how I had too much of a green tint in one of my favorite photos, which made it sort of sickly looking, or how I had blown out too much of one of the photos and should have done it X way, but most of the time, they were right and my shots were better when I reshot with the critique in mind. There are some ugly/poorly planned houses out there, and I think it's interesting to talk about WHY it's bad or good; it gives me lots to think about when thinking about my own plans. I think giving possible explanations of weird choices or saying "you're crazy, that's not weird" is great. Saying we shouldn't express an opinion that something is weird is a smidge too sensitive for me. This all goes double because we don't even know where the heck this house is or who the owners are. It's purely a layout critique. And besides, my favorite saying: "If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
I couldn't decide where I was sitting that previous "everyone's being mean" post, and wasn't really swayed by SBP at the time, but I think I'm sitting in her corner now.
So they basically have a windowless wall facing the only nature around? This is why I'm so glad we decided to hire an architect when we remodeled. There were several site-specific things that I never would have figured out/considered if we hadn't had someone here keeping an eye on that stuff. And we were doing to relatively simple stuff. Did they just have a group of plans to pick from in your neighborhood so that architects weren't involved with each site?
Judge away IMO. It's not about a person, it's a critique of a house. So what? Like critiquing art/photography/whatever. It's not like you're calling their baby ugly. Sure, it stung when I sat through the critiques in my photography class and heard about how I had too much of a green tint in one of my favorite photos, which made it sort of sickly looking, or how I had blown out too much of one of the photos and should have done it X way, but most of the time, they were right and my shots were better when I reshot with the critique in mind. There are some ugly/poorly planned houses out there, and I think it's interesting to talk about WHY it's bad or good; it gives me lots to think about when thinking about my own plans. I think giving possible explanations of weird choices or saying "you're crazy, that's not weird" is great. Saying we shouldn't express an opinion that something is weird is a smidge too sensitive for me. This all goes double because we don't even know where the heck this house is or who the owners are. It's purely a layout critique. And besides, my favorite saying: "If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
I couldn't decide where I was sitting that previous "everyone's being mean" post, and wasn't really swayed by SBP at the time, but I think I'm sitting in her corner now.
So they basically have a windowless wall facing the only nature around? This is why I'm so glad we decided to hire an architect when we remodeled. There were several site-specific things that I never would have figured out/considered if we hadn't had someone here keeping an eye on that stuff. And we were doing to relatively simple stuff. Did they just have a group of plans to pick from in your neighborhood so that architects weren't involved with each site?
Thanks for the defense.
We almost used this builder, that's how I am pretty familar with their process. We went pretty far with them, and when it came time to finalize the lot, the lot we wanted turned out to not be theirs but rather owned by someone else but didn't have any singage on it. So we ended up buying the lot we wanted ourselves and using our own builder. The house that is being built is the same floor plan we were going to build with the main builder in the neighborhood. We also stayed in communication with them a bit because we wanted to make sure the price of our home would be roughly the same as a house with this builder so we weren't pricing ourselves out of the neighborhood.
The builder lets you do some things, like add windows, pick the location of the bathroom in the basement, and these people have also changed the location of all the basement windows. They also let you pick if you want a right or left hand plan (which dictates then what side your master and kitchen windows would face). They aren't a custom builder or anything, but I have two good friends building in this neighborhood (one completed construction, one about to break ground) and the fairly reasonable about making changes when you have good arguements for doing so.
Maybe they are using a stock plan? I would only roll my eyes if it's a totally custom house. The only way to maximize all lot features is to have a total custom plan. In a few cases, you can maximize some features by going semi-custom but it's tough to find an existing plan that you can tweak/customize that both meets your interior layout goals plus maximize the lot features.
The best way to take advantage of all the features and meet your layout needs is to start from scratch with an architect. And it's not cheap. Maybe they don't want to spend $20k-$60k more?
I absolutely agree that lot should be considered with housing design. I also agree that there are people out there who don't think of those things or don't have them as a priority. It's no different than the side-eyes I get from some people when I say things like "I'm painting the closets upstairs this wknd" b/c they would never think to paint the inside of a closet despite being in a house for 20 years.
When my parents built their house, they actually flipped a couple things on the first floor to maximize the waterfront views. But they had a builder who understood the importance of a view.
Judge away IMO. It's not about a person, it's a critique of a house. So what? Like critiquing art/photography/whatever. It's not like you're calling their baby ugly. Sure, it stung when I sat through the critiques in my photography class and heard about how I had too much of a green tint in one of my favorite photos, which made it sort of sickly looking, or how I had blown out too much of one of the photos and should have done it X way, but most of the time, they were right and my shots were better when I reshot with the critique in mind. There are some ugly/poorly planned houses out there, and I think it's interesting to talk about WHY it's bad or good; it gives me lots to think about when thinking about my own plans. I think giving possible explanations of weird choices or saying "you're crazy, that's not weird" is great. Saying we shouldn't express an opinion that something is weird is a smidge too sensitive for me. This all goes double because we don't even know where the heck this house is or who the owners are. It's purely a layout critique. And besides, my favorite saying: "If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
I couldn't decide where I was sitting that previous "everyone's being mean" post, and wasn't really swayed by SBP at the time, but I think I'm sitting in her corner now.
So they basically have a windowless wall facing the only nature around? This is why I'm so glad we decided to hire an architect when we remodeled. There were several site-specific things that I never would have figured out/considered if we hadn't had someone here keeping an eye on that stuff. And we were doing to relatively simple stuff. Did they just have a group of plans to pick from in your neighborhood so that architects weren't involved with each site?
Yup, I'll ditto just about all of this.
I don't care if it doesn't actually affect me...it makes me sad when people "waste" things I find beautiful. (see also: painting beautiful old wood moldings) It's just a shame. Why in the world can't we critique a house layout? And since boiler brought the topic here she's not allowed to already have an opinion? Now you're just being weird. You disagree? Ok...so state your case. Don't just whine that she's being mean by having already formed her own opinion.
as for the actual topic:
The house I grew up with was built "backwards" precisely because my parents wanted to take advantage of the views. It wasn't in a development - it was a 25 acres in the middle of nowhere and they brought their own builder, but the builder they used had a bunch of stock plans. Rather than spend the money on an architect, my dad (an engineer) took one of the stock plans and essentially modified it to take advantage of the views by flipping the main floor backwards. We ended up with 3 french doors to a wrap around porch that looked out over a valley with the horse pasture to the woods on the back of the house. The front of the house had all of three windows because the house was built into a rather steep slope and the only thing to see there was a hill. It looked a little odd from the outside as you approached the house (like...why is this house so closed off and hunched into a hill??) but the second you walked inside and saw the wide open views out the back it all made sense.
Except dad forgot to take a good look at the roof plan...it was a lofted ceiling on one side, with a guest room and office and loft living area on the other. And the operable dormers were on the lofted side where you couldn't get to them and the inoperable skylights were on the living area side. Oops.
Anyway, my point being that my parents decided that their enjoyment of the view was a higher priority than the look of the house from the driveway. Since we had no visible neighbors, this made perfect sense. Maybe the owners of this house were more concerned about something else...other than the views...that led to making the layout choices they did. I dunno. I kinda cant imagine not wanting to be able to look out my window and see something pretty. I'm crossing my fingers for the wraparound porch like you suggested boiler because otherwise...what a waste.
I'm with you boiler. Why pay the extra money for the lot if you're not going to take advantage of it?! H and I only had one true "must have" when we were looking and that was trees! We don't back the woods but our house faces it. I love the views from the back rooms that overlook the neighborhood trees, I would have been really disappointed if there were no windows in the back of the house. Hopefully there is a method to their madness!
Post by thiswillbe on Feb 19, 2013 22:51:39 GMT -5
Something a little odd like that would make me wonder if they knew something I didn't about those woods (like they aren't protected and might be developed soon?).
I've certainly had some "hmm, I wonder why they did that" moments watching the last few lots in our neighborhood be built out. Unfortunately, we're in one of those situations where the new houses being built on the last 4 lots are being sold at $100-150k under the value of the rest of the neighborhood.