SOME HELPFUL HINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING YOUR OWN KIT HOME

Your Own Design is not a problem

Every block of land, every individual or family group have their own unique requirements. One of the advantages of buying an Illawarra Steel Frame Kit Home is how easy it is working together with your ideas to fulfil these requirements.

You can use one of our standard plans as a starting point or bring in your own ideas. Here are some helpful hints to start the process.

Imagination – use plenty of this allowing that some restrictions may apply due to budget.

Consider your views and the Northerly aspect. Remember you can always mirror image your plan - front to back or side to side.

Block width – Most councils have minimum requirements from side fences. Allowing the setback to include eave overhangs you should really have approximately 1.2m from external walls to each side. This is 2.4m you need to take off your block width before starting.

What do you want in your home – how many bedrooms, formal lounge and dining, open plan kitchen, dining and family, or separate? Do you need en-suite and walk-in-robes to the master bedroom? Would you prefer the master bedroom with a bit of distance from other bedrooms? Or perhaps a parent’s retreat which offers complete privacy where you can enjoy your own music or television program.

Garage – is this a must and if so, where can you put it? Not all our designs have a garage but will add a garage easily. Remember if you have a block with a slope the garage can often be built underneath. If you have the room perhaps you prefer a separate garage which can be priced.

Double Storey, Tri-level and Split-level – often your block may determine this as a better option. Unfortunately we don’t have any layouts for double-storey or tri-level but have supplied many to owner’s own design. Many designs will lend themselves to the idea of splitting front to back or side to side.

There is no restriction on ceiling height - 2.4m is standard but 2.7m is often used. If you need a non-standard height to suit a particular brick or block-work this is not a problem. Wall frame width is 90mm.

Windows – you have many options when considering what type of windows you want. All our windows are quoted as Aluminium but Cedar is option is you prefer. Note that Cedar is significantly dearer than aluminium. There are different styles – sliding (cheapest), double hung, awning and casement (dearest). Lourved windows are always an option. Plans are quoted with standard sliding glass doors but Stacker doors, Bi-folds and French Doors are available. There are many options on the type of glass such as tinted, Low E and double glazed which are used to reduce noise, glare or insulation qualities. When working out sizes you will see that they are written as 2018. The first two numbers represent the height and the second two numbers represent the width. So a 2018 window is 2.0m high x 1.8m wide.

What look or style are you trying to achieve - Whether it be Country, Cottage, Australian, Queenslander, Federation, Contemporary or Coastal almost any floor plan can be built to achieve the look you want. The look is determined by the choice of exterior cladding, roof lines (hipped, gabled or skillion), window shapes and verandah style. Exterior cladding is usually Hardies Newport cladding but Hardies also have a large range of alternative products or also very popular is the use of Colorbond corrugated wall cladding.

Draw some concept plans and get us to price them. A Sketch is all we need for starters. Use the measurements off our concept plans as a guide. Most of our plans including the furniture shown are to scale. 1cm equals 1 metre. If you have access to a photocopier make some copies and start cutting and pasting. You will see that in some cases we have used the same plan but added a room, made family areas bigger, add a garage, decks or more verandah (eg. Werri 2 and 3, Bowral and Bowral with Garage, Shellharbour 3, 4 and 5, Berrima 4 and 5. Another good idea is to take a tape when you visit family, friends or show homes and take notes of what you consider a good room size.

Please don’t hesitate to ask for help. Good luck. Look forward to hearing from you.

Johanne

Illawarra Steel Frame Home

Email. jo@isfhomes.com.au