ᐅ Simple Single-Family House Seeking Tips for Improvement

Hello everyone,

After reading through the forum for a few weeks, I would now like to ask for your help…

We (my husband and I) have finally acquired a plot of land and now want to build a single-family house. We have been working on it for quite some time. Starting with wishful thinking, we have now arrived at a size and layout that roughly fits our ideas and seems feasible. But now we would like to hear your opinions on the floor plans… Of course, I will also fill out the questionnaire (to the best of my knowledge and as thoroughly as possible ;-) )

The house is currently planned with an exterior dimension of 10x10m (33x33 feet). To the north is the main road leading out of the town, and to the west, there is a traffic-calmed residential street where our driveway is located. To the south, another single-family house will be built, and to the east, there is farmland.

Development plan/restrictions:

• Plot size: 528 sqm (approx. 5,685 sq ft)
• Slope: no
• Site coverage ratio (building area ratio): 0.4
• Floor area ratio: 0.5
• Building envelope, building line and boundary: For the house, a setback of 3m (10 feet) is required on all sides; garage may be built up to the property boundary except on the west side (1.5m (5 feet) setback required) and the east side (3m (10 feet) setback required)
• Edge development: Garage allowed to the south and north
• Number of parking spaces: 2
• Number of stories: 2 full stories possible and desired
• Roof type: no regulations
• Architectural style: no specifications
• Orientation: ?
• Maximum heights/limits: Ridge height 9.5m (31 feet); Wall height 6.50m (21 feet)

Homeowners’ requirements:

• Style: Preferably a modern urban villa; roof type still open
• Basement and stories: Full basement with waterproof concrete shell ("white tank") due to groundwater and two full stories
• Number of occupants: My husband (34 years), me (30 years), child 1 (2 years), child 2 (1 year)
• Space needs: Living/dining area over 35 sqm (375 sq ft) and an additional guest room/office that could also serve as a third child’s bedroom if needed
• Office will currently be used only occasionally for home office and as a quiet retreat for focused, undisturbed work
• Overnight guests per year: Often, since both families live over 300 km (186 miles) away
• Open floor plan desired
• Modern construction methods
• Open kitchen; cooking island not necessarily required
• Dining seating: We would like a dining table for 8 people, but it must be extendable without needing to rearrange the entire living area
• No fireplace
• No music or stereo wall
• No balcony or roof terrace
• Garage/carport: Large double garage for bikes and/or shelves for winter tires or similar storage
• Utility garden/greenhouse: We want to have most of the garden as lawn and possibly a small part as a vegetable garden
• Laundry chute
• A utility room large enough to set up an ironing area
• Planned wall thicknesses: Exterior walls 42.5 cm (17 inches), interior walls 17.5 cm (7 inches)
• The basement includes the rooms we want but we are unsure about the exact size needed for the mechanical room, etc. The hobby room is also intended to be used as a guest bedroom and music room among other uses.

House design:

• The house design comes from us. No professional planner has reviewed it yet
• We like very much that we were able to reduce some areas without noticeably losing living space
• Unfortunately, the children’s rooms are now somewhat smaller than originally planned due to adding an extra room (originally, 15 sqm (160 sq ft) per room was planned)
• According to initial rough architect cost estimates, we will pay about $450,000 for 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft)
• That would actually be our upper budget limit
• We could probably compromise on the size of the kitchen (a bit smaller would be okay)
• The living area should not get smaller since at 14 sqm (150 sq ft) it is already not very large; we definitely want to keep the pantry on the ground floor
• The design evolved from a starting point of about 180 sqm (1,940 sq ft), with an original intention of 160 sqm (1,720 sq ft) until we realized it would be too expensive for us. It was important for us to have the bathroom on the east side and the living/dining area facing south. After that, we did the drawing.

Can we save space anywhere? Especially: In the plan, we currently have a staircase measuring 1.75x2.41m (5.7x7.9 feet). How can we make it wider without losing the quality of the room at the top?