ᐅ Floor plan of a detached single-family house with 2,585 sq ft, including a 807 sq ft granny flat and a garage

Hello everyone,

we want to build a house. I was able to get the plot from my mother, and in return, she will have her own apartment (granny flat) within the house. There will be two separate entrance doors to the house as a precaution. My previous post was here, but personal, political, and building authority issues have caused significant delays, which have had both positive and negative effects.

Development Plan / Restrictions (Requests from the Building Authority since there is no formal development plan)
Plot size: approx. 1300m² (at least 1/4 for the granny flat)
Slope: none
Floor area ratio: no formal development plan
Site coverage ratio: no formal development plan
Building envelope, building line and boundary: no formal development plan, but the building authority requests at least 3 meters (10 feet) from the street
Peripheral construction: maximum 9.0 m (30 feet) for garages up to 3.0 m (10 feet) high
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: two floors without a finished attic
Roof style: preliminary building application was for a gable roof with no dormers; according to the building authority, maximum roof pitch is 35°
Architectural style: no specification
Orientation: no specification
Maximum height/limits: 10.20 m (33.5 feet) (in discussions with the building authority, please not higher than 10.5 m (34.4 feet))
Other requirements: residential building should not become larger

Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: gable roof
Basement, floors: 2 full floors
Number of people, age: currently 1+1 persons, 36 (myself) and mother 60 (granny flat occupant)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: self: 240m² (2583 sq ft) + granny flat: 75m² (807 sq ft)
Office: family use or home office? both home office
Guests per year: occasionally 2 adults + 2 children
Open or closed design: open design
Traditional or modern construction: rather modern construction
Open kitchen, kitchen island: both with open kitchen and kitchen island
Number of dining seats: 6 own + 4 in granny flat
Fireplace: yes, in both apartments
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: not necessary
Garage, carport: garage, no garage or carport for granny flat
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for certain preferences:

• No skylights
• Solar panels later
• Option for holiday apartment at a later stage

House Design
Who designed it: DIY by myself, now finalized by architect
What do you like most and why? Majority of walls overlap
What do you dislike and why? Now only the chimney remains in the granny flat or upper floor
Price estimate according to architect/planner: not available yet
Personal budget limit for house including features: (total) 700,000 + significant own contribution and family help
Preferred heating technology: fireplace and air heat pump

If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
-can you give up: second floor and garage will be built later
-can you not give up: fireplace in both apartments

Why is the design as it is now? e.g.
Standard design by planner? Plan from Virtus, Team Massivhaus, and own ideas
Corresponding / which wishes were implemented by the architect?
My apartment:

• Parents’ bedroom (only one door) + dressing room + private bathroom (shower and large bathtub)
• 3 children’s rooms (min. 16m² (172 sq ft)) with separate bathroom (shower + bathtub)
• 2 offices
• Living room (min. 20m² (215 sq ft)) with fireplace
• Kitchen (min. 15m² (161 sq ft)) + kitchen island
• Dining room for 5 persons
• Bathroom downstairs + shower
• 1 sauna inside in the attic (or outside)

Granny flat:

• Standard with office

Wishes:

• A separate room/hallway between bathroom and living areas
• All rooms to have windows (at least the bathrooms)
• Laundry room (upstairs or attic)
• Access to garden (west and north)

What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?

• Good: almost symmetrical arrangement of windows and doors
• Separation into up to 4 sections possible later in case of emergency
• Bedroom and laundry room upstairs to avoid carrying laundry through whole apartment
• No skylights
• All bathrooms have windows

Bad:

• Office downstairs can only be used as bedroom if storage is built under the stairs
• Since the driveway is on the south side, the house has now been rotated

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

• Was anything overlooked in the plan?
• Where should the chimney in the granny flat be placed?
• Is the dressing room too large?
• Should the garage be rotated?

Oh dear – an architect (?) has "detailed" this for you – it’s hard to know where to begin.

There’s no need to even discuss the floor plan. There are already so many basic issues, starting with the budget for the 315m² (3391 sq ft) house.

Gerddieter schrieb:

Budget for the 315 m² (3,390 sq ft) house.

With a lot of personal work — almost everything — feasible.

Gerddieter schrieb:

Oh dear – an architect (?) “clarified” that for you – it’s hard to know where to begin.

No need to discuss the floor plan. There are already many fundamental issues, starting with the budget for the 315sqm (3400 sq ft) house.

Hello Gerddieter, thank you for your comment, but I would be interested to know what you would change about the floor plan without considering the budget. The budget should be sufficient for the shell construction and the lower floor. With self-contributed work, as nordanney already mentioned, a lot is possible. For general contractors, we ended up with around 580K for the complete house, so building part of the house for 700K should be well feasible.

Koehler schrieb:

With the general contractors, we ended up at 580K for the complete house, so a part of the house for 700K is probably quite possible.

You probably mean that the house, as it is currently planned, would have easily cost over a million euros with the GC.

Koehler schrieb:

Hello Gerddieter, thank you for your comment, but I would be interested to know what changes you would make to the floor plan without considering the budget. The budget should be sufficient for the shell construction and the lower floor. With own work, as nordanney already mentioned, much is possible. For general contractors, the complete house would have come to 580K, so part of the house for 700K should be quite feasible.

Hi – I can’t really say anything about the “floor plan” because I don’t see any plan that could be improved or adjusted.
What I see is a series of characterless rooms, all connecting to a corridor that is as small and dark as possible through their doors.

A floor plan is made up of sight lines, circulation paths, orientation, daylight, and so on. Windows are not just randomly placed in a room; they form the main element of the façade—ideally with a sense of tension or visual interest.
None of this is visible here—don’t take it the wrong way, be glad I’m telling you this before you sign anything, and believe me, you will hear even more similar comments from others.