ᐅ New Single-Family Home Construction – Join Us on Our Journey!

I would like to thank everyone again who has already contributed valuable input here. After the planning was (rightfully) thoroughly reviewed by you, I have now completed the floor plan questionnaire for you. I would be very grateful if you could possibly help me further with ideas or sketches.

Floor Plan Questionnaire Forum – Gregor

Building Regulations / Restrictions

• Plot size: 1,062m2 (11,430 sq ft)
• Slope: No slope, flat plot
• General building regulations: Before commissioning the general contractor’s architect, I held several expert consultations. Multiple analyses (including use of Bayernatlas) showed that ALL surrounding houses exceed the outdated building regulations and have significantly larger footprints. There are also plots where multiple building units were constructed (keyword: separate granny flat). Therefore, the current strategy is to adjust the building envelope through a permit approval process (still to a lesser extent than some neighbors).

• Permitted footprint: 155m2 (1,668 sq ft)
• Permitted number of stories: 2 full stories
• Note from the building regulations: If within a building envelope, for which a building with category II is designated on the plan, only a building with category I+D is constructed, the maximum permitted footprint for the main building as defined on the plan is increased by 40%.
• Building envelope, building line and building boundary: see image/attachment
• Building setbacks – see image/attachment
• Number of parking spaces: A double parking space with driveway is desired (possibly space for an additional car)
• Number of floors: 2 full stories + attic
• Roof type: Pitched roofs; if multiple buildings exist, roofing must be uniform; maximum permitted roof pitch for buildings with II full stories is 38 degrees. Exceptions apply to extensions to existing buildings.
• Architectural style: Originally desired – modern and cubic
• Orientation: Plot faces northwest (see original post in this thread)
• Maximum heights / limits:
• Category I + D: Maximum 1 full story with wall height 4.30m (14 ft)
• Category II: Maximum 2 full stories with wall height 6.30m (21 ft)
• Additional requirements:
• For buildings with II full stories, a knee wall above the 2nd full story attic is not permitted
• Requirements for dormers – see attachment

Homeowners’ Requirements

• Architectural style: Initially cubic; modern style with generous glazing
• Roof type: According to building regulations – most likely gable roof
• Building type: KfW 55 (or KfW 40) energy standard
• Basement, number of stories: 2 full stories + attic + basement + separate granny flat
• Number of occupants, ages:
• Parents + 2 planned children + parents-in-law (without permanent residence)
• Planned room layout:

Ground Floor:

• Large living/dining area with adjacent (but separable) kitchen in bottom left plus gallery overlooking the first floor
• Utility room
• Guest toilet
• Garage
• Granny flat: Strictly separate entrance – therefore a detached unit. Important: Age-appropriate (i.e. single level). About 55m2 (592 sq ft). Originally, design proposals had the granny flat as part of the main house; however, this made the main ground floor layout very awkward, so we decided on separate buildings, which we are currently quite happy with.

Upper Floor:

• Gallery overlooking the ground floor – very important to us, we like the sense of space
• 2 children’s bedrooms each with dedicated bathroom
• 1 playroom (initially home cinema, later repurposed) (optional)
• Parents’ wing with master bedroom, dressing room, bathroom

Attic:

• 2 separate offices
• 1 guest room
• 1 small guest bathroom

We find having two separate offices in the attic very appealing. The guest area does not necessarily have to be in the attic.

Basement:

• 1 technical room (sized sufficiently for all components)
• 1 laundry room
• 1 storage room
• Large fitness room – initial estimate of space needed for all equipment is 30–35m2 (320–375 sq ft)
• Wellness room with sauna – no special requirements. Prefabricated sauna + 2 loungers + possibly a small non-shower area

Additional plans:

• Air-to-air or air-to-water heat pump – to be decided
• Photovoltaic system with/without storage
• Possibly pool (3.5/4m x 8m or 3.5/4m x 12m) with heat pump (and counter-current system) – to be decided if budget allows
• Sauna in basement room
• Air conditioning for various rooms
• Smart Home – probably KNX: lighting, some sockets, blinds, shutters; energy monitoring probably not needed
• Garden: depending on final house plan

• Office: Family use or home office? Definitely 2 separate offices – 60–80% home office
• Number of guest stays per year: Guests (1–2 people) visit only for 1–2 nights. Due to building outside the city, this tends to increase.
• Open or closed architectural style: preference for open
• Conservative or modern construction: modern
• Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen with island; wife’s preference: privacy screen to dining room when guests are present (guests shouldn’t see food prep), otherwise open – hence idea of a sliding door as in the original plans; also: a small breakfast table in the kitchen in addition to dining table
• Number of dining seats: 8–10
• Fireplace: preferably in living room and master bedroom – preferred type is low-maintenance gas fireplace
• Music / stereo wall: no special preference. I will probably equip the house with Sonos
• Balcony, roof terrace: no specific preference but outdoor spaces desired. At least 1 outdoor area for master bedroom, possibly another
• Garage, carport: Double parking (2 cars) with storage space for bikes + 1 motorcycle
• Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
• Other wishes / special notes / daily routine, including reasons for preferences:
• Consideration of sun movement
• We spend a lot of time at the breakfast table
• We both have long working hours, so the offices should be pleasant
• We both exercise daily → fitness room needs to be fairly large

House Design

Who developed the plan:

- Planner from a construction company: architect of the construction company

- Architect

- Do-it-yourself: Our ideas/wishes have been incorporated

What do you particularly like? Why? Glass facade, separate granny flat unit, master bedroom daylight

What do you not like? Why? Attic; many poorly thought-out points as discussed in this thread

Price estimate by architect/planner: 1.35 to 1.4 million completed turnkey

Personal price limit for house including equipment: all-in (including garden and remaining ideas) max 1.7 to 1.8 million

Preferred heating technology: heat pump + photovoltaic

If you have to omit features or upgrades

- What can you live without: playroom upstairs, pool (although reluctantly)

- What you cannot live without: separate granny flat, gallery, 2 separate offices

Why is the design as it is now? For example:

Standard design from the planner? 2–3 iterations with general contractor’s planner

Which wishes were implemented by the architect? See thread

A mix of many examples from various magazines… long collection and compilation of personal wishes

What makes it especially good or bad in your eyes? Missing or lacking consideration of important details (see thread)

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?

As you can see from this thread, there is a base plan which you rightfully criticized. Therefore, I would be endlessly grateful if you could support me with your ideas or possibly sketches based on the original plan.

gregman22 schrieb:

Plot: 1062m2 (11430 sq ft); approximately 25.5m (84 ft) x 41.64m (137 ft)

And the building envelope shown on the site plan is about 15 x 17m (49 x 56 ft) – is that correct? The site plan is oriented to true north – right?

gregman22 schrieb:

Garage, carport: double parking space (2 cars) with storage for bicycles plus 1 motorcycle

That doesn’t fit with the current design at all. What about waste bins? How many bins will be needed? Recycling, residual waste, paper, and organic waste?

gregman22 schrieb:

Roof style: according to the development plan – presumably a gable roof

So why is a hip roof now planned?

No knee wall in the attic… Have you looked at the currently planned home office spaces with that in mind? The usable areas with standing height are quite small.

Was the granny flat intended for the parents, and the in-laws visit occasionally?

The plot is well known here in the forum already 😉

For your information: the staircase measures 3.60 meters (12 feet). The window height on the terrace side is 276 cm (109 inches), so we have a similar approximate ceiling height on the ground floor (Edit: or rather, the ceiling height includes the height up to the windows...). The open-plan room is not 86 square meters (925 square feet) but only 66 square meters (710 square feet). The planner included the hallway in the calculation – sneaky move.

Structurally, the situation is very complex with the windows without a ring beam... I think the planner is proposing something that cannot be easily resolved. I’ll say it again: for a general contractor this is simply too big a challenge, and you will pay the price for it.

gregman22 schrieb:

Approved floor area: 155 m² (1,670 sq ft)

You’re at over 222 m² (2,390 sq ft). How can this be explained? How does this add up?

gregman22 schrieb:

Parents + 2 planned children + parents-in-law (without permanent residence)

gregman22 schrieb:

• We spend a lot of time at the breakfast table today
• We have quite long working hours, so the offices should be nice
• We both do sports daily, so the fitness room should be adequately sized

It seems the children are not born yet. I would have guessed that the children are already older since the offices are in the attic and there is hardly any opportunity for childcare there.

If you like kitchen tables, then I would plan accordingly.

gregman22 schrieb:

Therefore, I would be infinitely grateful if you could support me with your ideas, possibly sketches based on the original plan.

The requests are very fixed. From your list, I see hardly any options to do things differently. This and that to the basement, something else to the attic… playroom here and that kind of room over there…

I can’t imagine you being open to even the slightest change to the structure in order to eliminate the negative aspects.

I am also confused by the floor area of 155 m² (1,670 sq ft) as well as the planned area, which is much larger.

kbt09 schrieb:

And the building area from the site plan measures about 15x17m (49x56 feet) – right? The site plan is oriented north – correct?

I can’t give you the exact measurements offhand. Sounds plausible. The site plan is oriented north, correct!

kbt09 schrieb:

Doesn’t fit at all with the current design. What about waste management? How many trash bins do you need? Recycling, general waste, paper, and organic waste?

Good question, I have no idea. This hasn’t been considered at all yet. But it might be part of the next fine-tuning steps – I don’t want to be unfair to the general contractor there.

kbt09 schrieb:

Why plan a hip roof now?

There are hip roofs in the neighborhood. So this is a first draft. The roof style can apparently be adjusted without any issues.

kbt09 schrieb:

No knee wall in the attic… have you checked the currently planned offices under this premise? They are very small areas with standing height.

Exactly – that’s what I meant earlier. The areas that result are completely useless. I can’t work with them at all and honestly find it almost a shame that the attic was just handed over to me without any comments.

kbt09 schrieb:

The granny flat was for the parents, and the parents-in-law come to visit occasionally?

For the foreseeable period of 10+ years, the plan is that the parents-in-law will spend about 30-50% of the year there. During the rest of the time, longer visits or stays by my parents are planned. So occupancy throughout the year will probably be around 50-70%.

gregman22 schrieb:

Exactly – that’s what I meant earlier. The floor areas generated are completely useless. I can’t make any sense of them at all, and I almost find it unacceptable that the loft was handed to me without any explanation.

Well, this is what happens when the wish list is very limited or very extensive. The hip roof seems to have nearly the steepest pitch allowed. Combined with the specified footprint, quite a lot has already been squeezed out.

We don’t know you. When reading through the wishes and requirements in the questionnaire this afternoon, I thought: He was told that many things don’t add up, yet he’s listing premises again that really should be reconsidered. Then I recognized the plot and remembered that, after no one could accommodate your wishes here back then, the plot was also shown in another forum. I believe there was also a setback there. Then you find a general contractor who initially cooperates because, naturally, they want to earn money from a lucrative project, fully aware that many things won’t work. Maybe it was communicated from the start that this applies to the roof?! You seem very persistent, which isn’t necessarily an advantage if you ignore warnings about possible issues.

ypg schrieb:

You are at over 222 sqm (over 2389 sq ft). How can this be explained? How does it add up?

This is mainly because we separated the granny flat. Our confidence comes from the fact that several plots (far more than just one) significantly exceed the floor area ratio and the originally required building envelopes of the very old development plan, much more than we would be doing here. Therefore, the idea is to go through the approval process.

I already discussed these thoughts with more than two construction companies in the early phase. Both were confident here. Do you consider this completely impossible based on our preliminary analyses (Bayernatlas etc.)?
An example neighboring house has a smaller plot but a floor area of over 255 sqm (over 2745 sq ft).

ypg schrieb:

It seems there are no children yet. I would have guessed already older children here, since the offices are under the roof and there is hardly any possibility for childcare.

Both statements are correct. Good point, we will reconsider that.

ypg schrieb:

The plot is well known here in the forum 😉
For your information: the staircase measures 3.60 meters (11 ft 10 in)… window height on the terrace is 276 cm (109 inches)… so we also roughly have this ceiling height on the ground floor (edit: or the ceiling is included in the window height) … The open-plan room is not 86 sqm (925 sq ft), but only 66 sqm (710 sq ft). The planner included the hallway, that rascal.
Structurally quite complex, especially with windows and no ring beam… I think the planner is throwing something at you here that simply cannot be solved that easily. I’ll say it again: this is simply too big a challenge for a general contractor, which you will pay for later.

You are at over 222 sqm (2389 sq ft). How can this be explained? How does it add up?

It seems there are no children yet. I would have guessed older children already, since the offices are under the roof and there is hardly any possibility for childcare.

If you like kitchen tables, then I would also plan it like that.

The wishes are very fixed. From your list I see hardly any possibility to do things differently. This and that to the basement, that to the attic… playroom here and such a room there…
I cannot imagine that you would be open even slightly to refining the layout to eliminate the negative aspects.

I am also confused about the floor area of 155 sqm (1668 sq ft) as well as the planned area, which is much larger.

IMPORTANT comment: I did not want to give the impression that the room arrangements are so fixed. I am completely open to a new distribution of all rooms across the different levels. Please, for now, consider only the rooms themselves as wishes.