ᐅ Floor Plan & Placement Single-Family House approx. 150 sqm 2 Full Floors Gable Roof

Hello everyone,

We are currently planning a single-family home on our plot and would like to get your opinions on the house placement and the floor plan. The house should have a maximum of 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft) of living space. The goal is to make it as cost-efficient as possible while still meeting all common modern standards. Basically, we would need about 10 sqm (108 sq ft) less space on the upper floor than on the ground floor, but extensions and complex roof constructions are expensive, so we have decided not to include them for now.

I have tried creating the initial design myself and have drafted the house positioning and the ground floor layout. The sketches are therefore very basic and contain drawing inaccuracies (non-practical dimensions, overlaps, etc.), so please bear with me. Windows, doors, and kitchen planning are not yet sufficiently detailed. The upper floor has not been drawn yet because our requirements can be met by various upper floor layouts from standard house types.

Regarding the positioning: Although the plot is large, it should remain divisible. The house will be located in the northern part (as close as possible to the northern street). The southern part of the plot will remain undeveloped and will be accessed from the southern street. A particularly important issue is privacy screening for the terrace from the neighbors to the east and west.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1400 sqm (15,070 sq ft)
Slope: completely flat
Floor area ratio (FAR): -
Plot coverage ratio: 0.6 for open 2-3 story building style
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: 3 m (10 ft) distance on all sides except for outbuildings with ridge or flat roof height up to 3.00 m (10 ft); minimum 5 m (16 ft) setback for garage from the street. No building lines – neighboring buildings are not uniform.
Edge development: -
Number of parking spaces: -
Number of floors: max. 2-3
Roof type: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: -
Maximum heights / restrictions: -
Other requirements

Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type
Basement, floors: 2 full floors plus attic as storage space. No basement (geologically feasible but not cost-efficient).
Gable roof. Shape and height should not prevent future conversion of attic into living space.
Number and age of occupants: 2 adults (35 & 35 years), 2 children (3 & 5 years).
Space requirements on the ground floor: kitchen, living room, dining area, utility/hobby room, office, WC including shower, small pantry if possible
Space requirements on the upper floor: master bedroom, 2 children’s bedrooms, bathroom; depending on possibilities: separate WC, storage room, stairs to attic
Office: shared family use and home office about once a week
Guest overnight stays per year: /
Open or closed architecture: rather open. The living room should ideally have a niche that is not directly visible from the dining table (for hosting partner’s guests).
Conservative or modern style: no preference
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open;
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage. Plus 2 parking spots in the driveway in front.
Utility garden, greenhouse: dense vegetation along northern, southern, and western borders (not eastern). Well-placed fruit trees to provide privacy screening planned.

House Design
Designer: self-drawn draft. Planning to commission an independent architect soon (2 quotes around 5000€).

What do you like most? Why? Simple construction. Room program represented. Garage provides visual and sound protection to the neighboring house. Couch oriented parallel to windows; living areas oriented west/south. Garage located close to main entrance.
What do you dislike? Why? – long hallway. Stairs possibly extend too far into kitchen. Driveway is too long.
Price estimate according to architects/planners: previous experience from discussions with 5 different planners/architects: cost estimation is not a favored topic (“you see that once you get quotes from construction companies”)
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: approx. 400,000€ with significant personal contribution (finishing, roof, garage).
Preferred heating technology: air heat pump, underfloor heating

If you had to give up something: this is already the minimum.

Why is the design as it is now? The garage positioning shows that the entrance should most likely be on the side —> side entrance leads to splitting the ground floor by a long hallway. Living areas are oriented as much as possible to the south and west.

I look forward to your opinions and suggestions for improvement.
Best regards

Did I miss the information about the budget?

Garage located that far from the street?

Is the lower part planned to be built on at some point?

Is there a zoning plan / building permit?

Evaluating the floor plan is only possible with all levels.

toni111 schrieb:

Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: about €400,000 (roughly $440,000) with a lot of self-work (interior finishing, roof, garage).

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

Did I miss the budget information?

Yes, you did. For 150m² (1,615 sq ft) with a lot of self-work, it is doable.

toni111 schrieb:

I haven’t drawn the upper floor yet because our requirements can be met with various standard upper floor layouts from production homes.

But not with the staircase positioning. It divides the east and south sides of the house in an unbalanced way, making it difficult to plan adequately on the upper floor.
In my opinion, the kitchen is also too narrow for a single-family house: I had 2.50m (8 feet 2 inches) in my row house, simply because there was no other option.

toni111 schrieb:

The staircase possibly protrudes too far into the kitchen.

Not only that: the pantry has a height of about 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches) at the door, but only roughly around 130cm (4 feet 3 inches) near the exterior wall. You basically have to crawl in there and hope not to bump your head.

Ultimately, the dimensions are quite ambitious. Shower, toilet, and a washbasin of adequate size next to each other require more width. The wardrobe cabinets are not deep enough to accommodate hangers.
The chimney stack will protrude somewhere inconveniently at the top. The fireplace itself has no space (required clearance from walls and furniture).

toni111 schrieb:

The plot is large, but it should remain subdividable.

In that case, I would plan so that you don’t have to look directly from the dining area onto the driveway after subdivision. The west side is definitely more important for a garden seating area than the south side.
Personally, I would first rotate the house orientation; that way, you also avoid a long hallway in the living area.

toni111 schrieb:

Plot size: approx. 1400 sqm (15,000 sq ft)

Since your site plan excerpt suggests that construction in the second row is possible, I would consider easing your budget by selling the surplus land. Create a building plot corridor as access to the rear lot, allocate about 500 sqm (5,400 sq ft) to it (excluding the corridor area; in my opinion, better than a flag lot shape), and still enjoy an above-average-sized single-family home lot. What exactly do you mean by the single garage with pergola in the garden? (Please share an aerial photo.)

toni111 schrieb:

I haven’t drawn the upper floor yet because our requirements can be met with various upper floor layouts from standard house plans. [...] Planning to commission an independent designer soon (two quotes around 5000 €)

That’s an unnecessary expense if you already have a selection of suitable upper floor plans (although I wonder why you don’t simply derive the ground floor from one of them—would your custom ground floor fit under one of these upper floors?). If it were me, I would allocate that 5,000 € to adapting the standard house plan (and further professional support from the architect) instead. But not to an amateur with that kind of mindset:

toni111 schrieb:

Price estimate according to architect/designer: based on discussions with five different planners/architects, cost estimation is not a popular topic. (“You only see that once you obtain bids from building companies.”)

Unfortunately, this points to the warning @Gerddieter gives about architects (whose fees tend to reflect this if they are expected to produce a full custom design).

toni111 schrieb:

No basement (geologically possible but not cost-effective).

Is that based on the site conditions or someone’s opinion?
You can find the “11ant basement rule” including the quotation marks “With or without basement: a rule as a decision tool” by searching online, where it is explained and mentioned several times.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

11ant schrieb:

Create a GFL strip as an access driveway to the rear property, allocate 500 sq m (excluding the GFL corridor, in my opinion better than a flagpole shape)

I also fell for this: the rear property can be accessed from the south side.
However, this needs to be verified to ensure it is actually feasible!
My advice regarding rotating the house still stands.