Give a designer thirty seconds with a standard volume builder floor plan and they will mark up the same ten things every time. None of them are exotic. Most of them cost nothing if you change them before contract and are impossible after. This is the list, in the order they usually spot them.
A designer reads a plan by walking through it in their head from the front door: where do the keys go, where does the pram go, can you see the telly from the kitchen, where does the washing dry. The plan that fails that walk is the one that looked great on the brochure.
A lot of volume plans put the garage forward and the front door beside it, so the first thing you see from the street is a garage door and the first thing you see inside is the laundry. The designer's fix is small: pull the garage back even 600mm behind the front wall, or push the porch forward, so the entry reads as the entry. On a narrow block that is not always possible, in which case the front door and porch need to work harder with a wider door, a deeper porch and a window beside it.
Inside, look at what the front door opens onto. A blank wall with a hallway is the default. A view through to the living area or the backyard is what makes a house feel bigger than it is. If the plan has a long hall with bedrooms both sides, ask whether one bedroom can flip to open the view.
Designers count hallway as lost square metres. Volume plans often carry 8 to 12 square metres of pure corridor because it is the easiest way to connect rooms. Two changes claw it back: widen it to 1200 or more so it doubles as a gallery and storage wall, or shorten it by rearranging the bedroom wing so doors come off a small lobby instead of a long run.
Where a hallway must be long, a window or glass door at the end changes it from a tunnel to a room. Look at what the hallway ends on. If it is a linen door, ask for a window.
How many square metres of this plan are hallway, and can we shorten or widen it?
Most volume plans are drawn once and then mirrored to suit the block. That means the living area faces wherever the block happens to put it. A designer will check north first, then move the living and alfresco to the north or north-east side, put the garage and laundry on the south or west, and give bedrooms east for morning sun. On a block that runs east west that can mean flipping the whole plan. On a north south block it might mean swapping the alfresco with the main bedroom.
The size of the glass matters as much as the direction. A wall of glass facing west needs external shading or it overheats every summer afternoon. A north facing window can be shaded by a 600 to 900 eave in summer and still let winter sun through, which is why designers like a deep eave on the north.
Has this plan been oriented to my block, or mirrored to fit the driveway?
The old working triangle still holds: sink, cooktop and fridge close enough that you are not walking, far enough that two people can work. A designer will look at three things. Is the fridge at the end of the run so the door opens without hitting the island? Is the dishwasher beside the sink, not across the room? Is the walkway between bench and island at least 1000mm, and 1200 if two people cook?
Then the pantry. A walk in pantry drawn at 1200 x 1200 is a cupboard with a door you have to step into. 1500 x 1800 or a butler's pantry with a bench actually works. And the bench overhang for stools: 300mm is the minimum for knees, 350 is comfortable, and a lot of plans draw 200.
Robes get squeezed because they make bedrooms look bigger on the plan. A designer checks the clear internal depth. Under 600 and a hanger sits at an angle and the door catches on the shoulders of every coat. Sliding robe doors also need the track, so the overall robe on the plan needs to be 650 to 700 to leave 600 inside.
Linen cupboards are the other one. A 450 deep linen press holds folded towels. Anything shallower is a bookshelf. And a house needs more than one storage cupboard. Look for a broom cupboard near the laundry and a cupboard near the entry for coats and the vacuum. If they are not on the plan, they do not exist.
What is the clear internal depth of every robe and linen cupboard on this plan?
A designer checks bathrooms with furniture drawn in. A standard bath is 1500 to 1700 long and needs the room to be that wide plus wall lining. A shower at 900 x 900 is the legal minimum and feels like a phone box; 1000 x 1000 or 900 x 1200 is comfortable. The toilet needs about 800 to 900 of width to itself and 600 in front of the pan before you hit anything.
The other thing they look at is the door. Bathroom doors that swing in and hit the vanity, or open straight onto the toilet from the living room, are both common. A cavity slider or an outward swing fixes it, if the wall beside the door has no plumbing in it, which is why you check this before frame.
Volume laundries are often 1800 x 1800 with a trough, a machine space and a door to the outside. Add a dryer, a basket and a person and it is full. A designer looks for bench space over the machines, a hanging rail, a broom cupboard and a way to get to the clothesline without going through the kitchen. In wet climates, and Melbourne counts, a laundry that can dry a load indoors on a rail is worth more than a bigger alfresco.
The alfresco on many plans is 3000 deep. Put a table with chairs pulled out and you are against the post. A designer will push it to 3600 or 4000 deep, and check it is off the living area rather than off a bedroom or the laundry. They will also check the step down. A slab alfresco at floor level with the yard 300 below is a trip hazard and a place where water gets in. Either a proper step or a deck.
Designers look for load bearing walls in the middle of open plan areas because they decide what can change. In a single storey truss roof house, most internal walls carry nothing, which is why you can often open the kitchen up. In a double storey house, the walls under the upper floor carry it, and the big open kitchen and living on the ground floor is being held up by a steel beam you will never see. Ask where the beams are, because a steel beam sitting in a bulkhead across the living room ceiling is the kind of thing that only appears at frame stage.
Which internal walls on this plan are load bearing, and where are the steel beams?
Flip the plan to suit north. Widen the hallway 200. Swap two 720 doors for 870s. Deepen the robes 100. Add a window at the end of the hall. Push the alfresco out 600. Move three power points. Change a swing door to a cavity slider where the wall allows. Each of these is a small variation before the drawings are finalised and a demolition job after handover. The time to do them is before you sign, with a designer or a friend who builds looking over your shoulder.
The pages on BuildPilot this guide leans on.
Usually, yes. An hour or two of a building designer's time before contract can fix orientation, storage, door widths and hallway waste while they are still free to change. After the drawings are locked most of those become variations or impossible.
Most volume builders allow changes before contract, some at no cost and some as priced variations. Moving wet areas and external walls costs more than moving internal walls, doors and windows. Ask which changes are free on the plan you like.
600mm clear inside so hangers sit straight. With sliding doors the overall robe needs about 650 to 700mm to leave 600 clear. Anything under 500 is shelving, not hanging.
Living areas and outdoor space to the north or north-east for winter sun and easy summer shading, bedrooms east, garage and laundry to the south or west. Keep west facing glass small or shade it outside the window.
About 3600 to 4000mm if you want a table with chairs pulled out and room to walk past. 3000mm is the common volume depth and it is a roofed walkway once furniture goes in.
Sizes quoted are typical for Australian residential work and are given to help you read drawings and ask better questions. They are not a specification. Your engineer, designer, builder and the National Construction Code decide what applies to your house.
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