| There are many problems with today’s typical house designs. Perhaps the “biggest” problem is that homes are too big. Yes it is what we have become used to and yes it is what we have come to expect – more personal space, more storage space, more options for entertainment, more space for potential guests, more separation between functions etc. The issue with all of this apart from waste is that building costs are not getting any cheaper as time goes on, in fact they are getting exorbitantly more expensive.So, first off the land costs more because it has to be large enough to support such big sprawling homes, although having said that, the typical Australian residential block has always been large. Now developers are carving up the subdivisions into smaller and smaller lots to try and make it viable. We all may say the developers are getting greedy trying to squeeze as many blocks out of a piece of land as possible but the truth mostly is that all of the increasing service charges such as roads, sewer, water, phone, power etc and taxes on top of taxes are even making it hard for subdivision developers to make a buck. Regardless, the larger homes require the more expensive blocks and compromise the lifestyle we Aussies are known for. Gone are the days of backyard cricket and footy.Secondly, larger homes obviously have a lot more material in them and more fittings, fixtures and finishes etc, all bumping the price up. If you don’t end up using the space much, it’s really money for nothing. Cheap and nasty project homes are less expensive to build than custom built homes but even then the cost of materials is only getting higher.Thirdly, larger homes take a lot more effort to keep clean and maintained and a lot more energy to heat and cool. The layouts are often not easy to close areas off and zone when not in use, so you’re artificially heating or cooling a large home of which you’re only using a portion most of the time. |
