Hello everyone,
Our plot is located between a street at the front and a private driveway at the rear. The private driveway cannot be used for access or the driveway entrance. Access can only be made from the street.
Now the question is at what height we should position the house. Should we align it with the street level or with the private driveway?
If we align with the private driveway, we would need to add 80-100cm (31-39 inches) of fill, and the entrance to the house would likely require several steps. Also, the driveway to the parking area would probably be quite steep.
If we align with the street, the rear part of the plot would remain slightly below the level of the private driveway.
The street slopes upwards to the west. The neighbor to the west has adapted his house to the houses in the second row and his house is positioned quite high. His driveway is also very steep.
The neighbor to the north has leveled his plot completely and placed his house level with the street.
Our plot is in the middle. What would be the most sensible approach?
I have attached the elevation plan, hopefully it is clear.
Edit: The building project would be a single-family house without a basement!
Our plot is located between a street at the front and a private driveway at the rear. The private driveway cannot be used for access or the driveway entrance. Access can only be made from the street.
Now the question is at what height we should position the house. Should we align it with the street level or with the private driveway?
If we align with the private driveway, we would need to add 80-100cm (31-39 inches) of fill, and the entrance to the house would likely require several steps. Also, the driveway to the parking area would probably be quite steep.
If we align with the street, the rear part of the plot would remain slightly below the level of the private driveway.
The street slopes upwards to the west. The neighbor to the west has adapted his house to the houses in the second row and his house is positioned quite high. His driveway is also very steep.
The neighbor to the north has leveled his plot completely and placed his house level with the street.
Our plot is in the middle. What would be the most sensible approach?
I have attached the elevation plan, hopefully it is clear.
Edit: The building project would be a single-family house without a basement!
I have now sent an email to the general contractor, so we can have a phone call based on that. I don’t want to catch him off guard; he should have time to prepare and possibly already come up with some solutions.
Thanks @icandoit for your effort!
I will provide feedback as soon as I have something concrete to report!
Best regards
Thanks @icandoit for your effort!
I will provide feedback as soon as I have something concrete to report!
Best regards
Yaso2.0 schrieb:
and my question is, do you really have to assume 1.50m (5 feet) for that? Short answer: yes. A counter question: where do you think my statement that the effort to avoid a basement is generally not cheaper than the effort to build a basement actually comes from? (Among other things, from the prices of - and land requirements for - L-shaped concrete blocks and similar items.) The general rule that with a two-meter (6.5 feet) height difference in the building site the two approaches are economically equivalent, and that proportionality applies on the way there, ultimately comes from practical experience and not from Confucian fortune cookies ;-)
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
The difference in elevation is not the issue. It is actually only about 1 meter (3 feet) in the area of the house. However, the road is probably somewhat cut into the slope on the hillside side.
Question for the original poster: Is it allowed to build retaining walls for the road right at the property boundary?
Question for the original poster: Is it allowed to build retaining walls for the road right at the property boundary?
11ant schrieb:
Short answer: yes. Counter question: this is based on practical experience, not on Confucian fortune cookies ;-) Thanks! I really appreciate your expertise 😀
icandoit schrieb:
The height difference is not the issue. It is actually only about 1 meter (3 ft) in the area of the house. But the road is probably somewhat cut into the slope side.
Question to the OP: is it allowed to build retaining walls for the road directly on the boundary? From my understanding and the explanation given by the general contractor at the start:
If you keep a 3-meter (10 ft) setback from the neighbor’s boundary, the height difference at the area where the house will be placed is “only” about 70 centimeters (28 inches). I was told that with a height difference of 70 cm (28 inches) spread over about 11 meters (36 ft), a basement would not be necessary.
All neighboring houses to the west (uphill toward the road) have retaining walls along the road, and we would need those as well. To the east (downhill toward the road), their land is completely level with the road (these are two houses and soon a daycare center on the opposite side).
Yaso2.0 schrieb:
I really appreciate your expertiseHow does it come about then (if I understood correctly) that you now suddenly want to shift a mostly fully planned house by one and a half meters (about 5 feet) to quickly fit in an inserted terrain modification?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
How does it come about, then (if I understood correctly), that you now want to shift a mostly finished house plan by one and a half meters to quickly accommodate an inserted terrain modification? I myself do not want to change anything. Until yesterday, everything was fine for me as well.
Yesterday, I received a call from an employee of the general contractor asking me to review the new site plan. They informed me that due to the nature of the plot, there has been a change: the house will now have a distance of 5 m (16.4 ft) to the neighboring property instead of the previous 3.5 m (11.5 ft). Because the terrain needs to be supported, this adjustment is necessary.
I initially "accepted" this and asked what could be done now. The employee on the phone said, unfortunately, nothing could be changed about it.
That’s why I am asking again here. I want to get in touch with the general contractor to tell them that, from my point of view, there are certain options (which I have gathered thanks to the collective knowledge here) or to ask if they have alternatives that could prevent or reduce the issue.