ᐅ New construction after the birth of triplets. Looking forward to your ideas.

Hello everyone,
my name is Hendrik, and I lived with my small family in a cozy single-family home in Bad Nenndorf. However, last December our family suddenly grew by 3 boys. Unfortunately, our house is not suitable for 4 children. There is a new development area in our town, so we are now considering building a new house.
I haven’t been able to find many interesting floor plans online for houses with 7 rooms. Maybe you have some ideas?

A very important point for a new build is that the house shouldn’t be too large once the children have moved out. In other words, it would be great if you had ideas on how to make use of the unused living space in a way that still feels spacious.

At the moment, we are thinking along the following lines:
- Total size around 250sqm (2,690 sq ft)
- 4 children’s bedrooms, 1 guest room, sleeping room and living room
- 2 bathrooms with showers and 1 guest toilet
- Sauna in one of the bathrooms with a shower
- No basement, but enough storage space
- Currently preferred style is an urban villa (but then where do you store all your stuff if you have neither a basement nor an attic?)
- Living conservatory over 20sqm (215 sq ft)
- Double garage with an adjoining workshop
- Open kitchen connected to the living room

I would be really happy if anyone has ideas for a nice floor plan.

Unfortunately, with the triplets (now 9 months old) and their sister (3 years), we only have about half an hour per day to think about these matters, which is quite stressful for us. So I ask for your understanding if this request seems a bit unspecific to some of you.

Another option would be to extend our current house. An architect estimated around €2000 per sqm (note: do not translate currency, but consider for your understanding) and estimated the cost for a living conservatory (40sqm / 430 sq ft) to be about €80,000.

Where do you think we would end up with a new build as described above? Would €500,000 to €600,000 be realistic (excluding land, but including garage)?

Many thanks for your ideas,
Hendrik

No matter how you look at it, I would definitely build an extension if the building plot and planning permission allow it. Why invest money in a new small house if you already have a nice one? Plus, with triplets, you don’t have the time to manage a construction site.

I would also consider an extension.

Searching for a floor plan without a plot of land is somewhat pointless, as the orientations need to fit later on.

Looks like you've got a lively household there

- Total size about 250 sqm (2700 sq ft)
- 4 children's bedrooms, 1 guest room, bedroom and living room
- 2 shower bathrooms and a guest toilet
- Sauna in one of the shower bathrooms
- No basement, but enough storage space
- Currently preferred style would be an urban villa (but where do you store all your stuff if you don’t have a basement or attic?)
- Living conservatory over 20 sqm (215 sq ft)
- Double garage with adjoining workshop room
- Kitchen open to the living room

With your requirements, I would say 600,000 might be tight... and 250 sqm (2700 sq ft) isn’t too big once the kids move out? Ok... then I guess I can’t really compare with my tiny place (140 sqm (1500 sq ft) for 3).

Oh dear, you really went for it. Congratulations on the new addition.

I am in favor of an extension.

Building a new house takes an enormous amount of time, and you don’t have that time. The budget won’t be sufficient.

I would only consider planning the project again with the previous building partner and the same team if you were satisfied. The idea being, “you already know us, just with 3 more children’s bedrooms.”

For floor plans, I would look on Pinterest and here
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundrissplanung-hanghaus-mit-5-Kinderzimmer.24670/

Interesting perspective from you that you would recommend an extension. We have also discussed this a lot, but I am concerned that an extension might really burn through money!? Or is the cost per square meter not that much different between extending and building new?