ᐅ Single-family house ~200 m² floor plan design on a gentle slope
Created on: 23 Dec 2025 17:18
H
huhxkux
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 512 m² (5509 sq ft)
Slope: Yes
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: N/A
Building setback lines, building line, and boundaries: See overview
Edge development: N/A
Number of parking spaces: 3
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Gable roof
Architectural style: N/A
Garden orientation: West
Maximum heights / limits: 9 m (30 ft) ridge height from a specific terrain point on the plot
Additional requirements
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Single-family house, 2 full floors, gable roof
Basement, floors: Basement yes, 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages: Currently 3, soon 4, planned 5 → Persons: 2 adults over 30, 1 child (1 year), 1 unborn, 1 planned
Room requirements on ground floor (GF), upper floor (UF):
GF: Kitchen (with pantry if possible), dining area, living room, toilet, utility room.
UF: 3 children’s rooms, 1 storage room.
GF or UF: Parents’ area with private bathroom, office
Office use: Family use or home office? Home office
Guest stays per year: About 40 nights per year (3x parents and siblings live far away)
Open or closed architecture: Open?
Conservative or modern construction style: ???
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open kitchen with kitchen island desired
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Music / stereo wall: Yes, near the TV
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Yes, 1 garage in the house and either another garage or carport next to the house
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be: N/A
House Design
Planning by: Architect
What do you like most? Why? We like almost everything in the floor plan very much, especially the option to use the office upstairs while the children are small and move the office downstairs, and then later move it back downstairs when the children are older.
What do you not like? Why? Only minor details that we would still like to adjust. As nothing will be revised over Christmas, feel free to point out anything we might have missed.
Price estimate by architect/planner: €790,000 including additional costs / photovoltaic / kitchen / driveway / terrace, excluding finished basement apartment
Personal price limit for the house including features: €800,000
Preferred heating system: Air-to-water heat pump
If you have to give up on certain details / expansions
- What can you do without: Basement (but ideally not because of the slope), basement apartment (guest room would otherwise suffice)
- What you cannot do without: 2 shower bathrooms for parents/children, straight staircase
Why did the design turn out as it is now?
For example:
At first, we really wanted to build simply without a basement to avoid exceeding our budget. The initial plans, however, had very steep driveways or the driveway was on the south side. Since we have been reading intensively here for many months, we decided to hire a surveyor because of the slight slope to clarify the planning. And yes, what can I say—our plot became a victim of the “11ant’s basement rule” 😱. Consequently, we continued planning, a bit smaller but this time with a basement. As we do not really need the space in the basement, we now have a basement apartment prepared for finishing, where we would initially only complete the bathroom and finish the rest ourselves. To have a parking space already, the garage was placed inside the house.
We thought a lot about whether we wanted a proper hallway. In the end, we left it open in the current plan because the designs with a hallway made the kitchen and dining areas feel very tight.
The furniture positions in the floor plan are only examples, and we would probably still adjust a few things, for example, arranging the kitchen in an L-shape with a passage through a cabinet to the pantry, or possibly placing the sofa more in the corner of the living room and slightly moving the corresponding window with a lower sill height forward. Also, the terrace should only be on the west side with doors leading out from both the kitchen and dining area. The south side of the dining area would have a fixed window only.
Since we are now slowly moving towards signing the contract, I would like to get your feedback on whether it makes sense to change or add anything and include it in the offer, or if we should reconsider the floor plan entirely.
Thank you very much in advance for your feedback!
UG:
GF:
UF:
Attic:
North view:
East view:
South view:
West view:
Plot size: 512 m² (5509 sq ft)
Slope: Yes
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: N/A
Building setback lines, building line, and boundaries: See overview
Edge development: N/A
Number of parking spaces: 3
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Gable roof
Architectural style: N/A
Garden orientation: West
Maximum heights / limits: 9 m (30 ft) ridge height from a specific terrain point on the plot
Additional requirements
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Single-family house, 2 full floors, gable roof
Basement, floors: Basement yes, 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages: Currently 3, soon 4, planned 5 → Persons: 2 adults over 30, 1 child (1 year), 1 unborn, 1 planned
Room requirements on ground floor (GF), upper floor (UF):
GF: Kitchen (with pantry if possible), dining area, living room, toilet, utility room.
UF: 3 children’s rooms, 1 storage room.
GF or UF: Parents’ area with private bathroom, office
Office use: Family use or home office? Home office
Guest stays per year: About 40 nights per year (3x parents and siblings live far away)
Open or closed architecture: Open?
Conservative or modern construction style: ???
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open kitchen with kitchen island desired
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Music / stereo wall: Yes, near the TV
Balcony, roof terrace: No
Garage, carport: Yes, 1 garage in the house and either another garage or carport next to the house
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be: N/A
House Design
Planning by: Architect
What do you like most? Why? We like almost everything in the floor plan very much, especially the option to use the office upstairs while the children are small and move the office downstairs, and then later move it back downstairs when the children are older.
What do you not like? Why? Only minor details that we would still like to adjust. As nothing will be revised over Christmas, feel free to point out anything we might have missed.
Price estimate by architect/planner: €790,000 including additional costs / photovoltaic / kitchen / driveway / terrace, excluding finished basement apartment
Personal price limit for the house including features: €800,000
Preferred heating system: Air-to-water heat pump
If you have to give up on certain details / expansions
- What can you do without: Basement (but ideally not because of the slope), basement apartment (guest room would otherwise suffice)
- What you cannot do without: 2 shower bathrooms for parents/children, straight staircase
Why did the design turn out as it is now?
For example:
At first, we really wanted to build simply without a basement to avoid exceeding our budget. The initial plans, however, had very steep driveways or the driveway was on the south side. Since we have been reading intensively here for many months, we decided to hire a surveyor because of the slight slope to clarify the planning. And yes, what can I say—our plot became a victim of the “11ant’s basement rule” 😱. Consequently, we continued planning, a bit smaller but this time with a basement. As we do not really need the space in the basement, we now have a basement apartment prepared for finishing, where we would initially only complete the bathroom and finish the rest ourselves. To have a parking space already, the garage was placed inside the house.
We thought a lot about whether we wanted a proper hallway. In the end, we left it open in the current plan because the designs with a hallway made the kitchen and dining areas feel very tight.
The furniture positions in the floor plan are only examples, and we would probably still adjust a few things, for example, arranging the kitchen in an L-shape with a passage through a cabinet to the pantry, or possibly placing the sofa more in the corner of the living room and slightly moving the corresponding window with a lower sill height forward. Also, the terrace should only be on the west side with doors leading out from both the kitchen and dining area. The south side of the dining area would have a fixed window only.
Since we are now slowly moving towards signing the contract, I would like to get your feedback on whether it makes sense to change or add anything and include it in the offer, or if we should reconsider the floor plan entirely.
Thank you very much in advance for your feedback!
UG:
GF:
UF:
Attic:
North view:
East view:
South view:
West view:
MachsSelbst schrieb:
It seems like the architect received the budget and then designed a house that, in their opinion, exactly fits it. Revealing too much budget information to planners can become expensive.
huhxkux schrieb:
In the end, we also found it quite practical to have four equally sized rooms on the upper floor. You never know what might happen. Preparing for every possible "what if" or "could be" can easily blow the affordability out of the water. I generally recommend a flexible group of rooms called "KGB" (children/guest/office), where room-to-user assignments can change every few years. This only requires inexpensive LAN outlets in all participating rooms, which can simply be re-patched as needed.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
I wouldn’t change the children’s bedrooms. 16m² (170 ft²) is good. On average, 13 to 15m² (140 to 160 ft²) are sufficient for this group of rooms.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
M
MachsSelbst23 Dec 2025 23:52No one really needs LAN anymore, except maybe for a repeater/access point on each floor... I just upgraded to WiFi 7 with a Speedport 7 and a repeater.
300 Mbit on both floors, reaching every corner via WiFi, WPA3 encrypted...
Ping is 10-11 ms, so it’s good enough even for professional gaming in Counterstrike...
If you’re not working from home for the BND or MAD, this is more than enough.
13 m² (140 ft²) is too small for a child’s room. 16 m² (172 ft²) is ideal. I don’t understand anyone trying to save space here... I had to save and ended up with only 14.5 m² (156 ft²) per child. I find that borderline, especially later when the girls turn 16.
300 Mbit on both floors, reaching every corner via WiFi, WPA3 encrypted...
Ping is 10-11 ms, so it’s good enough even for professional gaming in Counterstrike...
If you’re not working from home for the BND or MAD, this is more than enough.
13 m² (140 ft²) is too small for a child’s room. 16 m² (172 ft²) is ideal. I don’t understand anyone trying to save space here... I had to save and ended up with only 14.5 m² (156 ft²) per child. I find that borderline, especially later when the girls turn 16.
First of all, hello and good day or evening, whichever applies, Mr. OP
Good budget, good choice, plot a bit narrow.
The design is not bad, but not good either! Dimensions are missing!
I wonder how the entrance area and the cloakroom are supposed to work: just a few hooks and all the coats of 5 people piled up on the wall? That could easily be more than 20 coats hanging in a disorganized way.
But now to the beginning!
The problem is not the granny flat but the lack of space for it. You give up a functional and necessary cloakroom as well as an entrance area for this 3-meter (10 feet) structure, which is presented as a granny flat, but I even doubt it would work nicely as an office since it simply lacks space.
Tip: also skip the second external entrance, please extend the main hallway to the left side of the plan and plan wardrobe space and an entrance hall there. That way there will be space for a stroller too, because you don’t plan the stroller where there is only a corridor.
Then reduce the guest area a bit.
A toilet near the entrance, where the access is, is actually necessary. It’s often needed when you come home, and not only with children.
The hallway in the basement is very narrow. This should be considered, but it’s not a big problem.
Living room: I’m not sure if it would be cozy to plan the sofa in the middle of the room or against the outer wall.
Kitchen: too small to work properly. Way too small. Ours (for two people) is bigger with the countertop but still at the limit. Roughly 2 meters (6.5 feet) are missing here at least. At least 3 tall cabinets should be added. I would remove the pantry and assign that space to the kitchen.
Basically, I find the window positions terrible: they are placed way too close to the corners and make the house look bulky.
Good budget, good choice, plot a bit narrow.
The design is not bad, but not good either! Dimensions are missing!
I wonder how the entrance area and the cloakroom are supposed to work: just a few hooks and all the coats of 5 people piled up on the wall? That could easily be more than 20 coats hanging in a disorganized way.
But now to the beginning!
huhxkux schrieb:
Yes, I already notice there are few supporters for a granny flat :p.
The problem is not the granny flat but the lack of space for it. You give up a functional and necessary cloakroom as well as an entrance area for this 3-meter (10 feet) structure, which is presented as a granny flat, but I even doubt it would work nicely as an office since it simply lacks space.
Tip: also skip the second external entrance, please extend the main hallway to the left side of the plan and plan wardrobe space and an entrance hall there. That way there will be space for a stroller too, because you don’t plan the stroller where there is only a corridor.
Then reduce the guest area a bit.
A toilet near the entrance, where the access is, is actually necessary. It’s often needed when you come home, and not only with children.
The hallway in the basement is very narrow. This should be considered, but it’s not a big problem.
Living room: I’m not sure if it would be cozy to plan the sofa in the middle of the room or against the outer wall.
Kitchen: too small to work properly. Way too small. Ours (for two people) is bigger with the countertop but still at the limit. Roughly 2 meters (6.5 feet) are missing here at least. At least 3 tall cabinets should be added. I would remove the pantry and assign that space to the kitchen.
Basically, I find the window positions terrible: they are placed way too close to the corners and make the house look bulky.
Papierturm24 Dec 2025 07:30A few brief comments from my side:
The budget seems quite tight to me. Yes, it could work out fine. But if things go wrong, it could easily be exceeded significantly (by more than 50,000, possibly even over 100,000). I would approach it a bit differently. Just some brainstorming (or perhaps brainfail) on my part:
- Remove the garage from the thermal envelope.
- Reduce the overall size of the house. Move part of the room program to the basement (the garage area could be used for living spaces, basement I for workspaces).
- Carefully recalculate the granny flat to see if the interest advantage actually outweighs the costs (the granny flat itself, as well as the additional space requirements). If not, even more space could be shifted to the basement, and the house could be correspondingly smaller.
The only aspect of the current design that really bothers me is the entrance area, which many have already mentioned. Otherwise, I’m mainly concerned about the budget.
The budget seems quite tight to me. Yes, it could work out fine. But if things go wrong, it could easily be exceeded significantly (by more than 50,000, possibly even over 100,000). I would approach it a bit differently. Just some brainstorming (or perhaps brainfail) on my part:
- Remove the garage from the thermal envelope.
- Reduce the overall size of the house. Move part of the room program to the basement (the garage area could be used for living spaces, basement I for workspaces).
- Carefully recalculate the granny flat to see if the interest advantage actually outweighs the costs (the granny flat itself, as well as the additional space requirements). If not, even more space could be shifted to the basement, and the house could be correspondingly smaller.
The only aspect of the current design that really bothers me is the entrance area, which many have already mentioned. Otherwise, I’m mainly concerned about the budget.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
No one really needs LAN anymore, maybe just for a repeater/access point on each floor... "Creating my own wireless interference"? In telecommunications planning (whether for home office, small office/home office, or large enterprises), wireless technologies are used exclusively for mobile users – devices on the desk are literally "wired in." Wireless everywhere is mostly found only in the Windows (and private Mac) world, where the trend is to use the latest fashionable technology instead of the most advanced. However, Windows is also a malware platform; the mindset in the professional operating system world is different. I know many companies that do not allow their employees to use personal consumer electronics for work purposes, even in home offices. How poorly private LANs are secured and how wireless they are only remains a personal matter if there’s a firewall in place. What’s missing now is the scenario where a kitchen appliance connects via Bluetooth and unintentionally acts as a gateway for sensitive work data just because it can "see" the computer!
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
MachsSelbst schrieb:
No one really needs LAN anymore, except maybe for a repeater/access point on each floor... If 300 Mbit (300 Mbps) is enough, then that’s fine. For me, it’s too little. I’m currently considering upgrading my LAN from 1 Gbit (1 Gbps) to 2.5 Gbit (2.5 Gbps) or 10 Gbit (10 Gbps) to get a faster connection to the NAS. Nowadays, some providers even offer 2 Gbit (2 Gbps) connections. Maybe the majority doesn’t need that bandwidth yet, but what about in 5 years?
In my opinion, a new house should have a basic LAN wiring setup. One for the access points and at the main locations with stationary devices. The LAN cables should be installed inside conduit pipes, so you can pull fiber optic cables later if needed. For 10 Gbit (10 Gbps) connections, fiber optics is sometimes preferred because LAN uses too much power.
MachsSelbst schrieb:
If you don’t work from home for the BND or MAD... that’s enough. If the employer allows working from home using Wi-Fi? Many do, but if your employer isn’t interested, then working from home is off the table.
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