additional background

Its obvious that if this design is going to compete in a marketplace in which I have to give up 700-800 s.f. to my competition, then I am only going to appeal to a limited slice of the pie. In addition, by being generic rather than specific to a site, I am giving up the opportunity for location to be the selling point. It has to reside in the logic and compelling nature of the plan.

There a few a priori assumptions. First, I am going to compete with the merchant builders by composing all 4 sides of this plan. No vinyl box with a pretty front. Second, the plan will be laid out in a way which encourages the use of the entire lot. 90% of the depressing feeling given off by the typical subdivision is the way the house sits in a sea of undesigned, and thus unused space. Third, at 400k, the marketplace will demand 4 beds, 2 1/2 baths, and two car attached garage. No reason to force that issue. Fourth, the plan will push the garage to the rear in true TND fashion for several reasons: help engage the entire lot, differentiate from the merchant builder competition, increase curb appeal. There is a cost for this in terms of impervious surface, but there are ways of solving that issue if it comes up. Fifth, the house will be close to equal between 1st floor and second floor s.f. with a significant portion of the second floor built out over the garage. Simple economy here. I'm putting a lot of extra money into the garage placement and finishes on the exterior. Don't want to add money to an inefficient conceptual layout.

The next step is to see what kind of lot 100k will buy me, so I can be sure I get enough width and depth to make a plan work.