ᐅ Floor Plan Design for KfW 40 Single-Family Home in an Established Residential Area with Fully Finished Basement
Created on: 11 Aug 2025 20:39
A
AnnaChris88
Hello everyone,
After reading many posts here and following the discussions closely, we would like to use the collective knowledge and your input to reconsider our design. Attached are the basic data.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 414 sqm (4455 sq ft)
Slope: hardly any – 1.5 m (5 ft) gradient from northwest to southeast
Site occupancy index: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: entire plot buildable, including a 4 m (13 ft) wide strip along the eastern property boundary, parcel 743/22
Edge development:
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full stories mandatory
Roof type: 28-degree (28°) pitched roof mandatory
Architectural style: classic
Orientation: south/west
Maximum height / limits: none
Other requirements:
Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: classic with pitched roof
Basement, floors: finished basement, 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons (42, 37, 3, 1)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: as in current design
Office: home office
Occasional overnight guests: few
Open floor plan
Conservative building method
Open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats: at least 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace: originally planned above the terrace, canceled for cost reasons
Garage / carport: garage for storage purposes
Additional wishes / special features:
- There should be a large living-dining area separated from the stairwell by a door (sound insulation), a large kitchen with island, one bathroom with shower in the basement including two rooms to likely be used when the children move to the basement later; currently playing room and office/guest room, separate walk-in wardrobe from master bedroom, two large children’s rooms upstairs each larger than 15 sqm (160 sq ft)
House Design
Design by: architect and DIY
What do you particularly like?
- Ground floor is especially liked due to the combination of a large room with clearly defined areas
What do you dislike?
- Bathroom layout upstairs is not optimal so far, since window should actually be larger and face east
- Master bedroom should ideally be separated from children’s bathroom or walk-in wardrobe
- Window of guest WC faces north and not next to entrance door
Price estimate based on initial offer: €500,000–520,000
Personal price limit for house including equipment: €550,000
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with photovoltaic system
If you had to give up something, which details or additions
- You could give up: pantry on ground floor
- You cannot give up: separate walk-in wardrobe upstairs, shower bathroom in basement, door to hallway on ground floor
Why is the design like this? For example:
First discussion with architect and 7 rounds of “corrections” / revisions based on our wishes
We look forward to your feedback!!
After reading many posts here and following the discussions closely, we would like to use the collective knowledge and your input to reconsider our design. Attached are the basic data.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 414 sqm (4455 sq ft)
Slope: hardly any – 1.5 m (5 ft) gradient from northwest to southeast
Site occupancy index: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: entire plot buildable, including a 4 m (13 ft) wide strip along the eastern property boundary, parcel 743/22
Edge development:
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2 full stories mandatory
Roof type: 28-degree (28°) pitched roof mandatory
Architectural style: classic
Orientation: south/west
Maximum height / limits: none
Other requirements:
Owners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: classic with pitched roof
Basement, floors: finished basement, 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons (42, 37, 3, 1)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: as in current design
Office: home office
Occasional overnight guests: few
Open floor plan
Conservative building method
Open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats: at least 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall
Balcony, roof terrace: originally planned above the terrace, canceled for cost reasons
Garage / carport: garage for storage purposes
Additional wishes / special features:
- There should be a large living-dining area separated from the stairwell by a door (sound insulation), a large kitchen with island, one bathroom with shower in the basement including two rooms to likely be used when the children move to the basement later; currently playing room and office/guest room, separate walk-in wardrobe from master bedroom, two large children’s rooms upstairs each larger than 15 sqm (160 sq ft)
House Design
Design by: architect and DIY
What do you particularly like?
- Ground floor is especially liked due to the combination of a large room with clearly defined areas
What do you dislike?
- Bathroom layout upstairs is not optimal so far, since window should actually be larger and face east
- Master bedroom should ideally be separated from children’s bathroom or walk-in wardrobe
- Window of guest WC faces north and not next to entrance door
Price estimate based on initial offer: €500,000–520,000
Personal price limit for house including equipment: €550,000
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with photovoltaic system
If you had to give up something, which details or additions
- You could give up: pantry on ground floor
- You cannot give up: separate walk-in wardrobe upstairs, shower bathroom in basement, door to hallway on ground floor
Why is the design like this? For example:
First discussion with architect and 7 rounds of “corrections” / revisions based on our wishes
We look forward to your feedback!!
AnnaChris88 schrieb:
Thank you for your message, but I can’t quite place it or the content for myself. No problem, I’m happy to try again in German as a Foreign Language (DaF):
Laypeople, as future homeowners, tend to be impatient; they want to see an ultrasound image of their dream house as soon as possible. Inexperienced architects often struggle to handle this pressure and start drawing too early. However, better results would be achieved if the planner approached the project as systematically and academically as taught in studies – even if that means testing the client’s patience a bit longer. The fact that the architect’s service phases are numbered 1, 2, 3, ... 8 has a good reason: you start with phase number 1, you don’t skip any number, you complete each phase, and don’t jump back and forth. The site profile must be captured, understood, and taken into account for the spatial program within the building form during phase 1, before you proceed to phase 2 and then build upon that with phase 3 and so on. More precisely, it is even advisable to have a break between phases 2 and 3, which I call “dough resting” because it corresponds to a well-established practice in baking. Your planner, however, now includes basics from phase 1 only in phase 3, which should have been largely decided upon in phase 2 – like choosing whether to bake bread or cake. So you’re putting the dough in the oven before it’s even been kneaded. A failed cake doesn’t necessarily taste bad, but when baked in the recommended order it won’t crumble before it even reaches the plate.
AnnaChris88 schrieb:
I understand that you say we should have started with a sketch, established the spatial program, and paid attention to the levels. You shouldn’t have made any sketch at all at the beginning; you should have started simply with a list of rooms, and then “qualified” them (i.e., roughly assigned sizes and indicated whether they should be on the upper floor, lower floor, or anywhere). Thinking in levels and realizing where different height points lie under/in/above those levels is professional work. The expert then presents, for example, two or three possible consequences of these facts, and you don’t really have to contribute anything beyond your opinion. First, the cluster of cells becomes a child, then a girl or boy; hair color can wait at this stage.
AnnaChris88 schrieb:
But looking at the floor plan now – what exactly is so absolutely terrible nonsense that I should sue someone for it?
[…], but is it really all so bad that I should start over?? Suing? No, that would be completely wrong. But you should definitely be clear: “what we paid for was not professionally delivered; please start over and follow the right sequence.” It’s messy, yes, but not terrible. Christopher Columbus was a poor navigator. He “discovered” America – but he wanted to reach India and, by his own belief, had actually arrived there. So no, it’s not that bad – but yes, you should start over rather than accept or try to fix the flawed initial design until it somehow “looks successful.”
What you have now is a design for a wrongly conceived house. No basement is so cheap that it should be built just to save face if the house would be better arranged with fewer levels. You should also clearly tell any so-called expert that you paid for a professional without “so-called” and expect proper service – especially as laypeople. Using borrowed money to fund underperformers is (of course, my personal, non-binding opinion for you) not your responsibility.
roteweste schrieb:
What we can say about Keitel-Haus: Medium-sized, family-run company. So far, we have dealt with maybe 8-10 people, all of whom were very competent. Contact with the managing director is possible and negotiation works well. Still, check the offer carefully. Don’t expect too much from the standard! I would have refrained from commenting on Keitel-Haus if this impression had not stuck with me so strongly. After all, they are not disreputable, and I look forward to someone, in your person, soon reporting from experience about them, whom I can somewhat evaluate. Maybe they really are good and just know as little about marketing as Columbus knew about India. In the masonry construction sector, I know a company that is a difficult case from a consultancy perspective: satisfied customers, but with a significant surplus of typical model types in their portfolio, and a complete lack of competitor observation.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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AnnaChris8821 Aug 2025 06:24roteweste schrieb:
In addition to the homebuilders themselves, Keitel-Haus was recommended to us by prefab house experts and our architect. Of course, some might say they don’t really know much, but I would give them a certain amount of credit for their insight. Right, Elefant?
What we can say about Keitel-Haus: a medium-sized, family-run company. So far, we’ve dealt with about 8-10 people, all of whom were very competent. Contact with the managing director is possible, and negotiations go well. Still, make sure to review the offer carefully. Don’t expect too much from the standard package! Thank you for sharing your experience. Could you please provide more details on which parts of the contract you think require a closer look, or where you encountered issues or had to make complaints? Thanks a lot!!!
AnnaChris88 schrieb:
Thank you for sharing your experience. Could you please provide more details on which specific parts of the contract people should pay close attention to, or which points you raised complaints or objections about? Thanks a lot!!! Since I signed a reference customer agreement, I am unable to share this information publicly here. You can find my contact details on my website with the same name.
11ant schrieb:
Maybe they are actually very good but know about marketing as little as Columbus knew about India.During the factory tour, the managing director told us that they don’t think much of marketing (which I would agree with given their conservative external presentation) and instead rely on customer recommendations. That impressed us positively right from the start.W
wiltshire21 Aug 2025 10:23roteweste schrieb:
instead relies on customer recommendationsby the way, a marketing strategy."We put everything into the chocolate..."
roteweste schrieb:
Since I signed a reference customer agreement, I can’t share this publicly here. Spot the contradiction ;-) It sounds like a "reference customer agreement" means an obligation to give a five-star rating (?), and in my opinion, that’s a spectacular own goal ;-(https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/