The house appears to lack continuity. You may not be able to afford not to have an architect.

Thank you for your comment! Unfortunately we hired the best architect we could afford, so here we are. If you had any tips I would take them that’s why I posted.

Its missing a strong central concept which is why its difficult to know how to tune up the minor elements to support and reinforce the overall design.

To form a central concept it is necessary to know the location, climate, site characteristics and something about your family and their needs and wishes.

Dismissing architects as "fancy" is probably not the best way to ask for free design assistance from the design professionals on the forum.

IMO no arched windows unless you are going to arch all of them and IMO no way. Why the iron bars on some windows. IMO keep it simple like the architecr’s rendering and also honestly do you need this size of house? I really dislike huge houses for no real purpose i call them Mcmansions and IMO an eyesore in most cases.If budget is an issue then go smaller and honestly all those different sized and styled windows, the brick on the left and by the front door make no sense. I think the interior needs to drive the exterior design and honestly build simpler and have enough money to actully furnish the place . Post a floor plan if you really want help If you get snippy you will get no help.

Fancy Frank!

Our current plan from award-winning architects comprises two per cent of the budgeted construction cost, one per cent max of the projected sale price.

You show what will be an expensive house to build, maintain and pay taxes on ... but then you mention limited funds or budget restrictions. The pictures and the words don't go together!

Now, if you don't think there is a value to hiring a designer or "fancy" architect then that is a different discussion.

If the house is mostly long, but not deep, then I don't think it is a huge house as described by Patricia Colwell. At least OP isn't building a fat house!

If I were building in Napa, I'd want 100% to incorporate solar into the design. That would involve a re-think of the whole design, IMO, organized around energy needs. For starters, I'm not certain (but I'm not an engineer, builder, or architect) that you could style a roof like that if you use power-creating devices (as opposed to grid-consuming devices).

The catastrophic downing of the old-paradigm grid in TX, people without power or water for days, IMO should persuade any new home builder to incorporate energy efficiency and renewable sources into their plan.

And CA has a history of power issues! It's already a thing.

From a financial and longevity perspective, a new home with no energy efficiencies? I can't even imagine trying to get it re-sold in CA in 5 years time, let alone 10 or 20. It will be too expensive (and maybe impractical or unsightly) for a new owner to retrofit, since it won't have been purpose-built for alternative energies. Dinosaur.

IMO

Thank you all for your thoughts and thoughtful comments, especially Fancy Frank :)!. Gave me quite the giggle this morning.

I had certainly not meant to be offensive, trying (not successfully obviously!) -- to be funny while indicating that we looked at a range of architects and found quite a huge swing in cost (worth it of course, just not in our budget). The lack of theme I own, not the architect who was kind enough to do the work at a very discounted rate. I don't want to push him because I know that he did us a favor, and also because we were insistent on some items, but because we lack the knowledge, experience and education of an architect, we did likely convey our style well (or even understand it). Covid phone meetings instead of face to face did not help.

@patricia colwell consulting, the house is situated on a skinny ridge and thus the linear nature - with views in a Oak studded California landscape. We have teenager girls (one off to college, but locally so home with friends a lot), both husb. and I work from home full-time, and have elderly family. My father-in-law is suddenly a widower, and will be spending a significant amount of time with us, so the size is, yes, big, but many eaten up by hallways and our builder said that the hallways don't add as much cost as thought.

Interior is very casual, clean, modern slant. Light open spaces, black interior windows, light floors no detailing. So that's a good tip to keep the interior to match the exterior, I had thought it was the other way around.

Reading these comments, I think I will keep the exterior simple (no arches), but change the sizes of the windows (where possible) to be more cohesive. The windows I'll try to match in size and style (especially over the front doors). The house will be all stucco. I'll try to fix the fireplace in the patio. I'll re-visit budget and see if I can hire someone local to consult.

Oh yeah, and i'll try to edit and take the word 'fancy' out of post :) - clearly not hitting the target on that one!! Apologies to all architects, fancy or causal!

Thanks.

I was sad when I heard about Frank losing his fingers.

@tangerinedoor thank you! We are putting solar all across the west facing elevation - enough to power the entire house. We built a home previously (but lost it in a fire) and are surely doing solar (it is also required). My husband has some understanding of solar as he installed our last system which powered our house, hottub and pool quite efficiently. Hope we can duplicate!

The house is long and skinny, about 4200 square feet.

front door are a wall of glass; you enter into a breezeway of floor to ceiling glass that overlooks a valley of native Oaks

If those are the views to capitalize on, maybe the living areas should be prioritized for this, rather than the entrance transition space.

@3onthetree thank you! The living spaces have similar views to the west, but the southeast living room looks out on a big valley framing a large mountain (Mt. Diablo).

Have you investigated the Tesla roofing system? It's integrated and looks better than panels perched atop an asphalt roof.

Not an architect, but I think you are tinkering around the edges, when the problems run deeper. As Chispa said, that roofline is complicated, making it more expensive. And hallways are wasted space. 4200 sq. ft. Is a big house, even with office space for two, and four bedrooms.

You may have saved money with a discount architect, but you are going to pay for it several times over. Who is going to oversee the build - another thing architects do? Unless you have extensive construction expertise, you can not just hand the plans to a contractor.

@latifolia Thank you! And yes we looked at Tesla, husband's concern there is that the electricity is 'hot' (not describing correctly I'm sure) on the roof, whereas some systems have no DC or something so the wires aren't hot on the roof. Worried about fires and/or he maintains the panels himself.

He lost his job in the middle of COVID, and started his own company as an amazing opportunity presented coincidentally (but will take time to build), which complicated our budget, and was NOT in the plans when we started down this road.

Luckily our builder is one we've used in the past, he is also the contractor and will be onsite every day managing the project. We did build our prior house with him, so have confidence there.

Yeah, the hallways are a bit of a waste, I think we are stuck there but there were some reasons for the space. I do wish we had gone a bit smaller, but we can't redo it now and some of it makes sense (room for staircase, etc).

Sounds like keeping it simple and not trying to get cute is going to avoid messing it up (further?). Perhaps we could always add stone later if we feel that would help and the budget allows. We started with a modern farmhouse slant and i guess I'd better stick with that theme. But I'll lose the ;'brick' and board and batten above (it's not a good rendering, it was meant to be board formed concrete.

Here is an opportunity for a plug, what is the nature of your husband's start up business?

The house is a collection of simple forms reminiscent of Tuscany.

Why can’t you redo it now? I was in permitting when we realized our house wasn’t right. We redid and it was the best thing we did. If you haven’t yet read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanna I highly recommend you do so before moving forward.

The house is a collection of simple forms reminiscent of Tuscany.

I would agree here and it's a bit hard to make some of the other judgements stated without seeing a site and floor plan. There could be improvements on the front elevation but if you don't want frosting on a cake they should start with the plan.

Posters seem to be referring to an internal layout from the talk of "corridors". I'm not seeing any floor plan. Am I missing something?

I seem to have lost my post about what I find grating (impossibly GRATING, actually) about the windows and the house frontage, so I have to give it another try.

It sounds like the consistency in window sizes is being addressed.

What bothers me is the proportions of the windows in their contexts, and the fact that they're not centered. I'm finding it very odd that an architect came up with this front look.

1. Some windows are too small. They are skinny and tall. The blank wall around them is HUGE. The windows look anorexic and diminished. Sorry, but the large wall space under the right gable, has 3 windows that end up like a "silent scream emoji". Very unfortunate. If you could have a way to make that face look more "smiley", e.g. with a wider window in the lower story and two less skinny windows, with the center line exactly between the two, that would definitely be a place I would fix.

2. Some windows are too big for their locations. There is hardly any blank wall around them, and they look squashed.

That really doesn't work aesthetically. Windows should be proportionally suited to their locations (unless for some special alternate aesthetic—like my own house— they aren't). This is especially true of e.g. colonial houses, but also especially true of Mediterranean villas. The house doesn't look right at all if the windows are off proportionally with the wall spaces where they're located.

McMansion Italian villa style is not my thing, but here is an example of windows/openings that proportionally match the rectangular spaces of a house front and have a certain internal logic:

Mediterranean Villa Style Custom Home · More Info

Thank you all so much to your honest questions and comments. I'll respond in full on my 'lunch break' in about an hour, but in the meantime I've figured out to post floorplans. FYI, house size is conditioned on the surrounding neighborhood. we need to be competitive for resale purposes/rental purposes. Our site is 5.5 acres, gated (7 lots of custom homes). we have rolling hills, a seasonal creek, and yes, I've mentioned the Oak trees. I LOVE them and the land with all more than I can say and it's the reason for taking such a risk.

We are building a 1,200 sf ADU, which well may end up being our main house until we are financially able to take on the larger house. We would then rent out the larger house in the meantime. Back-up plan. But the rent from the ADU would offset the mortgage quite a bit.... so we will see where we land. Could be cramped in the ADU! Fingers crossed!

I will not pile on, but I will say that is an extremely expensive design to build. All those corners and a complicated foundation. I hate to see people build these $$$ homes and then not have the necessary funds to properly furnish the home.

Here is a large home I have always admired in Napa. Award-winning actually. Not complicated but stellar on the inside.

Would you all keep it all stucco? and I'll change the shape of the outdoor fireplace and make those columns on the patio/porch thinner and likely raw wood and just stucco the fireplace up.

After seeing the plan, I understand some of the decisions about the windows the architect made. I do see opportunities for improvement on the elevation. You should go back to the architect and communicate what you would like to see and let him make the changes.

Yes, this has taught me that asking my friends' opinions is not the same as asking experts :)! It would be worth it to pay him a little (and he's earned it) more to help me make the tweaks than to try and fix it myself. Thank you I think i will do so.

What's the ceiling height on 1st and 2nd floors?

@PPF., They are 10' but vaulted in master, 12ft in living/kitchen. I believe but just checked and can't tell if the plans show 10' feet upstairs. We are going to change the doors to 8 foot interior doors.

You paid a significant amount for your lot and are looking at a 7 figure house. Find the money for an architect that you’re not worried about bothering to make changes.

If you’re financially strapped to where another architect is prohibitive, I wouldn’t take on this project, especially with an ADU, at all.

Some thoughts on this plan:

-Is there a need for 40 corners on a house?

-It’s a long walk from the garage to the kitchen with groceries.

-I would split the master closet into His/Her closets with a wall in the middle. You’ll gain a ton more storage.

-The windows...they are wonky.

Don’t settle. Keep working at it until it’s perfect.

You are in luck that you haven't started the construction yet, and you shouldn't have agreed to the plans and exterior if you weren't 100% happy.

I know it is painful to feel wrong sided by a professional, but just think that you're most likely investing a good amount to build the house. The Architect's fees will always be much less than to fix a situation that you don't feel comfortable with. I still suggest you hire a professional. Good Luck.

Quick model to test some window configurations. Mostly wanted to see a single window centered on the wall in the 2nd floor bath.

What's the room in the low-slung section to the far right? That has me bothered, because unlike the rest of the house, it has a lot of empty wall, and seems more of an appendage than integral to something indoors. The "look" would be better off without it, too, IMO, but since I'm not sure what room it is....

What's the room in the low-slung section to the far right?

That would be the garage, looks like 3 car tandem. While it's brought up, I would investigate having that massing in stone, balanced by the fireplace outdoor patio with stone walls. It would appear to be the original, low-slung house, which was added onto later, then again later . . . which would fit a theme of massing together simple forms in the Tuscan style.

FWIW, I'm not sure what some commenters expect, and for the slurry of comments yet to come, why a linear, drawn-out California high-end custom with a bridge and zillion corners and setbacks on a slab on grade home isn't allowed.

I thought the garage was on the other side of the house?

The plan was posted upside down from the elevations. It took me a while to figure it out. In your mind, rotate the plan 180 degrees.

@PPF. Thank you so much for this!!! I like the idea of switching the bathroom to balance that window. Husband doesn't like that the door doesn't line up with the guest bdrm but trying to explain to him that it's worth it for not having a terrible exterior!

@3onthetree, Yes, I was considering attemepting to balance the house by adding stone to the garage, and also the fireplace. I also really like @PPF.'s idea of making those garage windows smaller, again, having to fight husband but it makes a huge diff. And, FWIW comments had me dying, FYI it isn't a slab it will be a pier and grade beam. The crazy corners were to give window sights to the wooded view from most of the rooms, and for some reason our builder doesn't charge a ton for foundation at all. I think it added an extra $7k or less to the whole build but gave us wooded views and corner windows in many rooms.

I should note that while this build seems very expensive, the quote we were given (and again, we've used this builder previously) was way below market - for CA, I know :), not where many smart folks live and pay way less! We are also in unic. county land so taxes waay lower. Water, power, driveway, cable, etc. all at the street, which is why we couldn't pass it up.

Low quote was due to the fact that a) we've used him before b) we've referred him 5 clients whose homes he's built and c) he is building 6 other homes in a 2 mile radius at the same time as ours. And, he's allowing us to tile bathrooms ourselves, find and have our own flooring installed, etc. We've done this trim work ourselves on other property, and husband as I've said is quite capable of handling heavy machinery, so while it seems prohibitively expensive, you might be surprised (but CA prices so....take with grain of salt).

Everyone has been so helpful, I'm extremely grateful. Will go back to architect to do some tweaks as you've all kindly mentioned (and you've been so consistent!).

Is his bid lock and key or cost plus? How recent is it? 99% of all builds go over budget so please have a 25-30% contingency fund set aside.

I like PPF’s 2nd version above.

@shead, it’s a current bid. He built our last house and my husband, who is good at tracking construction budgets, was only off by $700 bucks if you can believe it. Now if we go over for materials, that will cost us. There are also opportunities to save if we use porcelain tiles in some spaces, tile ourselves, hire our own subs. But I hear you. I think we have 15 pcnt built I for contingency. This builder says he does all at cost and builds in 20 percent on top for his fees. He’s onsite every day and we’ve found him to be really on top of it.