ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family House with a Basement on a Sloped Site

Created on: 22 Mar 2025 13:41

Hello everyone,

we are currently planning to build a single-family house with a basement on a sloped site and would appreciate your feedback.

Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 517 sqm (approximately 5,567 sq ft)
Slope: yes
Site occupancy index: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.3
Number of parking spaces: 0/1
Number of floors: 1.5
Roof type: gable roof
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements: roof pitch 28-45°. Knee wall height 75 cm (30 inches), defined slightly differently

Client requirements
Basement, floors: basement + ground floor + attic living space
Number of people, age: currently 3 people (2 adults + 1 child). Planning should include child #2.
Space requirements on ground and upper floors
Office: family use or home office?
Overnight guests per year: not relevant, occasional
Open or closed layout: rather open
Conservative or modern design: rather modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes, kitchen island if possible
Number of dining seats
Fireplace: currently under discussion
Balcony, roof terrace: terrace facing south + terrace facing west planned
Garage, carport: 1 garage, with space next to it for carport / garage (optional, future)

House design
Who designed it: general contractor from the area
What do you like especially? Why? Open living area. All requirements accommodated. Option for a second garage.
What don’t you like? Why? Currently considering removing the second bathroom in the attic and instead adding a shower on the ground floor.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 500,000 excluding land, additional costs, civil engineering, and landscaping.
Preferred heating technology: heat pump

If you have to give up something, which details / extensions
- can you give up: separate bathroom for the children in the attic
- can’t you give up: open living area, large bathroom upstairs

Why is the design like this? It is the first design from the contractor. Other plans were partly similar.

Grundriss eines Hauses: Garage rechts mit Auto, zentrale Treppe, mehrere Zimmer.

Grundriss eines Apartments: Offener Wohn-/Essbereich, Küche, Bad, Treppenhaus.

Grundriss eines Wohnhauses mit Treppe, Küche, Bad, zwei Zimmern und Flur

kbt0922 Mar 2025 21:13

ypg schrieb:

if the entrance is on the north side, on the ground floor, but the living area is in the basement with access to the garden.

That probably won’t work. The plot slopes upward... I would rather plan the access at the basement level... unfortunately, this isn’t labeled at all, just like the ground floor isn’t fully labeled.

ypg22 Mar 2025 21:26

kbt09 schrieb:

That probably won’t work. The plot slopes upward, so I would rather plan the entrance in the basement level. Unfortunately, this isn’t labeled at all, just like the ground floor isn’t fully labeled either.

You’re right, now that you mention it. I had a different slope in mind briefly. But the entire plan is oriented completely across the slope of the plot. You have to go up stairs outside to enter the house... that’s inconvenient. Sorry, but I can’t follow the heights combined with the layout. Maybe it’s me, or maybe it’s because the design feels outdated.

K a t j a22 Mar 2025 22:05

57Christian schrieb:

From the street, a staircase or a somewhat steeper paved path is planned on the left side leading up to the front door.

There is a height difference of 3 meters (approximately one floor), so initially you walk alongside the house on stairs. Of course, on a slope you have to plan for stairs, and you will likely have some outdoors as well. Ideally, though, the main entrance should be designed so that you don’t risk slipping on stairs in winter—in other words, bring the entrance inside the building. After all, you already have access through the garage.

Where you plan to build the second carport later, there is a large pile of soil that probably borders directly on the terrace with some kind of retaining structures. If you start removing that soil later, you risk damaging the terrace because you will undermine its retaining supports. So either you build it all at once or leave it for now. Or maybe one of us misunderstands the height details and plans.

SoL schrieb:

Slope + full basement + approximately 160 m² (approximately 1720 sq ft) does not fit into a $500,000 budget.

On top of that, I agree and think your budget is too low for this house. The 160 m² (approximately 1720 sq ft) alone will cost around $500K. The basement would be an additional cost, plus the landscaping and all the other extras. Depending on the region, you’re likely looking at something between $750K and $800K, I would estimate. Is your budget able to cover that?

11ant23 Mar 2025 01:01

#10

57Christian schrieb:

Site coverage ratio: 0.3 # Floor area ratio: 0.3
Number of parking spaces: 0/1 # Number of floors: 1.5 # Roof type: gable roof [...]
additional requirements: roof pitch 28-45°. Knee wall height 75cm (30 inches) (defined slightly differently)

What exactly does "defined slightly differently" mean here – please quote the specific definition. And how is the number of floors actually defined? I assume as U+I+D?

The general contractor’s draft is no good (except maybe as a starting point to identify many flaws and to clear the way for a complete redesign). For heaven’s sake, don’t try to simply erase parts of it and leave anything that might be acceptable or “not bad”!

Everything urgently needs to be completely rethought from scratch. Under no circumstances should the “concept” of this draft be followed (the must-have basement with a garage, then a bungalow placed on top from the main floor level). The site clearly demands “no basement, inevitably a lower ground floor,” and therefore this lower ground floor must be designed as living space; otherwise, the house will inevitably be too big. I would even consider placing the entrance on the eaves side right next to the stair landing, meaning front door/vestibule directly on the eaves side, continuing into the stair landing, from which you access the lower ground floor (street level) and the upper ground floor (garden level). I don’t see a main floor here at all, and the attic would probably only be for storage to keep all living spaces in the lower ground floor. Technical rooms might be split, with only the house connections downstairs, possibly next to the garage, the rest in the roof. A second parking space uncovered between the street and entrance. This definitely requires an architect; you won’t get anywhere with just a draftsman here.

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

57Christian23 Mar 2025 13:19

#11

Which "others," if this is the first from the general contractor? – show us too!

So far, we have a few preliminary drafts from other providers. One design that we actually liked is attached. However, the second bathroom in the attic floor makes everything a bit tight. We would probably adjust that there.

Don’t you want barrier-free access to the garden?

Of course. We thought that should be possible here. The path goes past the house and the front door into the garden. In all previous drafts, the front door was in the basement on the eaves side. In that case, you would always have to take the stairs from the basement to the ground floor to get to the garden.
The terrace above the garage is just an additional one. The main terrace faces south, so it is behind the house.

Don’t you have building near the boundary line?

What does that mean? I thought you always need to leave a 3m (10 feet) distance to the neighboring property unless you have a special permit.

I would rather plan the entrance in the basement... unfortunately, this is not labeled at all

Yes, this was always done that way in the other plans as well. We are also not yet sure what makes more sense for us.

Ideally, you plan the house entrance so you don’t have to slide up or down stairs in winter and bring it inside the house. After all, you already have access through the garage anyway.

Yes, that’s a good point. Currently, we assume we will mostly enter through the garage. But we need to reconsider that.

So either you build it in right away or better leave it out. Or one of us doesn’t understand the height references and plans.

I agree. We hadn’t considered that so far. Thanks.

About the price: So far, it has only been communicated verbally. However, we know of a similar house from this general contractor that was built for this price.

What does "defined somewhat differently" mean – please quote the definition.
And how exactly is single-story defined: I assume as U+I+D?

The knee wall definition is attached. The zoning plan states WA + I + o

Two roof types: hip roof and gable roof, 28°-45° pitch, diagram.

Floor plan of a house: bedroom, children’s room, parents’ bathroom, children’s bathroom, hallway, stairs.

Floor plan of a house: open kitchen/living/dining area, guest/workroom, hallway, WC, stairs.

Basement floor plan: sauna/hobby room, cellar, technical room/utility room, entrance hall, and double garage.

ypg23 Mar 2025 13:50

#12

57Christian schrieb:

What does that mean? I thought you always had to keep a 3m (10 feet) distance from the neighbor’s property line unless you have a special exemption.

That doesn’t apply to garages, carports, or parking spaces. Those can be built directly on the property boundary. In North Rhine-Westphalia, it’s 9 meters (30 feet).

57Christian schrieb:

We are currently assuming that we will mostly enter through the garage.

But not the children when they come home from school. They won’t open a garage door. That rule only applies to the person arriving by car; everyone else needs an entrance door that is as visible as possible.

57Christian schrieb:

The development plan says WA + I + o

WA stands for general residential area. In this context, the ‘l’ indicates a specific type of WA because the development plan includes several different WAs. The regulations for each WA are set out in text or in the legend of the drawing. The small ‘o’ means detached construction, so no row houses or terraced houses.
For example like this

Diagram: 2 in hex, WA in stripes, columns III/g; Site coverage 0.4; Floor area ratio 1.0; ED triangle; roof pitch 30-35°.

Maybe we are talking past each other, or I’m just confused again. At least that’s how I understand it. And yes, a full storey is also marked with an ‘l,’ but usually shown separately from WA. In my example, there are 3 full storeys in a closed building structure (as opposed to ‘o’ for open).
You could also share a screenshot. The development plan is quite old, after all.

57Christian schrieb:

But we know of a similar house from the general contractor that was built for this price.

With a basement?

ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family House with a Basement on a Sloped Site

Reaktionen