It can really help understand the relationships if you take the design out to the site and string it off and measure it. Getting input from the planning department At some stage, when the plan is clear enough your design professional should take the plan to the local planning department to get some feedback. Informal feedback early in the process can save a bunch of wasted time and alert you to potential problems. If you are lucky enough to have an advocate in the planning department, you can get information about upcoming code changes or other issues in the works which might effect your plan. Dealing with income restrictions It is common that groups doing blue sky community design work to come up with a list of site amenities and features that exceed the collective community pocketbook.
Smaller homes share most of the same fixed costs as a larger home such as bathrooms and kitchens.
Cost trade-offs will need to be made depending on the lowest economic denominator of your group. Many groups spend several meetings talking about, listing, prioritizing their living options before they talk with an architect or contractor and understand the costs. Be sure to have a process ready to prioritize what is important so you can review your plan and cut the low priorities. Remember that if you plan well, you can leave a space or infrastructure for an amenity later, even if you can't afford it now. Just because you can't afford the art studio now, if you leave a space in the plan, you can build it ten years from now.