so to fix the roof I have to change the floor plan right?

Maybe. Maybe just the roof could change.

Without seeing your plans, no one can advise.

I don't have them yet they are drafting it.. but was trying to get most of the changes done so they didn't have to redo them. Would dormers help?

Using a lower pitched roof plane over the porch is common and helps reduce the main ridge height.

wow thank you!!! when I get the renderings I will send them to you if you want to look at them.

Who/what designed your house to this point?

Is this a tract house or a custom designed house and who is designing it?

And yes, while it seems harsh we want you to have the best house possible. When I first posted my house, it got some harsh criticism too but because of that, I now have a fabulous house that is light, bright and flows beautifully.

We used a floorplan the construction company had as the starting point. The floor plan was of a home we walked through and loved. We have changed it to fit our needs and added some extra touches.

custom

What do you love about the floor plan and why are you willing to live in a home with a huge roof like that?

Also if you're building a custom home, shouldn't you have a custom house that completely suits your needs and not one where you move a few tetris boxes around trying to make it work?

And if you're paying custom prices for a custom home, do you really want your house looking similar to all the other houses?

I love the floor plan. I don't see why I would re-invent the wheel? They build quality homes.. and most custom homes end up looking like others anyway..like when I say farm house immediately its white painted brick, and black roof etc.. I don't understand why I would put myself through the stress of starting at square one? I can move it how I want? I am sure the roof can be changed if needed. I am getting ideas on what I need to change. mine will not be identical. We have added an entry way, moved some rooms, added windows etc.. we wont have the same brick we won't have the awnings. I guess I don't see it as the same house.. the two pictures i posted are from two different houses. The exterior will look like one picture the inside will look the other.
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Hi - this photo is extremely difficult to see since it cannot be enlarged. First major problem is the crazy color placement. I see 3 trim color and there should only be one. Gray, wood color, and white. The person choosing the colors and placement must surely be rabid. The stone at the base of the window makes no architectural sense. This house seems like it could be pretty good with some changes - mostly the color. Again if I had a larger image I could probably say more.

yes sorry about the image. I am waiting for final drafts

Yeah stone placement on both houses is whacked. It shouldn’t be on just a front facing side or on on section or halfway up a wall. It should look functional, not like a random siding choice. Also,

-try to do better with the roof, it will really be worth it

-no decorative thingies in the peaks

-no shutters

-the entry on the first one looks like a little guard house. Avoid that.

"I am waiting for final drafts"

Tell them to hurry up! We need something to talk about with substance. Let them know if if they find their ears are burning after they release the final drafts, it may be for good reason.

got a better picture today. no plans yet

I really like that!!

Larger image

If this is your custom home how can it already exist elsewhere? A custom home is yours alone, built for your site.

"We used a floorplan the construction company had as the starting point. The floor plan was of a home we walked through and loved. We have changed it to fit our needs and added some extra touches."

A S., it is not custom. It is a builder/developer home "modified".

Hmm I saw custom several times written. Oops.

OP if you are going for this home and floor plan just go to the house and see what you like and don’t like and adjust. I agree the roof is overwhelming.

I am.. up in one of the comments I said we used the floor plan and manipulating it quite a bit. I was asking about accents on the exterior but it has gotten thrown off topic because the roof. I guess I am unfamiliar with what to call the home.. I have worked with a tract home builder and they did not let me adjust the floor plan in terms of removing walls, adding closets.. so I guess I am using a custom builder but not building a truly custom home since I did not start from a blank slate but I couldn't get a production builder to do such modifications. My home will be different but it will look similar outside. We have added an entry way, a four car garage, removed a playroom, relocated a study, added a closet, added counter top area along a wall that once had a study coming off of it, and added windows, etc. So I don't know the correct terminology for what is being built. But those changes have no totally distorted the outside so this house does give me a good idea of where I am at and many changes were on the back side of the home. sorry for the confusion.i was wondering about lintels? do they rot? looking at cedar? I was looking at that type of information but it is roof heavy and I really didn't notice until everyone chimed in. I like PPF's suggestions and it really highlights the entryway which I did feel was lacking.

I would see if you can get access to whoever the builder used to draw up the plans and for a few get them to change in and out what you want to make it yours. If not, and you really must use the floor plan as is, then hire someone to modify it to be yours and they will show you drawings of how it will look etc.

I think they are the creator? I am not 100% sure that is true now that I think about it.. they have all the measurements and are manipulating it for us

I’m curious as to why so many new builds follow this rough theme lately? I see them a lot on Houzz but not in New England where 2 stories is still the norm for family homes. They are obviously becoming popular for a reason. Age-in-place? I think a lot of compromises are made to get the square footage into one story. One thing I would have hated during child rearing years is the babies having to truck across the house and navigate a minefield of furnishings to materialize by my bed in the middle of the night. I get wanting a little distance from the kids but not a whole house.

The four car garage is going to add a LOT of roof. I’m not a fan of 3 car garages so this seems quite out of proportion to me.

Child walking across the house vs down the stairs, for me is an easy choice. I personally hate stairs/two story homes, cannot answer for the rest.

No to the cedar lintels - looks good for a few years and requires a lot of maintenance and then hard to repair in the brick. If you're using brick use brick accents instead.

I guess I don't see it as the same house.. the two pictures i posted are from two different houses. The exterior will look like one picture the inside will look the other

The two houses scream to me that they're from the same builder.

The roof with all the different roof pitches doesn't work. Plus the fact that the house gets lost because all one sees is roof.

The porch gable has no relationship to the house because of the pitch to the rest of the house and the craftsman detail doesn't work.

The two narrow columns ending in the brick look out of place. They belong on a craftsman house. This is not a craftsman house.

What's with the strange window in the left corner?

How much land do you have? I would try and separate the four car garage from the house or else it's going to look like you attached a house to a garage.

cpartist - that is so true. I see that way too much.

cpartist....that “strange window in the left corner” looks like paint samples.

guys.. we are going back to the drawing board I hope.. my husband is so pissed lol.. but the changes we did to accommodate his 4 car garage came out awful.... we are on a culdesac and so we are limited with the length/width however you look at it do to the pie shape. They wont release the specs til we sign the contract so I don't even have a copy of those. we are not proceeding with this so please dont try to make adjustments it's just time to start over.

that blank brick part is the water closet which is butted up against pantry wall... we moved from the garage to make the 4 car garage stick out less...

Keep trying til you find a plan that works. 4 car garage sounds sweet to me!

trying to get a tandem garage to fit so it won't be so awkward looking. I personally could do without a 4th garage as there is just 3 of us

It is very tempting to start a building process from choosing the external colors and materials, for non-pros like you and me. What I've learned since lurking on these forums, is that the layout of the house is PARAMOUNT, to convenient flow of the house, to privacy where it's wanted and needed, to circulation and airflow and light, to location of kitchen proximately to garage, to bedrooms having windows on 2 sides and closets having none, and especially, to orient the house toward the best views and light from the sun. And to waste no square footage inside. Because sometimes even large spaces are unfortunately laid out.

So, start with some thoughts not about colors/materials, but about what SHAPE of the home the empty lot calls for. Usually, according to these experienced folks, the house should not be a box, when you have the room for it, but more like an L, or U, or I, or H. A house that's built like this, won't have a big giant roof which will start to remind you of a toddler wearing Grandpa's hat pulled down over his shoulders. A massive roofed house typically means the house is too "fat" and has too much interior space, especially where you could've arranged things SO much better.

You're a beginner, so if I were you, I'd start reading a bunch of threads within the Building a Home forum, so you can start to appreciate the knowledge that you don't even know yet what questions to ask of your builder. You can start with CPartist's thread, and then find some of the really long ones. Those are the best, because those are folks who kept an open mind, and listened to the pros here, and came out so much the better for it. This is what I'd do for the near future.

"They wont release the specs til we sign the contract so I don't even have a copy of those."

Well now. For the multiple 100K's your going to spend they won't show and tell you exactly what you're getting? Time to move on in my honest opinion. So at the end of the day I guess that is what I would change.

they wont give us a copy to walk out with (avoid going to another contractor to build)

Could a pro explain why all the roof? There are a lot of beautiful one-story homes (I didn't mean to dis the idea altogether, I have just seen a lot of posters twisting themselves in knots to fit it all in on one floor when sometimes ya gotta go up) out there.

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cpartist....that “strange window in the left corner” looks like paint samples.

LOL. I think you're correct! Too funny.

rying to get a tandem garage to fit so it won't be so awkward looking. I personally could do without a 4th garage as there is just 3 of us

Someone on here did a 4 car garage where it was separated. Two behind the house and 2 attached and you didn't see any of them. That house was stunning looking. I'm wondering if it was ever finished.

Since you are starting over, you might want to contact architectrunnerguy who is an architect on these forums who works remotely too. Then after you have a plan you like you can take it to the draftsman to have it drawn up to match his plans.

To get a light filled house which does not have a "fat" roof, think in terms of creating a house that is either U, H, T, I or L shaped. (Mine is U shaped and every room gets light from windows on 2 or even 3 walls.)

used the houzz app professional finder feature spoke to a local architect who said a 2400 sq ft home is not big enough to really get use out of a truly custom build. he was very nice and was just basically like save your money and use online floor plans is its 6% per sq ft ($18k for a truly custom plan) he encouraged me to really know my lot as far as sit back lines, utility easements, permeable/non-permeable surface area. so I guess I am not going to be using an architect or a fully custom.

Please talk to another architect. That is awful advice you received.

Omg what??? I paid 10k in a pricey area for a fully custom design, a total re-work around some existing house (we added a second floor, lol). He is full of it, and the smaller the space, the more important an architect becomes, IMO. They can make it feel twice as big as a badly designed behemoth of a house.

You talked to one derierre aperture and you're throwing in the towel? Talk to architectrunnerguy who works remotely and has done some amazing homes here on houzz.

Or look for a single practitioner, not a large firm.

how do I contact him? I don't see an option to message.

And I think you need to turn messaging on for your account.

On the link I gave you is a button called message (see screen shot with where I circled the message button in red). Click on that

And again, HERE is the link to the page.

Yes you might need to have messaging on for your account.

Cool interior doors are missing in that beautiful interior!