ᐅ Floor plan single-family house 154 m² with basement on a sloped site

Hello everyone,

I have been in the planning phase for some time now.
I created the floor plan myself based on model homes.
To get a professional opinion, I have already talked to a construction company.
The designer initially drew a plan that I didn’t like. At the next meeting, I showed him my proposal, which he liked quite a bit. We discussed some revisions, and that became the first draft.

I would appreciate any criticism or suggestions and look forward to your opinions.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: ~1000 m2 (not yet officially measured)
Slope: average incline 7 degrees (approx. 1.5m (5 feet) height over 10m (33 feet) length)
Floor area ratio: 2
Roof style: hip roof
Further restrictions regarding the development plan are unknown

Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: bungalow with basement and hip roof
Basement, floors: basement + 1 floor
Number of occupants, age: 2 people (29 & 34)
Rooms needed in basement: garage (2 parking spaces), office, entrance area + wardrobe, laundry room (washing machine, toilet, possibly a small shower), utility room & storage
Rooms needed on upper floor: kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom + walk-in closet, children’s room, office & guest room
Office: family use or home office: both family use + home office (both work from home, so 2 offices needed)
Overnight guests per year: approx. 4 times
Open or enclosed layout: rather enclosed; kitchen open to dining table
Conservative or modern style: rather modern preferred
Open kitchen, cooking island: open kitchen + cooking island
Number of dining seats: a dining table for 8 people should fit
Fireplace: not required
Music/sound system wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage, carport possibly later
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why certain things are wanted or not:
We prefer the entrance in the basement since we travel by car about 90% of the time and therefore don’t need a door upstairs.

In the kitchen, we considered having a window as the backsplash (between the countertop and upper cabinets), as we really liked it in a model home. However, it somewhat disrupts the exterior appearance. We are still undecided whether this added value is worth it.

House Design
Who designed it: DIY
What do you like most? Why? We really liked the somewhat separated living room in a model home because it feels cozy. So, we incorporated it into our plan.
What do you dislike? Why? The arrangement of the windows from the outside
Estimated cost according to designer: For the ground floor: approximately 250,000 for the performance stage (shell + roof and windows), ready for interior finishing, which will be done by ourselves. Electrical, plumbing, and screed will be contracted separately.
Basement: no estimates yet
Personal price limit for the house, including fixtures: 600,000
Preferred heating system: geothermal heat with horizontal collectors

If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can you give up: guest room (could possibly be combined with an office)
- can you not give up: 2 offices for home office, with my office preferably being in the basement

Why is the design as it is now? For example
We first included all our wishes in this plan to get initial cost estimates.

Looking forward to your opinions.

Best regards from Austria

Interesting! .. energetically quite poor.

oadna4711 schrieb:

Basement + 1 floor

You don’t have a basement plus a floor; you have a lower ground floor (a full storey) with a ground floor.

Has the planner actually drawn this? With 35cm (14 inches) walls in the lower ground floor and 31cm (12 inches) walls on the ground floor? I’m surprised.
What energy standard are you (not) aiming to achieve? If you consider whether the garage should be included in the thermal envelope, you might also consider whether everything else should be outside the thermal envelope.
I hope this plan is still yours.

In principle, I find it quite good. It’s great for two people to live there. However, with a child, it feels too open. The child’s room is too close to the active and guest areas to have enough quietness.

oadna4711 schrieb:

However, it slightly ruins the exterior appearance. We are still undecided whether this added value is worth it.

What added value do you mean? The facade or the natural daylight in the kitchen? I would balance the facade with planting. The way you see the house in the digital rendering, that’s not how you’ll see it once it’s built on the plot.

oadna4711 schrieb:

We prefer the entrance in the basement level since we use the car 90% of the time and therefore don’t need an entrance door upstairs.

Is the child also out by car or does he/she sometimes come home?
Jokes aside: the entrance door downstairs makes sense because it’s a sloped site.

Before I get to the most important point, a few comments:
- The roof looks like a lid placed on top due to the large eaves overhang. How big is the planned overhang supposed to be?
- The hallway lacks a built-in wardrobe. Not a small visitor cloakroom standing in front of the window, but a planned wardrobe about 150 – 200cm (59 – 79 inches) wide for three people.
- There is no toilet in the entrance area. That is really necessary. I would actually skip a separate toilet on the ground floor.
- I already mentioned that the child’s room is too close to the dining area.
- Upstairs everything is nicely open, but is it also bright there? Due to the U-shape and roof overhang, the main area will be quite dark. Sunlight will only reach the room for about an hour. From inside, you first look into a tunnel. Ideally, there should be a roof light there...
However, the budget won’t cover that.

oadna4711 schrieb:

Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 600,000

That won’t be enough for your dream, even with own work included.

First of all, thank you very much for your feedback and for prompting further considerations.

ypg schrieb:

Has the designer drawn this now? With 35cm (14 inches) walls in the basement, 31cm (12 inches) on the ground floor? I’m surprised.
What energy standard do you want (or not want) to achieve? If you consider whether to include the garage inside the thermal envelope, you might also think about whether everything else should be outside the thermal envelope.
So I hope this plan is still yours.

This is how the designer drew it, I just adopted it. I think he didn’t draw the basement in detail because it’s a prefabricated house company and I only requested the ground floor. I still need to consider whether the garage is part of the thermal envelope. Because of the open staircase, the basement should also be well insulated. I haven’t thought about the energy standard yet...

ypg schrieb:

In principle, I think it’s quite good. Two people can live wonderfully like this. However, with a child it is too open. The children’s room is too close to the active and guest areas to get enough quiet.

We have thought about that as well. Do you think two sliding doors could sufficiently separate the corridor from the dining/stair area?

ypg schrieb:

Before I get to the most valuable point, some remarks:
- The roof looks like a lid placed on top because the eave is too large. How big is it planned to be?
- The hallway lacks a wardrobe cabinet. Not a small guest wardrobe standing in front of the window, but a planned wardrobe approximately 150–200cm (59–79 inches) wide for three people.
- There is no toilet at the entrance area. One is actually necessary. On the ground floor, I would dispense with a separate toilet.
- I already mentioned that the children’s room is too close to the dining area.
- Upstairs everything is nicely open, but is it also bright there? Due to the U-shape and the roof overhang, the main area will be quite dark. Sunlight will only come into the room for about an hour. From the inside, you first look into a tunnel. Actually, there should be a skylight on the roof…
However, the budget will not be enough.

- The roof is only like this in my draft. The designer had drawn a shed roof even though we prefer a gable roof. I don’t know how large the eave should be.
- The wardrobe is planned under the stairs and another larger cabinet in one of the storage rooms.
- I hope it doesn’t get too dark. In the model house elegance136w-newlife it was very bright, but the living room there is more open and has a bigger window.

ypg schrieb:

That won’t be enough for your dream. Not even with your own work.

I will get some quotes. They will probably bring me back down to earth, and then compromises will have to be accepted.

The floor plan itself might have an issue at the staircase... the step height is very comfortable, but the tread depth is quite shallow at only 25 cm (10 inches). It should be adjusted to 27 cm (11 inches), which would make the staircase about 35 cm (14 inches) longer, and fitting it into the ground floor might become tight.

A 14 x 14 m (46 x 46 ft) building with a gable roof... which should then be a very shallow pitch. Overall, the interior could become quite dark, and I’m also not entirely fond of the dining table being placed right in the middle of the passageway.

The basic room layout is generally okay. However, the bedroom width of 326 cm (128 inches) is really tight, considering this is a rough construction measurement. There’s also the question of whether a guest room needs to be that large while also providing space for a third home office workstation.

Hi kbt09,

You’re right, I need to take another look at the stairs. An extra 35cm (14 inches) wouldn’t fit like that.
The roof should be relatively flat. It would be unfortunate if the space ends up too dark. Maybe daylight spot windows could be an option? What’s the best way to find out if the room will be too dark?

The guest room doesn’t need to be very large; that’s due to the layout and the door placement. I’d really appreciate any suggestions. It might also be worth considering placing the guest room in the basement.

oadna4711 schrieb:

Do you think two sliding doors would be enough to separate the hallway from the dining/stair area?

Sliding doors hardly reduce noise. For family homes, I always recommend a separate hallway. Even for couples, an open floor plan may not be ideal for the private area, since visitors can come at different times, and you might not want to expose your spa area or similar spaces to guests.

oadna4711 schrieb:

The planner designed a shed roof, although we would prefer a gable roof.

A shed roof, especially a clerestory shed style, can be a good way to bring daylight into an interior space, but it would create a very different appearance in this case.

oadna4711 schrieb:

- I hope it won’t be too dark. In the show home “Harthaus Elegance 136” it was very bright, but the living room is more open and has a larger window.

Show homes are very well lit. Also, your room layout is different. If you look at photos of the exterior online, you’ll notice that the light already decreases outside. Inside it will be even darker due to the two recesses on the left and right sides as well as the roof overhang. The show home’s room runs across, only about 3.50 meters (11.5 feet) deep, whereas yours is nearly 6 meters (20 feet).