Basement

Exterior

I like the open floorplan and the way the three main rooms connect together. The kitchen in the middle makes a great deal of sense. Do not skimp on the windows in your dining area so you won't have a dark kitchen.

Your footprint is super complicated, and that's going to drive your price up . . . For no reason or function. Ditto for the roof. This is what I see as the #1 problem.

I do not like the exterior. It's too fussy: windows are too mixed, no real appeal.

Your plumbing is spread out across the whole house. This too will be expensive. I'd definitely switch the master bath and the master bedroom. This would allow you to have your kitchen and bath plumbing back-to-back, and it would give you better lighting in your bedroom (right now the bedroom will be dark because its only windows are under the covered porch).

I don't see a toilet in the kids' bathroom. Perhaps that's just the slightly fuzzy picture. The kids' bathrooms have lots of space in the sink area, but not large vanities. Also, their closets, with one wall used for the door and another a blank wall, are small. With four kids, I wouldn't skimp in this area. The jack and jill will work fine, but it could be executed a bit better. The space could be used more effectively, and this might be a spot to give a bit more square footage.

I'd switch the powder room and the pantry to make the pantry a few steps closer to the kitchen.

I don't like the master bath. It doesn't flow -- it seems to be pieces stuck together rather than a whole, planned unit.

It's a pretty good plan. Couple of things I would tweak.

I would keep the family room tray ceiling IN the family room. It is creeping into the "hallway" to the secondary bedrooms. You have symmetry with the fireplace and built-ins but the tray is off center.

I would swap the powder room and pantry. Don't like the toilet so close to the kitchen.

What is at the end of the cabinet run protruding into the dining area? Seems like it might make it tight in there with 6 people eating.

I like the two closets in the master. Your bathroom is a little cramped. How about pulling the double doors back toward the closets and making it a single door?

I don't care for the exterior. Lots of roof and the front just seems "messy" to me.

All the little zigs and zags along the exterior run the price up for no discernible reason.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I really appreciate them.

1. For the windows, my wife and I really didn't like the way they look here. We prefer the larger windows instead of the tiny ones he had put. Nice to know we weren't alone.

2. I have asked about the roof and to make it "less complex", so we'll see what happens with that:)

3. The J&J bathroom on the main floor was a little difficult for use to realize in our heads. We wanted a shared bathroom, but separate sinks. We are still a little iffy on the closets because of what was stated. Any suggestions to the closets? We wanted to have a walk in feel to them, so we thought about leaving them open with no door so we could use the 3rd wall. Also, with the vanity area, what would be a more appropriate size?

4. We went back and forth with the pantry/powder room. In the end, we wanted the powder room closer to the living room. I think its just come down to a personal preference, but we'll see when the framing goes in.

5. The Master bedroom has been a contention between us, because like was stated, we would be loosing out on the light with only the windows facing the covered patio. My wife wants it, I'd rather have it feel more open. Any good suggestions on how to lay that out? If I just switch the locations, I will be running into issues from access to the bedroom. All ideas are welcome!

6. Exterior - I AGREE with every comment here. I really don't like it. We were trying to go with a stone and stucco combo, but for some reason it looks really gaudy in the image. Not really sure what to do. Any ideas.

Again, thanks everyone for their feedback. All your comments I feel really help us better understand what we need to look for and there is always an appetite for fresh eyes. We get to tunnel focused and loose sight of the overall picture. I hope to iron some of these things out here and be able to start showing progress pictures as soon as we start the building process. I am probably going to start a building blog, so I will be sure to update this post and forum for all to follow the progress.

Thanks,
Matt