Hello dear forum community,
after quietly reading along for a long time, we have now registered here and want to share our house plans with you.
First of all, we would like to say a big THANK YOU – the information you get here is truly invaluable.
Now a bit about us: we are both around 50, and our two grown children have moved out. Currently, we live in my parents’ house, but we want to realize our own dream of building a house. We are very fortunate to be able to afford the construction without any problems. The building plot belongs to us, and the local building authority has given us a verbal go-ahead so far (there is no zoning plan as it is currently farmland). We only have to contribute proportionally to the development costs, which is fine for us.
Our children and guests enjoy visiting, so we want to set up a guest apartment in the basement. For old age, our design allows us to convert the ground floor barrier-free at any time with minor modifications, including an elevator if needed. In case of emergency, the guest apartment could also be used for a carer, although hopefully this will never be necessary.
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 2,100m² (0.52 acres)
Slope: Yes, see elevations
Floor area ratio: no zoning plan
Floor space index: no zoning plan
Building envelope, building line and boundary: no zoning plan, we keep at least 6.0m (20 feet) clearance all around
Edge development: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 1 story, basement
Roof style: hinted “shed roof”
Architectural style: ???
Orientation: North/South
Maximum height / limitations: No specifications
Further requirements: No valid zoning plan, planning permission granted for usual residential construction
Owner’s Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: one-story bungalow with basement (prepared for barrier-free access)
Basement, floors: basement yes, single-story with open roof structure
Number of people, age: 2, me 50, her 48, 1 dog
Space requirements ground floor / upper floor: see floor plan
Office: family use or home office? Occasional home office for me
Overnight guests per year: many
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: special
Open kitchen, kitchen island: definitely yes
Number of dining seats: minimum 8
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: integrated in the house
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why something should or should not be included
House Design
Who created the design?
- Planner from a construction company
- Architect
- Do-it-Yourself (DIY)
The planning was done by us ourselves.
What do you particularly like? Why?
Optimized for our personal wishes— we have incorporated all our requirements.
What do you dislike? Why?
Price estimate according to architect/planner:
Personal price limit for house including fittings: We estimate construction costs around €700,000–800,000 (about $750,000–860,000), but financing is secured and this is not the main focus here.
Preferred heating technology: not finalized yet, definitely photovoltaic and solar panels on the roof, air-to-water heat pump or geothermal energy.
If you had to give up something, on which details / additional features could you do without?
Good question, probably the pool if it meant we could get a hot tub instead...
What can you absolutely not do without?
The large open space and the guest apartment.
Why did the design turn out the way it is? For example:
Standard planter’s template? No, we simply planned according to our preferences, open roof structure, large open space because we like to entertain guests, wellness area is a must.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion?
What is the most important fundamental question regarding the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
after quietly reading along for a long time, we have now registered here and want to share our house plans with you.
First of all, we would like to say a big THANK YOU – the information you get here is truly invaluable.
Now a bit about us: we are both around 50, and our two grown children have moved out. Currently, we live in my parents’ house, but we want to realize our own dream of building a house. We are very fortunate to be able to afford the construction without any problems. The building plot belongs to us, and the local building authority has given us a verbal go-ahead so far (there is no zoning plan as it is currently farmland). We only have to contribute proportionally to the development costs, which is fine for us.
Our children and guests enjoy visiting, so we want to set up a guest apartment in the basement. For old age, our design allows us to convert the ground floor barrier-free at any time with minor modifications, including an elevator if needed. In case of emergency, the guest apartment could also be used for a carer, although hopefully this will never be necessary.
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 2,100m² (0.52 acres)
Slope: Yes, see elevations
Floor area ratio: no zoning plan
Floor space index: no zoning plan
Building envelope, building line and boundary: no zoning plan, we keep at least 6.0m (20 feet) clearance all around
Edge development: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 1 story, basement
Roof style: hinted “shed roof”
Architectural style: ???
Orientation: North/South
Maximum height / limitations: No specifications
Further requirements: No valid zoning plan, planning permission granted for usual residential construction
Owner’s Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: one-story bungalow with basement (prepared for barrier-free access)
Basement, floors: basement yes, single-story with open roof structure
Number of people, age: 2, me 50, her 48, 1 dog
Space requirements ground floor / upper floor: see floor plan
Office: family use or home office? Occasional home office for me
Overnight guests per year: many
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: special
Open kitchen, kitchen island: definitely yes
Number of dining seats: minimum 8
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: integrated in the house
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Further wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why something should or should not be included
House Design
Who created the design?
- Planner from a construction company
- Architect
- Do-it-Yourself (DIY)
The planning was done by us ourselves.
What do you particularly like? Why?
Optimized for our personal wishes— we have incorporated all our requirements.
What do you dislike? Why?
Price estimate according to architect/planner:
Personal price limit for house including fittings: We estimate construction costs around €700,000–800,000 (about $750,000–860,000), but financing is secured and this is not the main focus here.
Preferred heating technology: not finalized yet, definitely photovoltaic and solar panels on the roof, air-to-water heat pump or geothermal energy.
If you had to give up something, on which details / additional features could you do without?
Good question, probably the pool if it meant we could get a hot tub instead...
What can you absolutely not do without?
The large open space and the guest apartment.
Why did the design turn out the way it is? For example:
Standard planter’s template? No, we simply planned according to our preferences, open roof structure, large open space because we like to entertain guests, wellness area is a must.
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion?
What is the most important fundamental question regarding the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
11ant schrieb:
That there is an echo doesn’t have to be the case (solution see @hampshire, if I remember correctly: Lignotrend).You just have to plan it or have it planned.M
Marvinius9 Oct 2022 14:10k-man2021 schrieb:
As many have already mentioned here, I can only warn from my own experience against going to an architect with ready-made plans. We also have a sloped plot and had considered several design options beforehand for how we imagined our dream home, though not nearly as detailed as the original poster. We didn’t bring any of those ideas to the architect—in hindsight, luckily not. Our architect took two to three months for the design, and it was quite different from our initial ideas but so brilliant that we only made minor changes. Now the building permit / planning permission application is in progress.
In my opinion, trying to save on the design phase for a house on a sloped site is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when building (in general, I think it’s wrong to save on the architect). A comment on saving money on the architect: We planned our house on a slope ourselves based on catalog templates and the floor plan of a living level from our old house and are still very satisfied even after five years. At the time, we consciously decided against an architect because I couldn’t really estimate the additional costs. For the general contractors shortlisted, I just mentioned half of our budget upfront. In the end, it was enough to cover the upgrades, interior finishing, and landscaping. 🙂
Sure, an architect could have planned the main entrance on the basement level, which in our case would have been the ideal use of the terrain. (We did try, but it eventually became too complicated for me.) However, that would have required a ceiling height of 245cm (8 ft) in the basement instead of the current 235cm (7 ft 9 in), and just that change along with all necessary adjustments would have driven the costs up too much with what we know now.
However, we did have a “landscape architect” involved for planning the outdoor spaces: The design for the street-facing side was unfortunately unusable, but we adopted some ideas for the garden area. Overall, we felt the price he quoted was not appropriate for the services provided.
wolko22 schrieb:
One more thing I want to clarify—I’m not sure if this was misunderstood or misinterpreted. The €800,000 is the total budget we have available without overextending ourselves financially (equity and partial financing). That means ideas like wraparound balconies, garden access from every room, and so on are also beyond our budget; our budget is limited, too.This point kind of got lost in passing here, but I think it’s quite important. I had loosely interpreted the original post as if money were no object, like "we’re wealthy and will build whatever we want." Considering that "money is limited," I strongly suggest reconsidering and consulting a professional planner who might be able to fit your wishes into a smaller area. Your building as it stands would be 19m (62 feet) long, which is quite large. Adding landscaping, a pool, wellness area, sauna, etc., on top of that within the €800,000 budget (I assume you already own the plot?) could become quite tight.
Hello Kati1337,
yes, budget is definitely an important issue for us as well; perhaps the statement "financing is secured" was misleading.
To answer your question, yes, we own the entire farmland and would only convert the indicated portion into building land—provided the local authority agrees. I already mentioned that the pool, elevator, photovoltaic system, and incidental construction costs are not included in our cost estimate, but we understand that staying within budget will still be challenging without these.
Our advantage is that we live in a very rural area where local construction companies still offer fair prices, for example regarding hourly rates. For material costs, we are hoping for market stabilization and price decreases by our planned construction start in 2024.
yes, budget is definitely an important issue for us as well; perhaps the statement "financing is secured" was misleading.
To answer your question, yes, we own the entire farmland and would only convert the indicated portion into building land—provided the local authority agrees. I already mentioned that the pool, elevator, photovoltaic system, and incidental construction costs are not included in our cost estimate, but we understand that staying within budget will still be challenging without these.
Our advantage is that we live in a very rural area where local construction companies still offer fair prices, for example regarding hourly rates. For material costs, we are hoping for market stabilization and price decreases by our planned construction start in 2024.
wolko22 schrieb:
Actually, it’s mainly about the sauna session, relaxation room, pool bar, and we get the attractive staff when we go to the spa Then I really don’t understand why you need a separate wellness area. In my opinion, that’s redundant and wasteful. You always have to heat the wellness area just because you sometimes use the sauna there. You could simply build ONE large, great spa bathroom and include the sauna in it. Additionally, add a small guest toilet. You can use the extra square meters for a second bedroom or office.
Shift the entrance to the left side of the plan, place the bedroom on the northeast side (nice and cool with maximum privacy), including a large spa bathroom and dressing room. Access to the terrace remains. To the left of the entrance, put the office/second bedroom and the small guest toilet. But that’s just a thought; I think you should consult the architect with your room program and without detailed plans.
wolko22 schrieb:
planned start of construction in 2024Two thousand and twentyseven, but I already mentioned that 🙂https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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