ᐅ Floor plan of a 172 m² bungalow in Brandenburg, south of Berlin

K a t j a schrieb:

There is far too much resistance on your part to make any suggestions here.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

I don’t agree. The tone from the other side has been harsh from the beginning as well.

You are completely ignoring the January discussion!

Sorrow87 schrieb:

"Those knowledgeable in Feng Shui will be horrified," which didn’t come from you, I find inappropriate, somewhat condescending, and not very helpful for a solution-focused discussion.

Actually, that was from Würfel 😉

Sorrow87 schrieb:

You are overestimating the home theater too much.

I get the feeling that you are the one putting too much emphasis on the home theater. Nobody wants to take your hobby or your daily routine in the home theater away, but its presence on the property is hard to overlook.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

5.29 meters (17.4 ft) to the boundary seems quite reasonable to me.

That is really pushing it, especially considering there will probably be a seating terrace as well.
I would also move it similarly to the right side of the plan, so there is still a view over the rest of the property towards the top of the plan.

ypg schrieb:

That’s really pushing the limit, especially considering that there will probably be a seating terrace added as well.
I would also shift it similarly towards the right side of the plan, so there’s still a view of the rest of the property from the top side of the plan.

I’m not a fan of having only 5 m (16 ft) to the property line, particularly since you have a decent-sized lot of 763 m² (8,210 ft²) and don’t need to squeeze the terrace right up against the neighbor’s fence.

I would question the idea of a double carport. Maybe it would be better to use the edge areas on the left and right for parking, if that is allowed.

K a t j a schrieb:

Your architect is responsible for solutions, although some here occasionally present some as well. But that is not our task. We only point out problems or praise well-done designs.

Most self-builders are not trained professionals in the construction industry and therefore seek advice. Of course, you can go straight to an architect or a general contractor who will provide expert and competent advice for a fee from the start, and then you build your house with your several hundred thousand euros through the service general contractor. But usually, you work with only one company, and as a layperson, you don’t always know if you are throwing money out the window or being professionally and competently advised and served in the big shark tank of the construction industry.

The wise and smart layperson reads up and gets a second independent opinion from third parties. But where do you start with the research? On Google and other search engines? Then you discover a forum called the Self-Build Forum, where several (hobby) professionals from the construction sector, alongside admins, moderators, silent readers, and non-expert questioners, gather.

When you register in a forum on the topic of “self-build” and want to regularly comment on other posts, I find it a bit poor to only give praise or highlight problems without offering constructive solutions. That is exactly what a forum offers—the exchange between people with the goal that everyone benefits. And it is free. Don’t we all want to approach a project better prepared and save money? Isn’t it also nice to help others?

I agree that you don’t have to feel responsible for solving a problem, but please don’t speak for others here. There are other commentators who surely decide for themselves what they see as their voluntary role here.

When you say that my architect alone is responsible for the solutions, there is a subtle undertone that it shouldn’t be too easy for me. In the end, the architect creates the final design, but until then I can talk to him. And in this process, opinions but especially ideas and solutions from third parties (friends, family, and also, for example, (hobby) experts from a forum) can be included.

ypg schrieb:

You’re completely ignoring the January discussion now!

Of course, it is tough to receive a lot of criticism at first, and reacting defensively is, after all, human and not wrong. You want to explain your own intellectual effort.

I have taken a lot from that: getting daylight into the living space from the southwest, moving away from the square and hip roof. Reduced the footprint by almost 30 m2 (320 ft2). Added a guest toilet, now even with a shower, and not next to the dining area. It also seems that the interior of the house is no longer a huge problem—except for the passage through the bedroom—but almost solely the outdoor area.

K a t j a schrieb:

I would question the double carport. Maybe it would be better to use the boundary areas left and right for parking if that is allowed.

Thanks for the suggestion. We would prefer not to give up the utility room and the double carport, but we will include that in the next evaluation. The area can only be a maximum of 150 m2 (1,615 ft2), no more is possible. I also don’t want to go back to the square shape. We don’t want a hipped roof anymore after seeing the designs with the purlin roof. That already looks very nice from the outside.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

When you join a forum focused on "house construction" with the goal of regularly commenting on posts, I find it a bit disappointing to only give praise or point out problems without suggesting constructive solutions.

Yes, I am known here for not providing constructive solutions. 🙄
It’s always nice when someone explains the world to me. Thanks for that.

K a t j a schrieb:

Yes, I’m known here for not offering appealing solutions. 🙄

@Sorrow87,
in this forum, @K a t j a, @Würfel*, and @ypg are known for providing well-thought-out solutions and floor plans.
They also have a good eye for floor plans and their weaknesses.
If you believe you have the perfect floor plan for your needs, then build it.
Our approach for a bungalow in Berlin was:
a nice garden, a holiday home feeling, living in and with the garden, and everything else followed naturally.
If you’re interested, feel free to check out what living in a bungalow means to us.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

And in this process, opinions—but especially ideas and solutions from third parties (friends, family, and for example knowledgeable hobbyists in a forum)—can be incorporated.

Sorry. Developing solutions that go beyond a simple illustrative pencil sketch or a brief explanation takes time.
If an original poster (OP) is rather stubborn (this doesn’t have to be only you, but generally speaking), rejecting well-intended, reasonable, and understandable arguments and not even accepting (I don’t mean adopting) them, nor asking follow-up questions like why, how, or “don’t you think that” or similar, then I won’t sit down for several hours or days to work out something that a) is buildable (without enormous dream costs and structural challenges), b) well thought-out (considering the needs/daily routines of the OP or commonly accepted daily use), and c) empathetic toward the OP. Whether it’s liked or not is a different matter.

I often spend several hours, sometimes days, working through poor site orientations and many wishes… yes, because I enjoy it. But also because there are OPs who appreciate me and my time or the design.
But I have no interest when an OP basically rejects any offers of help. Our objections or arguments can’t be that bad if similar points appear in other groups or forums as well. Of course, there are also plenty of compliments here and there (albeit less so), but you can easily separate the wheat from the chaff when someone just says “great floor plan,” and at the same time another points out that the kitchen is too tight, the cloakroom is missing, or sightlines A-B or C-D don’t work.

Katja is similarly ambitious, maybe more patient, even though she follows a different style.

In that sense, I find it a bit narrow-minded to only see your own post and not even consider the enthusiastic people behind it. I always recommend checking out other people’s posts in this forum to get a feeling for planning. You only see your own house; we have been working for years with many houses and numerous questioners, which builds experience and empirical knowledge.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

That’s exactly what a forum is for—to exchange ideas with the goal that everyone benefits.

Yeah. But often we have to pull information out of an OP’s mouth, thoughts that have already taken place. As far as I know, you haven’t even mentioned your age. Without that, we don’t know if we’re dealing with a 30-year-old or a senior citizen… Have you mentioned that you don’t spend your days working at home and just sit in the media room? There was something about an outdoor shower, which only came up recently?!… I don’t remember exactly… In that respect, I think the exchanges are often one-sided. These basics need to be addressed at the beginning, not afterward.

There are only demands, and your “Feng Shui from Würfel” was apparently never googled by you to understand what it actually means, instead it was casually dismissed. Since Feng Shui is the teaching of “the residing human,” meaning the harmonious design of human living, that was basically an own goal. But I’ll let it go.
It shows your persistence, and no one here needs to impose themselves or their knowledge.

And now something about your words on why our opinion does not reflect what you want:

Sorrow87 schrieb:

Others just plan their standard suburban house there with 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) on one side and 3 meters (10 feet) on the other.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

We want this much space inside the rooms, and we want a home cinema, and we want it all on one level. No stairs anywhere.

No one said you have to give up on a bungalow with a home cinema.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

Sure, we could build further to the right. But then the utility room (HAR) has to go back inside the house.

Würfel has demonstrated quite well that you can make some adjustments up there, or that there is potential, even if it’s just a small initial idea… meaning you still get everything you described. At least considering it was put together quickly. Many roads lead to Rome—the one is faster, the other slower but nicer.

Sorrow87 schrieb:

Should I just not use it because I can’t see it?

That’s probably the case. It’s easy to forget that a plot also extends behind the house if you don’t have that part clearly in mind. Also, it becomes a hassle if you have to walk generously around the building multiple times in the evening to get something from the garden shed. Then gardening stops being fun. And if the lady has a migraine in bed, the gentlemen’s sauna evening is off the table too…

Sorrow87 schrieb:

The matter of the morning greeting we really like. It gives us a lot. We want it that way.
For the area in the northeast, we have ideas—there will be a sauna and, if necessary, a small tool shed which we don’t want to see from the top of the plan. I think you could come up with ideas too. I trust you can.

Yes, something like that can be planned more cleverly (or at least more skillfully).

Sorrow87 schrieb:

It rather separates a part of the property from the house.

Yeah.