Feedback on yesterday's 2nd round of plans

I followed up via email with the architect to give positive feedback on the progress in the latest set of designs. Here's a quote:

Much better. Elissa likes the changes, too. Just like before, the first floor is a lock. The 2nd floor is solid too, unless there's a need to change things to accommodate moving stuff off the 3rd floor.

Some changes for the 3rd floor. They're hard to explain, so just imagine making all these changes in sequence, most of them are for the bathroom:

1) Remove the wall/door separating the toilet from the rest of the room. This made sense before, but now it's not really a concern for us.

2) Turn the toilet 90 degrees, facing out, and push it closer to the tub.

3) Remove the toilet-side sink, and use that wall as a door leading into a linen closet that's cut out of 1/2 the non-master-bedroom closet.

4) Move the wall to the north side of the other sink about 3 feet, and put the 2nd sink next to it.

5) Change the way the door between the master bed & bath, so it opens out to the rest of the room.

That'll make the rooms a little less square, but we'll gain a linen closet, some standing space, and a side-by-side sink. If you think the change in #3 will make the non-master bedroom's closet too small, we can move the w/d to the 2nd floor and use that area as a linen closet.

In terms of starting an estimate for all this, is there anything you've done before to put a value to the features of the house this early in the process? Several of the contractors I spoke with said they'd be available to discuss design ideas prior to the construction, but, with the digging probably not starting for another 4-6 months, I'd be hesitant to start looping someone in unless it's more or less the norm. Let me know.

A couple obvious trade-offs include:

- Shed. We'd rather have a basement because it's impossible to retrofit a basement while it's a cinch to build a shed.

- 3rd floor. Until our kids are older, we can minimize the finishing on the whole 3rd floor and take care of that over time.

- I'd really hate to sacrifice the sunken living room, but that's an option. This really gives the house a unique character, though, so let's put this behind the 3rd floor finishings on the "cut list".

Thanks so much for responding to our requests in such a timely fashion. Things were trending away from our initial plans for the past month, so we got a little stressed, but I'm happy that we're back on track.

Truth be told, Elissa isn't really jazzed about the idea of delaying the finishing of the 3rd floor until after we move in. Realistically, though, it'll just be us and an infant for the immediate move-in timeframe. The cost of including those finishings in the construction cost will be the barebones cost + the general contractor's multiplier, so we'll wind up spending less and pacing it more adequately if we wait. I'm actually not really looking forward to the delay either, but if it cuts the price of the construction to fit our budget, I'm willing to make that sacrifice.