1 or 2 Bedroom Granny Flat ???

I am designing the layout for a 60 sq/m attached granny flat.

I have done it with 2 Bedrooms, but am wondering from a letting point of view am I better off with one making all other areas more spacious?

 

Ask a few local agents - property managers would be able to advise if there are many, competition, size, return, vacancy etc.

 

True but with clever design you can get away with maximising the space - open plan, on hallways, Euro laundry or incorporated into kitchen or bathroom, well positioned rear/secondary door, raked ceiling with highlight windows making the space airy. Parking space/carport which is not under the same roof (unless these aren't counted in floorspace).

There see plenty of older poorly designed 60m² 2 bedroom units around and these are still in demand 60 years later.

 

out of curiosity
can garages be built as well with internal access or is that a no?

 

We do lots of granny flats, and while 2 bedrooms are certainly possible, they require compromises . You will have to accept smaller bedrooms, smaller bathroom/laundry, smaller kitchen/living and less storage. If you want a good sized bedroom with walk in robe. If you want a good sizes bathroom/laundry, and if you want a good sizes living/kitchen area.... my advice would be to stick to 1 bedroom

And if you want a garage or carport , you will need to go to council. It wont be able to be done as a complying development


Some examples

 

I have a 2 bed granny flat which is 70 sqm, the laundry is in the bathrooom and it works really well, but one bedroom may well be better in 60 sqm. I hated some of the builder designs, especially the laundry designs.

 

If we are talking 70M2 I agree 2 beds can work nicely. But at 60, as you said.... 1 bed unless you want to be quite cramped. It’s not that 2 beds don’t work in 60, it’s just going to be pokey/ boxy.

 

I've done quite a few 60sqm 2 bedroom granny flats.
The Bedroom sizes are:
Bed 1: 3100mm x 3600mm (usable space after wardrobe is put in)
Bed 2: 3000mm x 2900mm (usable space after wardrobe is put in)
Living/Dining: 3900mm x 6000mm
Kitchen: 2600mm x 2400mm
Bathroom: 2100mm x 2000mm

Hallways deadspace is minimised to approx 3sqm

Narrow designs kill the optimisation of a Granny Flat layout.

3900mm depth living room provides a decent distance between couch and TV, while also providing space for a coffee table while still allowing a walk way to access the back yard.

 

With regards to GF and Complying development, you only need the living area to be 60m2 measured from the outside of the walls, you can have a garage under the same roofline and still be complying.

 

This is an idea that allows good space, may add significantly to build costs though.

 

Friends of ours did this and once final Occ Cert was issued the garage soon became brm 3.
For an investor 2brms are pretty much a given, providing the most bang for buck on rental yield.

 

Have seen some of 3 bed design, an oversized single garage (4x7m) could be a nice living/dining room

at 70m2 I've done a 3 bedroom house which I still believe is not bad
Open living/kitchen 3.7mx10m on one side and 2 beds @2.5x3 (yes small but enough for a single bed for kids) and a 3.2x3 master and a 1.8x2 bathroom

Removing one of the bedrooms and bathroom into 1.5x2 (no bathtub) could possibly come close to 60m2

 

Good advice, made the call this afternoon to the top agent in our area. She was very helpful and said to stick with my two bed design, said she just let one out in the next suburb.

 

Just an fyi, as someone who did a pair of 2x2 granny flats behind a duplex pair ( 70sqm, completely detached and separate), if I was looking at a similar situation tomorrow, my preference would actually be to do a basic 1x1 GF design and spec to maximise rental yield.

But I suppose it does depend on the site and layout of the existing dwelling.

Btw, I'd also almost never consider an attached GF btw -any reason it has to be attached?

 

Is there a way to assess market demand for 1 bedroom vs 2? Also, what do they want the 2nd bedroom for? Perhaps it can be quite small depending on what the purpose is.

 

@Trimadmen I got mine done with 2 bedrooms on 60sqm in western sydney and it does look spacious enough.
Let me know if you want to see plans

 

Calls to agents is my guess, and maybe search domain/RE.com to see how many of each are for rent and what the price difference is?

 

We went with a two Bedroom . The question was we did we go for a three .. Wouldn't have considered a one bedder .

Cliff