ᐅ Floor plan discussion of a medium-small single-family house with a pitched roof and a double garage
Created on: 9 Nov 2025 18:08
B
Baumweg32
Hello everyone,
we plan to build a single-family house in 2026/27. We are both 30 years old (and intend to stay that way), have no children, and work full-time in the office/from home. Below we have completed the questionnaire and look forward to you brutally roasting our current floor plan – what have we overlooked?
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size – just under 400 m² (about 4300 sq ft), access and road to the south
Slope – no
Site coverage ratio – no zoning plan, according to §34, neighbors have between 0.3-0.4
Floor area ratio – no zoning plan, according to §34
Building envelope, building line and boundary – no zoning plan, according to §34
Edge development – no, the surrounding area consists of other semi-detached and single-family houses
Number of parking spaces – double garage + carport + theoretically two spaces in front of the garage in the courtyard
Number of floors – 2 full stories + basement
Roof type – gable roof
Style – modern
Orientation – south
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements – development according to §34
Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type – gable roof with sufficient eaves, otherwise the house looks like a thumb
Basement, floors – basement yes, ground floor, upper floor
Number of people, age – 2, 30 years
Room requirements on ground and upper floor – Ground floor: entrance, shower, WC, kitchen, dining area, living room; Upper floor: 2 offices, bathroom with bathtub, bedroom, walk-in closet
Office: family use or home office? – home office
Number of overnight guests per year – 1
Open or closed layout – preferably closed
Conservative or modern building method – solid construction, modern, no porous clay bricks (Poroton)
Open kitchen, kitchen island – closed kitchen
Number of dining seats – 4-6
Fireplace – yes, sometime when budget allows
Music/sound wall – yes, living room
Balcony, roof terrace – no
Garage, carport – yes and yes (carport only if budget allows)
Utility garden, greenhouse – no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be included – Ideally, when one person gets up, they leave the bedroom without having to go back in to get clothes, so the other can continue sleeping. Also, we work from home a lot. That means each person needs their own office so they don’t disturb each other during calls etc.
House Design
Who made the design: architect based on our initial PowerPoint sketches
What do you particularly like? Why? – We like the visual axes, from the staircase through the kitchen to the garden and from the hallway past the fireplace into the garden. A generous entrance area is important to avoid future frustration when entering the house and not knowing where to put groceries.
What don’t you like? Why? – The bedroom-walk-in closet situation is tight. We have thought and struggled with this a lot. Maybe we can expand the house by 50 cm (20 inches) to the south. Then a 1.5 m (59 inch) wide walk-in closet would fit.
Price estimate from architect/designer: 600,000 €
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 650,000 € (fittings? Kitchen and furniture on top)
Preferred heating technology: heat pump
If You Have to Give Up on which details/extensions
You can live without: laundry chute
You cannot live without: separate office rooms, walk-in closet, separate kitchen, staircase as straight as possible (in our case a half-landing staircase max?)
Why is the Design as It Is?
Standard design from the planner? – No, we came with a rough plan sketched in PowerPoint to the architect
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? – All our wishes were implemented by the architect
What do you think is especially good or bad? – We actually like the floor plan very much. As mentioned, the walk-in closet is tight but so far we have not found a better alternative that still allows easy access around the bed. We would also like a T-shaped bathroom layout mainly to hide the WC. But probably there is no space for that, or maybe you have a sudden idea?
we plan to build a single-family house in 2026/27. We are both 30 years old (and intend to stay that way), have no children, and work full-time in the office/from home. Below we have completed the questionnaire and look forward to you brutally roasting our current floor plan – what have we overlooked?
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size – just under 400 m² (about 4300 sq ft), access and road to the south
Slope – no
Site coverage ratio – no zoning plan, according to §34, neighbors have between 0.3-0.4
Floor area ratio – no zoning plan, according to §34
Building envelope, building line and boundary – no zoning plan, according to §34
Edge development – no, the surrounding area consists of other semi-detached and single-family houses
Number of parking spaces – double garage + carport + theoretically two spaces in front of the garage in the courtyard
Number of floors – 2 full stories + basement
Roof type – gable roof
Style – modern
Orientation – south
Maximum heights / limits
Other requirements – development according to §34
Homeowners’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type – gable roof with sufficient eaves, otherwise the house looks like a thumb
Basement, floors – basement yes, ground floor, upper floor
Number of people, age – 2, 30 years
Room requirements on ground and upper floor – Ground floor: entrance, shower, WC, kitchen, dining area, living room; Upper floor: 2 offices, bathroom with bathtub, bedroom, walk-in closet
Office: family use or home office? – home office
Number of overnight guests per year – 1
Open or closed layout – preferably closed
Conservative or modern building method – solid construction, modern, no porous clay bricks (Poroton)
Open kitchen, kitchen island – closed kitchen
Number of dining seats – 4-6
Fireplace – yes, sometime when budget allows
Music/sound wall – yes, living room
Balcony, roof terrace – no
Garage, carport – yes and yes (carport only if budget allows)
Utility garden, greenhouse – no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be included – Ideally, when one person gets up, they leave the bedroom without having to go back in to get clothes, so the other can continue sleeping. Also, we work from home a lot. That means each person needs their own office so they don’t disturb each other during calls etc.
House Design
Who made the design: architect based on our initial PowerPoint sketches
What do you particularly like? Why? – We like the visual axes, from the staircase through the kitchen to the garden and from the hallway past the fireplace into the garden. A generous entrance area is important to avoid future frustration when entering the house and not knowing where to put groceries.
What don’t you like? Why? – The bedroom-walk-in closet situation is tight. We have thought and struggled with this a lot. Maybe we can expand the house by 50 cm (20 inches) to the south. Then a 1.5 m (59 inch) wide walk-in closet would fit.
Price estimate from architect/designer: 600,000 €
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 650,000 € (fittings? Kitchen and furniture on top)
Preferred heating technology: heat pump
If You Have to Give Up on which details/extensions
You can live without: laundry chute
You cannot live without: separate office rooms, walk-in closet, separate kitchen, staircase as straight as possible (in our case a half-landing staircase max?)
Why is the Design as It Is?
Standard design from the planner? – No, we came with a rough plan sketched in PowerPoint to the architect
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? – All our wishes were implemented by the architect
What do you think is especially good or bad? – We actually like the floor plan very much. As mentioned, the walk-in closet is tight but so far we have not found a better alternative that still allows easy access around the bed. We would also like a T-shaped bathroom layout mainly to hide the WC. But probably there is no space for that, or maybe you have a sudden idea?
ypg schrieb:
I’m more likely to set up an attic for nice-to-have items.Converting the attic is always an option—especially since the roof is being built anyway. Papierturm schrieb:
Sure, a finished attic doesn’t offer the same comfort as a basement.Why not? Many well-finished attics provide more comfort than a basement because the climate and natural daylight are much more pleasant and livable compared to a basement. If you make sure there is a proper staircase leading to the attic from the start, it can be just as convenient as a basement.
But it’s good that you brought up this topic/option again.
Baumweg32 schrieb:
We looked into the basement rule, but it doesn’t provide us with any new insights for our considerations. Omitting the basement only works on the assumption that we don’t need the entire floor area. However, we do (as shown in the attached basement usage plan), ypg schrieb:
Many well-finished attics offer more comfort than a basement because the climate and natural daylight are much more pleasant and livable than in a basement.
If you make sure from the start that there is a proper staircase leading to the attic, it is not inferior to a basement in any way. A plan to justify having a basement is nonsense. The basement rule is not meant to provide input but to clarify the economic feasibility of locating storage and multi-purpose rooms in a basement — with a “no” if the basement would need to be excavated specifically for that purpose. Basements and attics are only “there anyway” to a limited extent; this depends on the individual case and must be considered as a whole.
Baumweg32 schrieb:
We will talk to the architect about how much more expensive a higher knee wall would be. I also wrote a fundamental post regarding the window threshold and the knee wall: “How the knee wall influences the window issue in the attic.”
Baumweg32 schrieb:
When would you decide which wall construction to choose? For us, it was a fundamental decision based on poor experiences from living in a timber frame building (rental apartment). I decide on the construction method during the > critical decision phase (which is why it is called that) — not before. It often remains undecided. But dismissing half of the bidders from the start is unwise. Soundproofing issues in multi-family buildings are much more often due to design errors than to the building materials themselves.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
A plan to convince yourself that a basement is useful is nonsense. The basement rule is not meant to provide input, but to clarify the question of the cost-effectiveness of placing storage and multipurpose rooms in a basement: answering "no" if the basement would have to be specially excavated for this purpose. Basements and attics are only conditionally "already there"; this depends on the case and must be considered in the overall context.
Relatively speaking, your basement rule is absolutely correct.
However, two aspects are neglected when viewed in absolute terms:
- The price per square meter of the land. In Germany, prices of 20€ , 200€ , or 2000€ per square meter are easily found. Construction costs also vary regionally, but not by a factor of 100 (!) like the land prices. Accordingly, a very expensive plot partially offsets the construction costs of the basement if, without a basement, the plot would have to be correspondingly larger.
- The soil conditions of the land. This has also already been correctly mentioned by some. We are in the fortunate position to have very, very good building ground. A soil survey has already been done. The geologist’s statement: "It hardly gets better than this." Excavation, compaction, and done. We were even told that we can sell the excavated gravel for a good price.
If this were not the case, one (thinking extremely) would not build skyscrapers in Manhattan either (here simply equating high-rise and underground construction).
Anyway, at the moment we want to put the basement question aside briefly and focus on the so far neglected aspects of the floor plan and our needs. For example, we are currently planning our “dream bathroom” independently of the floor plan, just to see how large the room would need to be. The same applies to the bedroom and the kitchen.
We will then get back with an update or a self-drawn floor plan. For now, we are leaving the architect out of this “creative phase.”
Baumweg32 schrieb:
We are currently planning, for example, our "dream bathroom" independently of the floor plan, just to see how large the room would need to be. The same applies to the bedroom and the kitchen.I believe designing dream rooms independently of the floor plan is absolutely unwise and a mistake. A small bathroom of 7.5 sqm (2.5 x 3.5 meters / 8.2 x 11.5 feet) can look more elegant and dreamlike in a simple layout than placing your "dream T-shaped solution" in a 13 sqm (about 140 sq ft) bathroom. Many options only arise during the actual house planning process.
Baumweg32 schrieb:
However, two aspects are completely overlooked:
- The price per square meter of the land.
- The soil conditions of the site.
1. I would never have called this a rule if it applied significantly differently inside and outside Manhattan (in Germany, primarily Stuttgart or Munich); and 2. whether it’s marshland or rock, the same principle applies: the deeper the excavator arm has to reach down, the more expensive it gets. An excavator essentially has two arms: one physically visible, and the other only visible financially. They move like synchronized swimmers, with one digging into the ground and the other reaching into your wallet in parallel.Baumweg32 schrieb:
We will get back with an update, or rather a floor plan drawn by ourselves. For now, we are leaving the architect out of this "creative phase."Even better, just leave the floor plan sketching out of it altogether for now ;-)https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
It’s even better to initially leave out the floor plan sketching altogether ;-) When we were deciding, we visited a prefabricated home community and had printed and organized all the floor plans of the houses in advance. As preparation, we marked what we liked and didn’t like about the floor plans, then toured the homes with a clear focus on our gut feeling and out of sight of the salespeople.
Many things look different on paper or in videos compared to how they actually feel in real life. For example, we found the T-layout really appealing in person. The sightline through the hallway across the house initially attracted us, but in every variation it created a feeling of discomfort—even though it always looks great in the floor plans and pictures. By the way, these are both things that most others here tend to see differently, but ultimately you are building for yourselves.
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