ᐅ House with Integrated Apartment, IBG Floor Plan Example Explanation?

Cmajere schrieb:
Hello,

we (I mean my wife and our child) plan to move into a house together with her parents (my in-laws).

I have looked at various options for living together. It is important to me that there are two separate apartments. Living together, yes, but everyone should have their own private space. 😀

At the moment, the idea I am considering is a house with a granny flat as the most cost-effective solution. The granny flat should be somewhat smaller than the main apartment in the house. That would probably be more than enough for the parents, since they currently live in 25cm (10 inches) (Note: 25cm seems off here, please clarify if you mean 25 m² or 25 square meters).

I have a catalog from IBG Haus in front of me with an example floor plan, but I can't really understand it concretely, and the description is unfortunately very sparse.

Can someone briefly explain if a house with a granny flat has two separately lockable apartments (only one front door, because that saves connection costs)?

Are there other similar options?

Best regards

Hello Cmajere,

Since I have been working in house sales for many years, I have collected several floor plan examples for two-family houses (house with a granny flat = GF). Before you dive into floor plan collections, you should check the size of your plot, because these houses sometimes have quite large external dimensions and might not fit.

By the way, a "real" house with a granny flat is a bit more than just two doors... Consider the building services. It doesn’t necessarily have to have two heating systems, but the floor plan should include a central room accessible to both units, for example for the heating system. This can then be set up so that the second apartment gets a heat meter for correct billing. Your electricity meter cabinet must also be large enough to accommodate the extra meter for the granny flat—this costs a bit more than a standard meter cabinet. Sound insulation should also be considered during construction. Right now, it’s your in-laws, but such a house is designed for many decades. It’s possible that strangers might move in later or that part of the house could be used as a holiday apartment. Then everything must be proper, because as soon as you have real tenants, the house must meet the planning and building regulations for a two-family dwelling.

One very important tip! Please don’t just rely on attractive catalogs for your building project. Examine the contract carefully! Do not make advance payments; pay only according to construction progress. Insist on a completion guarantee (from an independent bank or insurer, or a retention until completion) and a warranty guarantee (bond). Only if all this fits, the building description has no gaps in services (which does not mean the builder must offer every imaginable service, but that the scope of services is clearly described and you know what to expect), the price is reasonable (not too cheap, not too expensive), and you simply have a good feeling, should you award the contract and look forward to a happy time in your new home!