ᐅ Corner plot with a secondary apartment / granny flat

Created on: 25 Oct 2024 16:35

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size 537 sqm (5780 sq ft)
Slope no
Site coverage ratio 0.35
Floor area ratio
Building area, building line and boundary 14.42/15.00 × 13.52/17.56 meters (47.3/49.2 × 44.4/57.6 feet)
Edge development Garages are allowed within the side setback areas
Number of parking spaces 3
Number of floors 2
Roof type gable roof
Architectural style modern, simple
Orientation south
Maximum height/limits ridge height 10.5 m (34.4 ft)

Site plan of a plot with dimensions, outlines, and adjacent buildings

Clients’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type 2 full floors, classic gable roof
Floors 2
Number of occupants 2 adults over 40 + 2 children (3 and 16), separate apartment: 1 person under 70
Ground floor room requirements: living/dining + L-shaped kitchen, guest toilet, utility/technical room
Upper floor: 3 bedrooms, 2 offices, 2 bathrooms, laundry room
Separate apartment 3 rooms: living/dining, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, small guest room
Office: 2 home offices
Overnight guests per year: separate apartment 10 times
Open or closed architecture
Conservative or modern design
Open kitchen with island: semi-open, not directly visible from living area
Number of dining seats 6
Fireplace no
Music/soundproof wall no
Balcony, roof terrace
Garage, carport at least 1, preferably 2
Utility garden, greenhouse desired
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine separate terraces; both want sunlight

Ground floor plan of a house with garage, terrace, living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, WC

Floor plan of a single-family house with living room, kitchen, bathroom, entrance hall, and garage

House Design
Designer: Architect
What is particularly liked? The bright kitchen in the separate apartment
What is disliked? Long narrow hallway, living/dining area in the main residence
Estimated cost according to architect/planner: 650
Personal price limit for the house, including fixtures: 700
Preferred heating technology: heat pump

If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can be foregone: the second garage

Hello everyone,

After reading a lot here and planning for three months now, I’m trying to get some help.
The plot is complicated, maybe a bit narrow to also fit a separate apartment on the ground floor.

We are unsure how to “split” the plot.
Who should get the west or east side?
Which street should the house face?
The 5.5 m (18 ft) setback area on the north side suggests itself as the driveway/parking area. Also, no one wants a north-facing garden.
We all want sunlight somehow, but with further construction progress on other houses (marked in red) and the low sun angle, hardly any sun reaches the southern area.
The separate apartment really only needs a sunny terrace (because mowing the lawn will get harder with age).

I’ve simply added the architect’s two drafts here.

Hand-drawn sketch of plot and building plan with boundaries and building outline

ypg28 Dec 2024 12:42

#115

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

You still haven’t made much progress.

I wouldn’t say that. At least a decision seems to have been made.
Until one realizes that you actually won’t be sitting in a bright, sunlit kitchen for breakfast, or that there is almost no room to move in the bathroom—then it becomes a matter of centimeters.
Regarding the dimensions in the drawings: I think they are somewhat idealized and could lead to quite a few surprises.
Having only 11.5m (38 feet) instead of 12.5m (41 feet), or 10m (33 feet) instead of 11m (36 feet), makes a noticeable difference.
I still have one plan left to review, and it looks a bit different there. But these are only sketches of sketch plans—so quite a few things might not be accurate, at least in my plans. After two months, even I can no longer keep track of everything.

hausmma28 Dec 2024 20:24

#116

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

You still haven’t made any progress. The upper floor is missing. You should start with that. As already suggested, make it a bit smaller.

But what’s the point of planning the upper floor first? Of course, that would lead to a much smaller house.
A stepped floor or many small extensions/corners are more complex and more expensive than a simple rectangular house.
Leaving the price aside, how do you design all the flat roofs then? Are all those connections really watertight?

hausmma28 Dec 2024 21:09

#117

ypg schrieb:

Until you realize that you’re not really going to be sitting in a bright, sunlit kitchen for breakfast.

What do you mean?

Maybe the mother ends up drinking her coffee on the couch after all.

I can’t cover every possibility either. Maybe we’ll find out the neighbors are annoying or we’ll move abroad in 10 years to where the sun always shines.

ypg schrieb:

Regarding the measurements in the drawings: I think they’re somewhat idealized and could lead to some surprises.
Having 11.5 meters (38 feet) instead of 12.5 meters (41 feet) available, or 10 meters (33 feet) instead of 11 meters (36 feet), that makes a real difference.

Sure, not quite that bad, but maybe it’s just 12.4 × 10.9 meters (41 × 36 feet).

ypg schrieb:

But after all, they’re only sketches of preliminary plans.

I have my issues with that too, since I copied them by hand multiple times and only have the architect’s plans in A4 size (letter size) paper.

ypg28 Dec 2024 21:40

#118

hausmma schrieb:

What do you think?

Maybe the mother does end up drinking the coffee on the couch after all.

Sorry, but as far as I remember, the clear requirement throughout was a bright, light-filled kitchen for the mother; everything else, as communicated, was to be subordinate to that. Without going back through previous messages, I recall that this was always the sword of Damocles hanging over the planning. I didn’t even dare to present the “perfect” floor plan without the kitchen in that exact location of the secondary apartment. That’s how you communicated it.

hausmma schrieb:

I can’t cover every eventuality either.

That’s not necessary. One major miscommunication is enough to stall progress completely or hold back yourself or a planner. It’s like your mother: communication disaster, mood swings, power struggles. That could cost you several years.

hausmma schrieb:

A staggered floor or many small extensions/corners are more complex and expensive than a “simple” rectangular house.

Exactly. But you’re already starting to spread out the ground floor extensions, even though you know upstairs will have more square meters again.

hausmma schrieb:

But what’s the point of planning the upper floor first? Then, of course, you end up with a much smaller house.

Precisely! You end up with what is needed, not what is possible in terms of area but ultimately unaffordable. The stair location plays a bigger role upstairs than on the ground floor, where the WC might be arranged lengthwise instead of crosswise, the cold storage room ends up 9 instead of 10 square meters, or the kitchen might be only 3.50 meters (11.5 feet) wide instead of 4 meters (13 feet).

hausmma schrieb:

I also have some trouble with this because I tried to measure everything very traditionally, and the architect’s plans exist only in A4 size prints.

So, guessing won’t work here. There’s a definite difference between 11 and 12 meters (36 and 39 feet).

hausmma schrieb:

Of course, it’s not that bad, but maybe it’s only 12.4 × 10.9 meters (41 × 36 feet).

I don’t see the difference in tenths of a meter.

But in the end, you do have an architect to pick up where you left off in October.

hausmma4 Jan 2025 23:56

#119

Somehow I didn’t manage to send my last post.

Well, the architect is still on winter break, and we actually ended up going back to that option after all.
You were probably right there.
I never really liked the orientation, but this way it makes much more sense.

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

ypg schrieb:

[ATTACH alt="Screenshot 2024-11-09 at 14.45.29.png"]88715[/ATTACH]

A bit narrower.

But the garage worries me somewhat. It can’t be placed further inside the plot, as that would make the driveway too long (because of the site coverage).
So it will probably have to be some kind of custom build?

[ATTACH type="full" alt="Sketch of a floor plan with interlocking rectangles and a red block on the right." width="500px">

hanghaus20235 Jan 2025 12:16

#120

I thought the location was clarified in post #111. Is it not clear after all?

ᐅ Corner plot with a secondary apartment / granny flat

Reaktionen