Hello everyone,
We are starting to plan an alternative to the costly renovation of our house. So far, we have had our first discussions and collaboration with a general contractor of our choice.
I would appreciate honest feedback so that we can identify any overlooked issues now, rather than during construction.
Summary:
Development plan exists, few restrictions, maximum eaves height of 8m (26 ft) might cause some issues for us.
Plot size: 710m² (7,645 ft²)
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Hip roof
Style: Townhouse / Urban villa
Orientation: Plot faces northwest, see attachment
Maximum height/limits: 8m (26 ft) eaves height, 5m (16 ft) setback from northern and western property boundaries for the building, due to requested landscaping
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Flexible; overall package must be appealing
No basement, two full stories
Number of occupants: 6 persons (ages 38, 37, 8, 6, 2, 2)
Space needs: 5 bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 offices on the ground floor, at least 2 showers
Offices: Both offices necessary, 1 fully dedicated home office (regardless of pandemic), 1 study for a teacher
Overnight guests per year: 6; can sleep elsewhere or in one of the offices
Open or closed layout: Flexible
Conservative or modern construction: Flexible
Kitchen: Preferably open with an island (for food prep, not for cooking at)
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Provision for a wood stove, thus chimney required
2 carports, no garage
Special features: A cleaning area/utility room “mudroom” is desired because our children tend to be messy. Children’s bedrooms to be approximately the same size (+/-).
House design
Designed by: Planner from a construction company
What we like:
- Simple floor plan
- 2 offices
- 5 bedrooms on one level
- Bedrooms roughly the same size
- Kitchen easily furnishable
- Not larger than 200m² (2,153 ft²) (cleaning, construction costs)
- Fits the plot well
- Short access for groceries (directly into kitchen)
What we don’t like:
- The path to the living room goes through the kitchen
- Relatively large circulation areas
- No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approximately €440,000 (about $490,000) excluding painting and floor coverings (except tiles, which are included for kitchen, entrance, hallway on ground floor, and bathrooms)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: €540,000 (about $600,000), including fittings and additional construction costs, land extra. Can be increased if needed up to €640,000 (about $710,000)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump or gas
What can you do without? Which details or extras can you skip?
- Can omit 1 office if the corresponding bedroom is 3m² (32 ft²) bigger (a desk corner instead)
Why does the design look like this now?
We found a standard design that we were able to adapt to our needs with relatively few changes.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
What daily challenges do you see with 4 children that we might have missed? What haven’t we considered?
The house is planned for the top left corner plot (circled) on the site map.
The floor plans have unfortunately been manually altered, so my revisions regarding room names are included. The guest room is actually office 2... The revised room sizes are approximate.
Thank you very much and best regards,
SoL
We are starting to plan an alternative to the costly renovation of our house. So far, we have had our first discussions and collaboration with a general contractor of our choice.
I would appreciate honest feedback so that we can identify any overlooked issues now, rather than during construction.
Summary:
Development plan exists, few restrictions, maximum eaves height of 8m (26 ft) might cause some issues for us.
Plot size: 710m² (7,645 ft²)
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Hip roof
Style: Townhouse / Urban villa
Orientation: Plot faces northwest, see attachment
Maximum height/limits: 8m (26 ft) eaves height, 5m (16 ft) setback from northern and western property boundaries for the building, due to requested landscaping
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Flexible; overall package must be appealing
No basement, two full stories
Number of occupants: 6 persons (ages 38, 37, 8, 6, 2, 2)
Space needs: 5 bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 offices on the ground floor, at least 2 showers
Offices: Both offices necessary, 1 fully dedicated home office (regardless of pandemic), 1 study for a teacher
Overnight guests per year: 6; can sleep elsewhere or in one of the offices
Open or closed layout: Flexible
Conservative or modern construction: Flexible
Kitchen: Preferably open with an island (for food prep, not for cooking at)
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Provision for a wood stove, thus chimney required
2 carports, no garage
Special features: A cleaning area/utility room “mudroom” is desired because our children tend to be messy. Children’s bedrooms to be approximately the same size (+/-).
House design
Designed by: Planner from a construction company
What we like:
- Simple floor plan
- 2 offices
- 5 bedrooms on one level
- Bedrooms roughly the same size
- Kitchen easily furnishable
- Not larger than 200m² (2,153 ft²) (cleaning, construction costs)
- Fits the plot well
- Short access for groceries (directly into kitchen)
What we don’t like:
- The path to the living room goes through the kitchen
- Relatively large circulation areas
- No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approximately €440,000 (about $490,000) excluding painting and floor coverings (except tiles, which are included for kitchen, entrance, hallway on ground floor, and bathrooms)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: €540,000 (about $600,000), including fittings and additional construction costs, land extra. Can be increased if needed up to €640,000 (about $710,000)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump or gas
What can you do without? Which details or extras can you skip?
- Can omit 1 office if the corresponding bedroom is 3m² (32 ft²) bigger (a desk corner instead)
Why does the design look like this now?
We found a standard design that we were able to adapt to our needs with relatively few changes.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
What daily challenges do you see with 4 children that we might have missed? What haven’t we considered?
The house is planned for the top left corner plot (circled) on the site map.
The floor plans have unfortunately been manually altered, so my revisions regarding room names are included. The guest room is actually office 2... The revised room sizes are approximate.
Thank you very much and best regards,
SoL
Correct, the furniture is still from the catalog, which is why the kitchen units are located in the lower left corner of the office.
Regarding the kitchen setup, the entire wall facing the office is available, as well as the exterior wall.
Regarding the open space: yes, it takes up needed space. Unfortunately, it is necessary to provide natural light to the upper floor hallway. Lighting through a skylight is difficult because there will be an attic above used for storage. That is also why the attic stairs are shown dashed in the plan.
I don’t have a simple solution for this yet...
Regarding the kitchen setup, the entire wall facing the office is available, as well as the exterior wall.
Regarding the open space: yes, it takes up needed space. Unfortunately, it is necessary to provide natural light to the upper floor hallway. Lighting through a skylight is difficult because there will be an attic above used for storage. That is also why the attic stairs are shown dashed in the plan.
I don’t have a simple solution for this yet...
SoL schrieb:
Regarding the air space: Yes, it takes up the needed space. Unfortunately, it is necessary for lighting the upper floor hallway. Providing light through a roof window is difficult because the attic above will be used as storage space. That’s also why the attic stairs are shown with dashed lines.
I’m still not coming up with a simple solution for this... Maybe installing a sun tunnel might make sense here one day 🙂
I'll drop a hint again: less facade symmetry might be your friend. The stair layout and hallway on the upper floor feel somewhat like an office building.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
I'm waving the red flag again—less facade symmetry might be your friend. The stair placement and the hallway on the upper floor give off a bit of an office building vibe. Could you please explain the point about facade symmetry? Where exactly do you see advantages if we break up the symmetry?
SoL schrieb:
Correct, the furnishings are still from the catalog, which is why the kitchen cabinets are located in the bottom left corner of the office.
Regarding the kitchen setup, the entire wall facing the office is available, as well as the exterior wall. I don’t see the entire wall facing the office available, as there is too little space between the staircase and the kitchen. Aren’t floor-to-ceiling windows planned on the exterior wall, or am I mistaken?
In the kitchen area, we would actually avoid having a floor-to-ceiling window so that we can design the kitchen as an L-shape along the exterior wall and the wall to the study, with an optional island.
I will provide painted drawings as soon as I have some. Thanks in advance!
I will provide painted drawings as soon as I have some. Thanks in advance!
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