ᐅ Feedback on the first floor plan draft (single-family house, urban villa, basement plus two full stories)

Hello everyone,

we would like to present our first floor plan draft and ask for your honest feedback.
The house is planned for 2 adults and possibly 2 children in the future and will be built on a plot in the second row in a rural area. We are currently in the design phase and welcome all constructive comments and suggestions for improvement.

Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1,000m2 (10,764 sq ft)
Slope: no, flat terrain
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Plot ratio: 0.5
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: 6m (20 ft) behind neighboring buildings
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of stories: 2 full floors
Roof style: gable or hip roof

Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: detached single-family house with hip roof, townhouse style
Basement, floors: basement (for technical room, utility room) plus 2 full floors
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults + 2 young children
Space requirements on the ground floor: open kitchen with dining area, separable living room, office for home office and possibly later a bedroom on the ground floor, guest WC ideally with shower, mudroom (direct access to the garage)
Space requirements on the upper floor: bathroom, master bedroom with walk-in closet, 2 children’s rooms
Office: for family use or home office? Needed for home office
Number of overnight guests per year: none
Open or closed architecture: open ground floor (except living room), closed upper floor
Conservative or modern design: rather conservative
Kitchen: open kitchen with cooking island, living room separable
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: not required
Music/stereo wall: not required
Balcony, roof terrace: not required
Garage, carport: desire for a double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse: yes, sufficient space available. Terrace facing south and west

House design
Planner: architect
What do you especially like? South-/west-facing living area on the ground floor
What do you not like? Layout of office/guest room, children’s rooms upstairs very large
Cost estimate by architect/planner: not yet available
Personal budget limit including equipment: 750k
Preferred heating system: ground source heat pump with floor heating

What could you do without?
- Can give up: mudroom/direct access to garage, shower in guest WC (no space in current plan anyway), pantry in dining area (could possibly be relocated to the entrance area)
- Cannot give up:

Why is the plan like it is now?
Standard design from the planner? no
Which requests have been implemented by the architect? Almost all, except for the shower in the guest WC
What do you consider particularly good or bad?
Positive: south-/west orientation of living/dining area, all “desired rooms” included
Negative: house overall already somewhat generous despite basement, children’s rooms too large, office on ground floor poorly shaped, kitchen (U-shape) a bit narrow, bathroom upstairs also not small, possibly more windows on ground floor (south/west) possible
We are aware that the problem of the large children’s rooms could be solved relatively easily (giving up basement, moving utility room upstairs), but if the budget allows, we prefer not to give up the basement.

We look forward to your honest feedback!
What would you improve or arrange differently?
Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions!!

Messi_37 schrieb:
Personal budget limit for the house, including fixtures: 750k

A very important question: What exactly is included in that amount?

Turnkey?

Additional building costs?

Turnkey plus additional building costs together would turn this into a million-dollar project.

Doing some work yourself can reduce costs.

If additional building costs are not included, it's still possible to manage. (However, you do need to have funds available for these costs.)
Overall, though, I’m afraid your budget might not be sufficient.

Messi_37 schrieb:
however, if it fits reasonably within the budget, we don’t want to give up on the basement

The basement is by far the most expensive enclosed space to build. On a flat plot, you really need to consider carefully whether you might achieve your space requirements more cost-effectively by relocating some areas (for example, an attic conversion, a slightly larger footprint, bay windows, and so on).

Messi_37 schrieb:
honest feedback!

On one hand, a few small things stand out to me. For example:
- I would make the stairwell windows wider—this is the only way to get natural light into the hallway.
- The pantry, as currently planned, is not very practical. Kitchen cabinets there would provide more storage space overall than the pantry as it stands.

Then there are some bigger issues that worry me:
- Already mentioned: the budget. Basement + garage + house of that size, including additional building costs, especially if you can’t reuse the soil on your own property and rely heavily on doing work yourself, will exceed your budget.
- The placement of the children’s rooms creates quite a difference in quality. The house feels planned “from bottom to top” and “from car to person.” The general planning (aside from the budget) isn’t too bad, but issues like room positioning arise from this.

Here’s what I would do:
- Start planning the upper floor first (since the stair position depends on it).
- Position the children’s rooms either at the lower part of the plan or to the left side. Place the other rooms (parents’ bedroom, bathroom, dressing room) in the north and east sections.
- This will likely shift the staircase.
- On the ground floor, you currently have about 16m² (170 sq ft) of hallway. Only the entrance vestibule can really be used; the rest is just circulation space. After moving the stairs, I would check if this could be improved with a different entrance door location.
- As a precaution, I would also plan a way to move the utility room to the ground floor, in case you decide to skip the basement.

Don’t worry, we’re not going to steal your house numbers 😀

Let me put it this way before we criticize:
Where is the site access or driveway?
The entrance is currently on the south side, which is actually not ideal. However, if the house and the rooms on the ground floor are positioned as I imagine, the orientation would be quite good.
The design itself still has room for improvement. Nothing would remain as is if it were up to me. Not even the basement.
But I would start by changing the hallway in the house. It really doesn’t work well for a single-family home.

Back to the basement: what is its purpose? Why is it considered essential?

On a 1000sqm (0.25 acre) plot, I wouldn’t shed a tear over losing that level. Build a nice connecting structure between the garage and the house, and it could become a functional and attractive home. Later on, it could turn into a great shed, half sauna, half workshop. All affordable and offering many possibilities. Planning gets a bit uninspiring with a dusty basement, of course.

Are you aware that 50sqm (540 sq ft) of terrace area would be covered over? Don’t you like light or a view of the garden and a bit of sky? Do you need darkness and that’s why you want the crypt-like basement?

From the greeting "Servus," I assume you are from Bavaria, which unfortunately makes me worry that the budget (assuming turnkey delivery without personal labor and including fixtures/kitchen) might not quite be sufficient—if it is, I would be very interested in the general contractor or the architect supervising construction! 😉

The problem with the pantry in figures: about 2.8m² (30 sq ft) and according to the edge measurements, it is about 2.8m (9 ft) long and 1m (3.3 ft) wide, leaving at least 70cm (28 inches) of walkway space (which is already narrow!). That means only a 30cm (12 inches) deep shelf along nearly 2.8m (9 ft) length. No space for a freezer, etc.! Instead, you could place tall cabinets along the right wall of the kitchen starting from the door, which would be over 3m (10 ft) with 60cm (24 inches) deep cabinets, and the free space between the U-shaped kitchen sections would be much more generous—only the fridge stub of the current U-shape would have to go, but it would surely find a spot in the long cabinet wall, and even then more storage space would be created than the pantry with that layout offers...

Another thought: your wish list includes a shower bathroom and a possible bedroom on the ground floor; is the latter still current if the shower bathroom is missing? Otherwise, perhaps the office/guest room could be on the upper floor, where there is “extra space,” or maybe even in the basement, which would allow the entire house to be a bit smaller...
However, I believe that for more than two people, a second shower in the house is not excessive luxury, so I would consider whether it could fit somewhere after all...

Noxmortana schrieb:
The issue with the pantry shown in numbers: about 2.8m² (30ft²) and according to the edge measurements it’s around 2.8m (9.2ft) long, so 1m (3.3ft) wide => at least 70cm (28 inches) of walkway space (which is already narrow!), leaving just a 30cm (12 inches) deep shelf over nearly the full 2.8m (9.2ft) length. No room for a freezer, etc.! Instead, you could place tall cabinets along the right kitchen wall from the door side, which would be over 3m (10ft) of 60cm (24 inches) deep cabinets, and the open space between the U-shaped countertops would be much more generous – only the small fridge unit from the current U would have to be removed, but it could definitely find a place in the long cabinet wall, and you’d still gain more storage space than a pantry with this layout…

take a look here:

Messi_37 schrieb:
If you have to give up, which details/upgrades
-can you do without: … pantry in the dining area (could possibly be moved to the entrance hall)

Way too many words for a low-value room that was just squeezed in.

Papierturm schrieb:
Messi_37 wrote:
Personal budget limit for the house, including fixtures: 750k

A very central question: What exactly is included here?

Turnkey?

Additional construction costs?

Turnkey plus additional costs will make this a million-dollar project.

Doing some work yourself can reduce that.

If additional construction costs are not included, it might still work out. (You still need to have money for those additional costs.)
Overall, I’m afraid you won’t manage with that budget.

We had hoped that 750k including additional construction costs would be sufficient.
However, the plan is not turnkey but rather to contract the trades independently including coordination and own work (simple tasks like assisting with shell construction/electrical work, flooring, painting).

ypg schrieb:
Where is the site development or/and where is the access road?

I’ll upload a picture for this again.

Basically, why the current plan is as it is:
With the garage on the right side, we wanted to create some kind of privacy screen (including for the entrance area) since the neighbor’s terrace/winter garden is directly on the border. However, the house should be as far right as possible toward the neighbor, to utilize as much of the garden (south/west) as possible on the left side.

ypg schrieb:
You realize that 50 square meters of terrace space will be covered? You don’t want it bright or to have a view of the garden and some sky? Do you need darkness and that’s why the basement is like a crypt?

Haha 😀
Yes, that worries me a lot! Visually, I really like the terrace with the tiled roof, but I’m also afraid it will block so much light. I would also like a roof with adjustable slats, but I’ve heard that this might blow the budget even more.
Do you have any suggestions for the terrace roof?
Actually, I don’t need darkness and want the rooms on the south/west side to be as bright as possible.
(I also considered a glass pergola, but of course that has downsides like dirt accumulation.)

ypg schrieb:
The entrance is now on the south side, which is actually a bit unfortunate. However, if the house and rooms on the ground floor remain as I think, the orientation would be quite good.

Sorry, maybe a silly question, but what advantages would shifting the entrance to the north/east bring? For example, making the dining room wider?

ypg schrieb:
Back to the basement: what purpose is it supposed to serve? Why is it indispensable?

Oh dear, difficult topic. I want one for storing my stuff (I know, a very expensive storage room), for more flexibility (in case additional space is needed later for whatever reason), an extra party/lounge/hobby room.

Noxmortana schrieb:
From the greeting "Servus," I conclude Bavaria,

Correct 😉

Noxmortana schrieb:
The problem with the pantry in numbers clarified: approx. 2.8m² and according to the dimensions on the edge about 2.8m long, so 1m wide => minimum 70cm (28 inches) walkway, which is already narrow! That leaves just about 30cm (12 inches) of shelving along almost 2.8m length. No space for freezer etc.! Instead, one could place tall cabinets on the right kitchen wall from the door, that would be over 3m (10 feet) of 60cm (24 inches) deep cabinets, and the free area between the U-shaped units would be much more spacious – only the fridge stub of the current U would have to go, but it could find a place in the tall cabinet wall, and there would still be more storage space than such a pantry offers...

Thanks for the hint. I took another close look at the plan, and the room width is about 1.35m (4 ft 5 in).
But I’m not sure if that invalidates your argument. Probably the tall cabinets in the kitchen without the additional pantry space are the more sensible solution here.