Rate My Floorplan - Parkwood Development 3x2

Vines are notoriously fickle, require maintenance, and often don't excel in the role they are supposed to perform (shading). That being said I think they are a great tool, as are deciduous trees, to be used in passive solar landscaping, but I'm not sure I would entrust them to be the main source of shading for my main living area and alfresco. Maybe that's just because I am terrible at keeping plants alive; but then my tenants don't have a very good track record either!

Retractable shade is a possibility, though I haven't looked into it. Though I can only imagine it won't be used correctly to actually optimise passive-solar performance. I am trying to make the energy efficiency of the dwelling on 'auto-pilot' as much as possible. I am happy to wear the cost of someone coming onsite for 1 hour twice a year if I think it produces a significantly better outcome for the tenants (and the environment), though I take your point about tenants potentially not liking it either. Very keen to hear others' thoughts on this.

 

This is an interesting one. Personally, I couldn't agree with you more - to me a separate bath and shower is a complete waste of space, especially in a compact home. I have spoken with a half dozen prominent REAs though and the consensus was that a bath was essential and it should almost certainly be separate from the shower. There was almost nothing they agreed on more, apart from that 'everyone wants a gas cooktop' (I was trying to avoid connecting the dwelling to gas)! My target demographic with this project is young families (or single parents as you mention) and possibly downsizers. The former of these place a high value on having a bath, and the latter need easy access to a shower (not having to step in and out of a bath tub).

 

Love the pic, and yes this also occurred to me as an option thought I don't know how there cost compares. The disadvantage is you aren't protected from the rain - though a shade sale that is removed during winter also suffers from this. I might look into this a bit further.

 

Have you thought about a smart system with a retractable shade that automatically adjusts to conditions? Just a thought. Could be cheaper than labour twice a year.

 

I'll admit my first response was to write this off as too expensive; but perhaps I should actually check what the cost are. Do you have any experience using them yourself @significance ? My inclination is typically to keep things as 'low-tech' as possible with rentals (reduced maintenance and ability for things to go wrong).

 

Sorry, no: I don’t have relevant personal experience.

 

I feel that the shade sail will be unpopular with tenants simply because most people will have an outdoor table/chairs and this will be out in the elements when the shade sail is taken down.

I get what you are trying to achieve though so my thoughts are:
1. have a roofed outdoor living area where the kitchen is and move the dining north so you can still have full length windows and put kitchen in the middle perhaps? It's a squeezy idea though and negates the benefits of having dining/living combined
2. Put the kitchen where the living is then living/dining to the north and alfresco in North/west location
3. use a vergola which has rain sensors and will close for rain and at an angle for winter sun penetration. Might not be budget friendly
4. Have a skillion roof at the rear with clerestory window above a flat roof pergola (or skillion pergola) so additional light can penetrate.
5. Have the solid roofed area alfresco to the north of the kitchen and no roof outside the dining area. It does reduce the north penetration to the kitchen area but as the window is not full length it not as bad as closing off the big dining room sliders. The area still has interaction via the kitchen and will relate to the bar area.

 

Other ideas

1. retractable/sliding canvas awning built into pergola


2. laser cut sheets as roofing that still allow light through but give shade (not weather proof though)

 

Love the retractable canvas - probably the perfect solution (if the tenant uses it correctly). I will add this to my ‘ideas to price/explore’.

The manager of my property management agency also thinks shade sails will be a put-off for tenants (or more so that tenants like a proper alfresco). Hmmmm.

 

Bunnings have a diy 3m x 3m louvred gazebo which looks like would fit nicely into your alfresco