Do you know What’s Wrong with this 3 Bedroom House?

Posted on: August 29th, 2011 | 3 Comments



This 3 bedroom 3 bathroom bungalow is currently being advertised for sale by a small homebuilding company in Florida. On first glance the house design may look pretty good. Dig a little bit deeper, however, and several big problems emerge.


First the good parts:


1. The house is well proportioned with almost all of the principal spaces facing out to either the back or the front yards. The one exception is the third bedroom, which is located behind the garage and, unfortunately, only looks into a side yard.


2. The two car attached garage does not dominate the front of the house. The dining room and den also face the front street.


3. All of the principal spaces are well proportioned to fit furniture and have good windows for daylight and natural ventilation.


4. The back terrace is covered. This reduces heat gain both on the terrace and inside the house, which is important in a hot climate like Florida.


5. The guest bathroom is located in a private but accessible location. It also doubles as a change room for a potential backyard swimming pool.


Despite these good things, however, we think that there are 5 major design flaws in this house that seriously affects how well it will work on a daily basis. Can you identify them? Watch the video to see our description of what’s wrong with this house.


These kinds of design problems are really annoying and they are difficult, and expensive, to fix after the house is built. Fortunately, modifying the design before construction would be relatively easy and result in no increased cost. All that is really required is a little more care and attention being paid to the quality of the design underlying the house.


Today’s Floorplan:

  • jim baer

    greetings. it has been a while. hope this finds everyone well. i survived the “big hurricane” with no problems.

    i have taken the week off, so i had time to add a little something. i always did like the red-line, mark-up thing. …. easier to criticize than to create …anyhow i took a stab at the plan before i viewed the video. let’s see what john and matthew and i agree on…

    regards

  • Matthew North

    Hi Jim – it is very nice to hear from you! The reports we are getting about the hurricane makes it seem like the big problem was inland flooding as opposed to damaging winds. Glad to know you were spared!

    Your analysis is great! Your points about the proportion of the dining room and the real usability of the “great room” are very important. The “great room” is not so great when you look at your dotted red lines and try to figure out how the heck it would be furnished.

  • Marilyn

    Hi Jim!
    The ‘entry door’ to the bathroom is pretty common in Florida as the lanai functions as an outdoor room for a good portion of the year. However in my estimation it should be a full bath as often there is a pool in the lanai and a shower is handy for cleaning up instead of tracking through the house.