ᐅ Planning a ~150 m² urban villa – your thoughts?

Created on: 26 Aug 2020 17:27
T
Toxic85
Hello everyone,

we (2 adults + 1 child [5 years old]) are currently planning to build a house and have obtained an initial offer from a smaller local home builder. I would like to share this with you and hope to get some opinions or suggestions for improvements. Please note that our planned building plot has not yet been officially designated as building land, so I cannot provide final details.

Zoning plan / restrictions
Plot size: ~1,600m² (17,222 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: -
Building volume ratio: -
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: -
Edge development: garage yes
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof style: hipped roof 23 degrees/27 degrees with approx. 60cm (24 inches) eaves overhang
Architectural style: classic urban villa
Orientation: -
Maximum heights/limitations: -
Other requirements: -

Client requirements
Style, roof type, building type: classic urban villa, hipped roof
Basement, floors: no basement, 2 floors
Number of occupants, age: m 35, f 37, child 5 years
Space requirements on ground and upper floors: see design
Office: family use or home office? Family use
Guest overnight stays per year: 6 times
Open or closed layout: open ground floor, closed upper floor
Traditional or modern construction: both
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: currently not included
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons for choices:

- open living-dining-kitchen area; good room layout with minimal space lost to hallways, children’s room largest room upstairs

House design
Who designed it:
- planner from a construction company

What do you particularly like? Why?
- room layout on ground and upper floors

What do you dislike? Why?
- ground floor bathroom (sink and toilet too close to door or feels cramped – shower is required)
- walk-in closet/bedroom upstairs somewhat questionable (any possibility to rearrange without wasting space?)

Price estimate according to architect/planner:
~ 270,000€

Personal price limit for house, including fittings:
~ 250,000€

Preferred heating system:
- air-source heat pump

If you had to give up something, which features/finishes would that be?
- can give up: currently planned with only essentials included, not overloaded
- cannot give up: 2 bathrooms, fireplace

Why was the design made as it is? For example:
Design by planner based on corresponding requirements.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Would you change the overall layout/room sizes? Would you arrange anything differently or notice any poorly thought-out aspects? What would your ground floor bathroom look like – compact? (toilet, sink, shower)
Pinky030126 Aug 2020 19:23
Toxic85 schrieb:

For us, the long side is the kitchen wall.

I didn’t mean that you should move the door. I just wanted to explain how it is in our case. To clarify, here is our bathroom:

Floor plan of a small room with furniture, doors, and measurements (90/140/325 cm)
Pinky030126 Aug 2020 19:25
One more thing I just thought of: They chose a door that is a bit narrower (76cm (30 inches)) so that it doesn’t stick out too much into the bathroom. That could be an option for you as well, to avoid making the inside feel too cramped.
H
hanse987
26 Aug 2020 19:40
Draw the desired furniture to scale everywhere, especially in the living/kitchen area.

Where exactly is north, and where will the terrace be located?

The bedroom is quite narrow. There’s only 65cm (25.5 inches) of space on each side of the bed.

The walk-in closet is also very narrow. A wardrobe needs at least 50cm (20 inches) of depth, leaving at best only 80cm (31.5 inches) of space between them.

You should reconsider the placement of the windows.
H
haydee
26 Aug 2020 20:25
An all-in budget will not be sufficient without a significant amount of personal labor.
Only the house itself can be economically specified in your region.
Additional construction costs, kitchen, landscaping, and carport are missing.

https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/liste-der-anfallenden-baunebenkosten-bauseits-teurer.9737/page-23#post-423407

https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/warum-ein-hausbau-fast-immer-teurer-kommt-als-kalkuliert.16237/

Where is north?
Site plan?
Where are the terrace and kitchen?
Ground floor has too few windows.
No cloakroom.
The utility room door is a bit narrow; at least the standard size won’t work.

Bedroom has limited space on both sides of the bed.
Dressing room is too narrow.
Window is missing.
P
Pinkiponk
27 Aug 2020 10:09
Toxic85 schrieb:

Yes, that would be an alternative. However, the plot is rather long and not very square. Therefore, arranging a bungalow plus a future garage/carport would be difficult again.

You are right. Another drawback of a bungalow is the cost. For me, a bungalow was always just a comfortable garage with more windows and doors; I thought it would be cheap. During our building research, I found out that a bungalow, due to the larger floor slab and roof area—considering the price per living square meter (apart from one provider)—is significantly more expensive than a one-and-a-half- or two-story house.
K1300S27 Aug 2020 10:24
How does this
Toxic85 schrieb:

Cost estimate according to the architect/planner:
~ 270,000€
fit with this
Toxic85 schrieb:

Personal price limit for the house, including fittings:
~ 250,000€
Usually, initial cost estimates tend to increase during the course of a project, but you are already below the estimated costs, even before adding smaller items like flooring, wall coverings, kitchen, and so on. From my perspective, this does not seem realistic.