ᐅ Floor plan for a 190 m² single-family house with basement – any feedback?
Created on: 2 Oct 2022 22:26
B
BastianPDear community,
We are currently in the process of planning our house. The notary appointment for the plot is on October 7th, and after that, we want to decide as quickly as possible between one of the three potential builders. The plot is located in 95326 Kulmbach, and we aim to move in by May 2024 at the latest to enroll our son directly in the appropriate school.
Based on existing floor plans and various iterations and feedback rounds, we have developed this floor plan. Since we lack experience and the construction companies no longer provide useful suggestions for improvement, I hope for the collective feedback from this forum.
This is my first time collecting feedback – please be understanding if I have overlooked anything.
Zoning plan/restrictions
Plot size: 996 m2 (10,719 sq ft)
Slope: Yes – 5m (16 ft) height difference over 40m (131 ft) plot length, sloping down from the street (north) towards the south
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line and boundaries: 5m (16 ft) from the street
Adjacent buildings: west, east, south
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable roof
Architectural style: two-story
Orientation: west <-> east
Maximum height/limits: 9m (30 ft)
Other requirements
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: two-story, gable roof
Basement, floors: basement + 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages: 39 y, 45 y, 4 y, newborn
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor:
* Ground floor: large room for living, dining, and cooking, plus office and shower bathroom
* Upper floor: 3 children’s bedrooms, 1 master bedroom, large family bathroom
* Basement: utility room, workshop, guest room, storage
Office use: family use or home office? Home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 12 times per year
Open or closed architecture: open living areas, closed sleeping rooms
Conservative or modern construction style: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: see-through fireplace between living and dining rooms
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: 2 parking spaces, undecided between garage or carport + bike shed
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons for or against certain features
House design
Origin of the design:
- Planner from a building company: initial idea
- Architect
- Do-it-yourself: significant modifications
What do you particularly like? Why? The room layout on the ground floor suits us very well
What do you not like? Why? Some rooms on the upper floor feel awkwardly arranged, bathroom is very elongated
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 650,000 €
Personal price limit for house, including equipment: 700,000 €
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump
If you have to skip anything, which details/extensions
- can you do without:
- cannot do without: straight staircase, high ceilings, symmetrical façade, large living/dining/kitchen area
Why did the design turn out the way it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which specific requests were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it, in your opinion, particularly good or bad?
What is the most important/key question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
Feedback for refinement, critical questions, avoiding major mistakes
We are currently in the process of planning our house. The notary appointment for the plot is on October 7th, and after that, we want to decide as quickly as possible between one of the three potential builders. The plot is located in 95326 Kulmbach, and we aim to move in by May 2024 at the latest to enroll our son directly in the appropriate school.
Based on existing floor plans and various iterations and feedback rounds, we have developed this floor plan. Since we lack experience and the construction companies no longer provide useful suggestions for improvement, I hope for the collective feedback from this forum.
This is my first time collecting feedback – please be understanding if I have overlooked anything.
Zoning plan/restrictions
Plot size: 996 m2 (10,719 sq ft)
Slope: Yes – 5m (16 ft) height difference over 40m (131 ft) plot length, sloping down from the street (north) towards the south
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building envelope, building line and boundaries: 5m (16 ft) from the street
Adjacent buildings: west, east, south
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable roof
Architectural style: two-story
Orientation: west <-> east
Maximum height/limits: 9m (30 ft)
Other requirements
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: two-story, gable roof
Basement, floors: basement + 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages: 39 y, 45 y, 4 y, newborn
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor:
* Ground floor: large room for living, dining, and cooking, plus office and shower bathroom
* Upper floor: 3 children’s bedrooms, 1 master bedroom, large family bathroom
* Basement: utility room, workshop, guest room, storage
Office use: family use or home office? Home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 12 times per year
Open or closed architecture: open living areas, closed sleeping rooms
Conservative or modern construction style: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: see-through fireplace between living and dining rooms
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: 2 parking spaces, undecided between garage or carport + bike shed
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons for or against certain features
House design
Origin of the design:
- Planner from a building company: initial idea
- Architect
- Do-it-yourself: significant modifications
What do you particularly like? Why? The room layout on the ground floor suits us very well
What do you not like? Why? Some rooms on the upper floor feel awkwardly arranged, bathroom is very elongated
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 650,000 €
Personal price limit for house, including equipment: 700,000 €
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump
If you have to skip anything, which details/extensions
- can you do without:
- cannot do without: straight staircase, high ceilings, symmetrical façade, large living/dining/kitchen area
Why did the design turn out the way it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?
Which specific requests were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it, in your opinion, particularly good or bad?
What is the most important/key question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
Feedback for refinement, critical questions, avoiding major mistakes
F
fromthisplace2 Oct 2022 23:17My initial thoughts:
1. There is a lot of space for the kitchen and dining area on the south side, which I think is good. The living room is on the north side, which works well. However, I don’t understand the kitchen island layout. I would plan the island parallel to the tall cabinets.
2. What is the recess for? Is it for the refrigerator? I wouldn’t design it like that because of the hallway behind it.
3. What is the space between the dining and living areas?
4. I wouldn’t design an entrance door with a window next to it separated by a wall. I would choose an entrance door with a window without a wall in between.
5. How wide is the corridor/entrance at the bottom?
6. In my opinion, it might be worth considering moving the staircase slightly south to reduce the hallway space on the ground floor and the rooms upstairs, in order to enlarge the bathroom on the upper floor.
7. Also, I would divide the narrow bathroom into a parents’ bathroom and a children’s bathroom, and while at it, reconsider the necessity of a shower on the ground floor.
8. I would never place the master bedroom between two children’s bedrooms.
9. Personal question: Are you sure you need a third children’s bedroom?
Your house is shaping up. Good luck! 🙂
1. There is a lot of space for the kitchen and dining area on the south side, which I think is good. The living room is on the north side, which works well. However, I don’t understand the kitchen island layout. I would plan the island parallel to the tall cabinets.
2. What is the recess for? Is it for the refrigerator? I wouldn’t design it like that because of the hallway behind it.
3. What is the space between the dining and living areas?
4. I wouldn’t design an entrance door with a window next to it separated by a wall. I would choose an entrance door with a window without a wall in between.
5. How wide is the corridor/entrance at the bottom?
6. In my opinion, it might be worth considering moving the staircase slightly south to reduce the hallway space on the ground floor and the rooms upstairs, in order to enlarge the bathroom on the upper floor.
7. Also, I would divide the narrow bathroom into a parents’ bathroom and a children’s bathroom, and while at it, reconsider the necessity of a shower on the ground floor.
8. I would never place the master bedroom between two children’s bedrooms.
9. Personal question: Are you sure you need a third children’s bedroom?
Your house is shaping up. Good luck! 🙂
Overall, there are many nice features in this floor plan. It’s certainly quite large, but I assume you wanted feedback on the house itself, not on affordability? 🙂
Two things to consider:
- The niche for the refrigerator: From my perspective, freestanding refrigerators are currently a trend. Whether that will always be the case or whether you might want something different later on is uncertain. In that case, you’d have an unused niche in the wall—or possibly a broom closet, depending on your needs.
- Child 2 / Parents: The child’s room doesn’t really benefit from the narrow entrance, whereas the master bedroom might gain from having a bit more space. I would consider moving the door to the child’s room slightly to the left and giving the master bedroom a wider entrance.
By the way, I agree with the previous commenter regarding the children’s rooms: I would also prefer not to have our bedroom next to the children’s rooms. It depends on the child, of course—ours is a light sleeper and wakes up at every noise.
Two things to consider:
- The niche for the refrigerator: From my perspective, freestanding refrigerators are currently a trend. Whether that will always be the case or whether you might want something different later on is uncertain. In that case, you’d have an unused niche in the wall—or possibly a broom closet, depending on your needs.
- Child 2 / Parents: The child’s room doesn’t really benefit from the narrow entrance, whereas the master bedroom might gain from having a bit more space. I would consider moving the door to the child’s room slightly to the left and giving the master bedroom a wider entrance.
By the way, I agree with the previous commenter regarding the children’s rooms: I would also prefer not to have our bedroom next to the children’s rooms. It depends on the child, of course—ours is a light sleeper and wakes up at every noise.
fromthisplace schrieb:
My first thoughts: They’re mine as well.
kati1337 schrieb:
But you wanted feedback on the house itself, not its affordability, I assume? One can’t go without the other.
.
The recess in the hallway is annoying. The kitchen doesn’t need that either. With some rearranging, you could avoid that recess. Possibly also compensate with a large wardrobe cabinet so there isn’t a bottleneck.
I don’t like anything upstairs! The bathroom is set too far back, and having a bathing area in front of the actual bathroom somehow feels out of place.
I see a lot of basement space.
The budget is tight because of the basement. I would like to see the slope of the building plot! It looks as if this could be included in the living area—meaning the basement as a lower ground floor integrated into the house—and thereby you might be able to do without one floor level.
BastianP schrieb:
The notary appointment for the plot is on October 7th, and after that, we want to decide as quickly as possible among the three potential builders. The plot is located in 95326 Kulmbach. There is a section called "Experiences with Building Companies" where several of these builders are discussed, and for many regions, you can find additional companies. Kulmbach is not unusual in this regard; you might even find providers from there already mentioned here.
BastianP schrieb:
Based on existing floor plans and several iterations with feedback rounds, we developed this layout. [...] This is my first time collecting feedback – please bear with me if I have forgotten something. Several rounds of feedback versus first-time feedback collection sounds somewhat contradictory (?)
BastianP schrieb:
Since we completely lack experience and the building companies no longer provide useful suggestions for improvement, Where then does the perceived qualification and motivation come from to modify the builder planner’s design (and which parts motivated that)?
Useful suggestions can be addressed to Irene Campregher, Peter Nidetzky, or Konrad Toenz 🙂 – what kind of feedback would you have expected from the building companies?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
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Below, the floor plan fits well except for the recess; with three children, the cloakroom space will no longer be sufficient.
Upstairs, I find it suboptimal due to the unnecessary narrow corridor, the entrance jut-out by the children’s room, and the awkwardly shaped bathroom.
I consider the price of 650,000 € ambitious because of the basement and especially the slope (already planned retaining walls are visible, and that won’t be the end of it...).
I would expect higher costs there.
Upstairs, I find it suboptimal due to the unnecessary narrow corridor, the entrance jut-out by the children’s room, and the awkwardly shaped bathroom.
I consider the price of 650,000 € ambitious because of the basement and especially the slope (already planned retaining walls are visible, and that won’t be the end of it...).
I would expect higher costs there.
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