Hello everyone,
I’ve finally registered and would like to ask for your advice, tips, and feedback on our floor plan.
We started looking for a plot about 4 years ago and, of course, had a dream house in mind (urban villa, basement, double garage…). Now we’re considering a semi-detached house if we can afford it at the current prices. We have basically scaled back to the minimum – it should just be a regular house for ordinary people ♀️ no frills. We currently live in a 3-room apartment of about 80 sqm (860 sq ft) and in a few years it will definitely be too small. The plot is offered by the city and not overpriced – so we hope we can manage to plan something decent on it. We have already received several offers:
The house is now planned with dimensions of about 8.5x13 m (28x43 ft) (I am not allowed to post the detailed drawing). The garage is planned on the wall between the kitchen and the study.
We’re very curious about your input!
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 529 sqm (5695 sq ft)
No slope
Plot ratio (floor area ratio): 0.4
Building coverage ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line and boundary approx. 12x15 m (39x49 ft) (garage must be inside the building envelope due to regulations)
Edge development: semi-detached property
Number of parking spaces: 2 if possible
Number of floors: 1
Roof type: gable roof
Style: classic
Orientation: north/west
Maximum heights/limits: 4.5 m eaves height (14.75 ft)
Other requirements: private green area in the west, street in front of house is a dead end and only 3 m wide (10 ft)
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: classic, gable roof, semi-detached house
Basement, floors: no basement (too expensive), 1 full floor allowed according to the development plan = 1.5 floors
Number of residents, age: currently 3 (ages 35, 33, 1), grandparents will stay with us about 4 months a year (spread out), older, grandfather has mobility issues
Room requirements ground floor / upper floor:
- Ground floor: kitchen, living/dining room, pantry, utility/technical room, home office/guest room, shower toilet
- Upper floor: 2 children’s rooms about 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each, bedroom (there should still be enough space next to the bed for a child’s cot), bathroom with bathtub and shower
Office: family use or home office? Both (actually a home office, the second children’s room is initially an office, and the home office downstairs doubles as a guest room for the grandparents so they don’t have to climb stairs. My grandfather would also sleep on the couch, but a) that’s bad for his back and b) he should have privacy and a place to retreat).
Guests per year: frequent, about 12–20
Open or closed layout: open
Conservative or modern construction: still open, but solid construction is planned
Open kitchen, island: open kitchen, if possible without direct line of sight to the living room, no kitchen island but space for a French door refrigerator
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: would prefer a garage, but somehow couldn’t plan it on the plot without blocking light on the west side, so we switched to a carport ♀️♀️ the builder then added a garage again; we’re not sure yet how we feel about it
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: vegetable garden, dining table with 8 seats, play area for the kids
Other wishes/particularities/daily routine, including explanations why certain things are or are not desired:
House design
Who designed it: regional builder
What do you particularly like? Why? Utility room and stairs on a shared wall, better use of daylight
What do you dislike? Why? Bathroom arrangement (I’d prefer windows on the west side for the children’s rooms, bathroom ideally with double-wing windows); long narrow hallway; kitchen is too small/too little workspace for cooking and baking a lot; maybe pantry under the stairs or integrate storage in the kitchen? We hardly have any drink crates but currently have a well-stocked 1.5 sqm (16 sq ft) pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 375k without photovoltaic, 360k if built simultaneously with the other half
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 340k (new kitchen included; we take it with us and will rebuild)
Preferred heating technology: air-source heat pump with underfloor heating
If you had to give up, which features/expansions?
- Could give up: third children’s room (he included it because the ground floor is so large), pantry, open kitchen (although reluctantly ♀️ we have already rationalized down from our “dream house”)
- Cannot give up: guest room/office and shower toilet on the ground floor
Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Design by the builder’s planner; we have already spoken with several companies and sometimes received standard designs that did not fit at all. Now we get to add our input. Initially, I wanted just 3 rooms plus bath upstairs (he designed the house much bigger so everything fits downstairs), but I’m confused because one company told us the technical room must be on an exterior wall and take up at least 3 m (10 ft) of wall length … ♀️
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How can we arrange the rooms on the ground floor sensibly and large enough to get good light & enough storage? How does the garage fit on the plot?
I’ve finally registered and would like to ask for your advice, tips, and feedback on our floor plan.
We started looking for a plot about 4 years ago and, of course, had a dream house in mind (urban villa, basement, double garage…). Now we’re considering a semi-detached house if we can afford it at the current prices. We have basically scaled back to the minimum – it should just be a regular house for ordinary people ♀️ no frills. We currently live in a 3-room apartment of about 80 sqm (860 sq ft) and in a few years it will definitely be too small. The plot is offered by the city and not overpriced – so we hope we can manage to plan something decent on it. We have already received several offers:
- Architect, 290k for the house (calculated with 1300 €/sqm…)
- Nationwide prefab house supplier 390k
- Regional company, solid construction 375k
The house is now planned with dimensions of about 8.5x13 m (28x43 ft) (I am not allowed to post the detailed drawing). The garage is planned on the wall between the kitchen and the study.
We’re very curious about your input!
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 529 sqm (5695 sq ft)
No slope
Plot ratio (floor area ratio): 0.4
Building coverage ratio: 0.4
Building envelope, building line and boundary approx. 12x15 m (39x49 ft) (garage must be inside the building envelope due to regulations)
Edge development: semi-detached property
Number of parking spaces: 2 if possible
Number of floors: 1
Roof type: gable roof
Style: classic
Orientation: north/west
Maximum heights/limits: 4.5 m eaves height (14.75 ft)
Other requirements: private green area in the west, street in front of house is a dead end and only 3 m wide (10 ft)
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: classic, gable roof, semi-detached house
Basement, floors: no basement (too expensive), 1 full floor allowed according to the development plan = 1.5 floors
Number of residents, age: currently 3 (ages 35, 33, 1), grandparents will stay with us about 4 months a year (spread out), older, grandfather has mobility issues
Room requirements ground floor / upper floor:
- Ground floor: kitchen, living/dining room, pantry, utility/technical room, home office/guest room, shower toilet
- Upper floor: 2 children’s rooms about 15 sqm (160 sq ft) each, bedroom (there should still be enough space next to the bed for a child’s cot), bathroom with bathtub and shower
Office: family use or home office? Both (actually a home office, the second children’s room is initially an office, and the home office downstairs doubles as a guest room for the grandparents so they don’t have to climb stairs. My grandfather would also sleep on the couch, but a) that’s bad for his back and b) he should have privacy and a place to retreat).
Guests per year: frequent, about 12–20
Open or closed layout: open
Conservative or modern construction: still open, but solid construction is planned
Open kitchen, island: open kitchen, if possible without direct line of sight to the living room, no kitchen island but space for a French door refrigerator
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: would prefer a garage, but somehow couldn’t plan it on the plot without blocking light on the west side, so we switched to a carport ♀️♀️ the builder then added a garage again; we’re not sure yet how we feel about it
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: vegetable garden, dining table with 8 seats, play area for the kids
Other wishes/particularities/daily routine, including explanations why certain things are or are not desired:
- We have to build to KfW40 standard, and if photovoltaic panels are installed, 40% of the roof area must be photovoltaic (city requirement)
- Need space for a deep freezer in the utility room
- Showers should be walk-in or at least have a low bathtub
- We are not allowed to build a separate apartment on the plot
House design
Who designed it: regional builder
What do you particularly like? Why? Utility room and stairs on a shared wall, better use of daylight
What do you dislike? Why? Bathroom arrangement (I’d prefer windows on the west side for the children’s rooms, bathroom ideally with double-wing windows); long narrow hallway; kitchen is too small/too little workspace for cooking and baking a lot; maybe pantry under the stairs or integrate storage in the kitchen? We hardly have any drink crates but currently have a well-stocked 1.5 sqm (16 sq ft) pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 375k without photovoltaic, 360k if built simultaneously with the other half
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 340k (new kitchen included; we take it with us and will rebuild)
Preferred heating technology: air-source heat pump with underfloor heating
If you had to give up, which features/expansions?
- Could give up: third children’s room (he included it because the ground floor is so large), pantry, open kitchen (although reluctantly ♀️ we have already rationalized down from our “dream house”)
- Cannot give up: guest room/office and shower toilet on the ground floor
Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
Design by the builder’s planner; we have already spoken with several companies and sometimes received standard designs that did not fit at all. Now we get to add our input. Initially, I wanted just 3 rooms plus bath upstairs (he designed the house much bigger so everything fits downstairs), but I’m confused because one company told us the technical room must be on an exterior wall and take up at least 3 m (10 ft) of wall length … ♀️
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
How can we arrange the rooms on the ground floor sensibly and large enough to get good light & enough storage? How does the garage fit on the plot?
What is the required distance from the building envelope to the street? Are parking spaces allowed outside the building envelope along the street, or must they also be strictly within the building envelope?
For KfW 40 standard, the exterior wall might be somewhat thicker. Is there any information yet regarding the exact thickness?
For KfW 40 standard, the exterior wall might be somewhat thicker. Is there any information yet regarding the exact thickness?
H
hausbau23inHE29 Apr 2022 09:04WilderSueden schrieb:
I don’t see a good reason why a semi-detached house should cost only half as much, especially if both halves are built independently. I also don’t understand where the 230 m² (2,475 sq ft) figure comes from; a rough estimate doesn’t come close to that.
I won’t go into every detail of the floor plan — others can do that better — but where are the grandparents supposed to sleep during those 4 months if grandpa isn’t very mobile anymore? Hopefully not upstairs?
For evaluation, it would also help if you roughly mark where paths will run, where parking will be, and where a possible garden shed might go. For the grandparents, we have a room on the ground floor of about 12 m² (130 sq ft). We have that now, and it easily fits a pull-out daybed, desk, wardrobe, and dresser :-)
H
hausbau23inHE29 Apr 2022 09:05K a t j a schrieb:
What is the setback distance from the building envelope to the street? Are parking spaces outside the building envelope along the street allowed, or must they also be strictly within the building envelope?
For KfW 40 standard, the exterior wall might be somewhat thicker. Is there any information yet regarding the wall thickness? The building envelope to the street is 3m (10 feet).
The exterior wall thickness specified was 36.5cm (14.4 inches).
Parking spaces are allowed in front of the house along the street; the west side is designated as a green area.
H
hausbau23inHE29 Apr 2022 09:11Neubau2022 schrieb:
Just make a rough calculation:
3,000 € per sqm. For 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft) that’s 480,000 €
Additional construction costs: 50,000 €
Garage: 25,000 €
Outdoor areas: xxx
That puts you at 555,000 € plus outdoor areas plus land.
If you can manage that number, you can continue planning 😎 Silly question: why 3,000? I’d like to understand. We’re leaving the garage out for now (you can also get a prefabricated garage for around 10,000 to 15,000); for outdoor areas, we initially planned 15,000 € for essentials (paving, terrace), and we had budgeted higher for additional construction costs. I’m really grateful for your advice; if we are completely out of budget, we wouldn’t buy the land (we still have about a month to decide). It would be a shame, but better than having to finance more and end up heavily in debt.
N
Neubau202229 Apr 2022 09:13Exterior Wall
The exterior wall will probably be a bit thicker. The architect likely intends to build monolithically. So, 36.5 cm (14.4 inches) Poroton? Additionally, there will be exterior plaster, which also adds a few centimeters. Remember that these measurements usually refer to the shell construction only. The interior plaster takes about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) off each wall. The floor structure, including underfloor heating, consumes about 17 cm (6.7 inches) including the floor covering. This means if you planned for a ceiling height of 2.75 m (9 feet), the final height will be around 2.55 m (8 feet 4 inches).
hausbau23inHE schrieb:
Building line to the street 3m (10 feet)
Exterior wall was specified as 36.5 cm (14.4 inches)
Parking spaces are allowed in front of the house on the street side, the west side is designated as a green area
The exterior wall will probably be a bit thicker. The architect likely intends to build monolithically. So, 36.5 cm (14.4 inches) Poroton? Additionally, there will be exterior plaster, which also adds a few centimeters. Remember that these measurements usually refer to the shell construction only. The interior plaster takes about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) off each wall. The floor structure, including underfloor heating, consumes about 17 cm (6.7 inches) including the floor covering. This means if you planned for a ceiling height of 2.75 m (9 feet), the final height will be around 2.55 m (8 feet 4 inches).
N
Neubau202229 Apr 2022 09:17hausbau23inHE schrieb:
Silly question: why 3000? I’d like to understand. We are leaving out the garage for now (you can get a prefabricated garage for 10-15); for outdoor areas, we initially planned 15 (paving, terrace), and we estimated higher additional construction costs. So, I’m really grateful for your advice; if we are completely over budget, we wouldn’t buy the plot (we have about a month left to decide). It would be a shame, but better than having to finance more later and ending up deeply in debt. Because that is the usual price. We are currently building a bungalow based on 2020 prices and are at about €2,850 per square meter (around $3,100 per square yard). This also includes a large photovoltaic system, some electrical extras, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and a ground-source heat pump. Additionally, the ceiling height was increased by one block to 3m (10 feet). Additional construction costs and outdoor areas are not included. And we are talking about prices from before the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war.
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