ᐅ Assessment & Assistance for a Semi-Detached House, Approximately 180 sqm, DIY Floor Plan

Created on: 10 Feb 2023 13:28

Hello everyone,

we have purchased a 337 m² (3623 ft²) plot on which we now want to build our semi-detached house. We are in discussions with various construction companies, but their approaches vary widely. Since we are often presented with floor plans based on our key specifications that we don’t like at all (often a standard run-of-the-mill semi-detached house), we have started to think about it ourselves. It’s also quite different that one company has a problem with the structural engineering for a ground floor measuring 8 x 12 m (26 x 39 ft), while another does not. Our wish is also to have the technical equipment on the attic floor (see separate thread).

Now I would like to get your opinion on our DIY floor plan. Does it make sense? What have we overlooked? Constructive suggestions are welcome, as I don’t really like, for example, the bathroom/office solution on the upper floor.

Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size: 337 m² (3623 ft²)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.35
Floor area ratio: 0.7
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 12 m length (39 ft), plot is 11.5 m wide (38 ft), so effectively 8.5 m (28 ft)???
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2.5
Roof style: pitched roof, 30 degrees, no knee wall
Architectural style
Garden side facing fully south
Maximum heights/limits: 12 m length (39 ft), 6.5 m eaves height (21 ft)
Further requirements: adjacent semi-detached house will also be built later without a basement with dimensions of 8.5 x 10.1 m (28 x 33 ft), smaller than ours

Document explaining maximum eaves height and intersection line between exterior wall and roof

Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof shape, building type: no special requirements
Basement, floors: no basement, 2.5 floors
Number and age of residents: 38, 38, 2, x 😉
Room requirements ground floor, upper floor: ground floor airy, bright, spacious; upper floor 3 bedrooms, bathroom, office
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Number of overnight guests per year: a couple every three months or so
Open or closed architecture: open
Traditional or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: open with island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/sound system wall: no, TV on wall
Balcony, roof terrace: terrace (added later)
Garage, carport: none, as garage space here is very disadvantageous
Utility garden, greenhouse
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why something should or should not be

- House technology preferably in the attic since we usually spend most time on the ground floor and want plenty of space there
- Avoid standard floor plan with U-shaped staircase if possible, therefore the compromise of a V-shaped staircase with glass railing on the ground floor, open without storage under the stairs, winding stairs connecting ground floor and attic
- Lots of window area, lift-and-slide windows on the ground floor with external blinds because of south-facing side
- Kitchen and lounge somewhat separated and not too close to each other
- Ceiling height on the ground floor at least 2.65 m (8.7 ft)
- Make use of sloped ceilings in the attic space

House Design
Who designed it: DIY
What do you like most? Why? Open living space, open stairway
What do you dislike? Why? Bathroom/office on the upper floor
Price estimate according to architect/designer: 450k
Personal budget limit for house, including fittings: 550k
Preferred heating technology: heat pump

If you have to give up on something, which details/extensions
- Can be waived: pantry on ground floor, “even more” windows
- Cannot give up: separate office

Why is the design the way it is now? For example,
A mixture of many examples from various magazines…
What do you think makes it especially good or bad? Good because it is not standard and conveys a generous, bright sense of space

Site plan of a residential area with buildings, roads, and green spaces; yellow marked area.

Basement floor plan: attic space, technical room/laundry/bathroom, other rooms (25.28, 10.79, 30.96 m²).

Ground floor plan: car on open parking space, entrance area, open living/dining area.

Floor plan: large room 62.02 m² with adjacent rooms 4.12 m², 3.27 m² and 9.71 m².

Open living area with dining table on the left, sofa on the right, stairs on the right; bathroom and pantry.

Floor plan of an apartment with bedroom, two kids’ rooms, office, hallway and staircase.

Floor plan of a house with six rooms: bedroom, office, child 1, child 2, and two other rooms.

Floor plan of a house: living area, bedroom, kitchen, technical room and attic space

Mar_Mar13 Feb 2023 15:58

#25

ypg schrieb:

You could. But of course, with an additional charge. Because in the standard design, the attic is often just an unheated roof space, so you obviously can’t install wiring or heating there. Converting the attic is considered an upgrade!

And that exact company (which offered the least options) was actually by far the most expensive 😳

ypg schrieb:

I don’t think you can or want to give up the necessary floor space in the long run. When planning a house, you also consider that you might rearrange furniture, store more belongings, or need additional space over time. Planning for practical storage space is important.

Basically, I agree with you, BUT I firmly believe that if you have a lot of space, you also accumulate a lot of junk. The cabinets that initially had plenty of room are full of stuff after two years, much of which could actually be thrown away.
That’s also our perspective regarding the basement: If I only use it for storage without an office or other functions, then in my mind I have to calculate whether the cost of the basement is worth it, compared to the cost of discarding all that stuff and replacing what’s really needed later (okay, let's put the environmental aspect aside for now). I see this so often with others... so much storage space, so much room, and no one even knows what’s in the drawers anymore... My first thought whenever I enter such a house is: “Call bulk waste collection.” I find too much stuff/possessions stressful; I prefer space and openness. That matters more to us than keeping my daughter’s Puky (balance bike) for five years 😉

That’s why storage space is definitely important, but preferably consolidated into large built-in wardrobes in the bedrooms/office/attic, rather than spread everywhere. Can you understand my point of view? 😀

ypg schrieb:

I have many, and if I don’t, I plan them 😉
But not with different staircases. That sloppy mess would be a faux pas, a negative eye-catcher that does the opposite of what you want. Given the width of the house, I could imagine a straight staircase running across the house. That would be more of a conceptual experiment for now 😉

That’s what I’m working on right now, and as you can see, it’s not going well 🙂 We’ve dropped the idea of multiple staircases... OK, your arguments make sense, so let’s forget that idea 😉
A straight staircase was originally our first choice too, but we were told it would take up too much space. I once saw a floor plan with a straight staircase running across the room, but that layout separated the living room from the kitchen/dining area by a narrow passage.

Mar_Mar13 Feb 2023 16:13

#26

11ant schrieb:

Oops, right, it was this one: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/blaehton-vor-und-nachteil-dicke-anbieter.44819/

Exactly, that’s also mine. By now, we’ve narrowed it down to KLimaver (glass) at 36.5cm (14.4 inches) or Poroton at 36.5cm (14.4 inches), monolithic 🙂

11ant schrieb:

Being part of a construction company is nothing to be ashamed of, no need to censor the names. I’ve also met the difficult lady you mentioned; thankfully, the well-known general contractors (GCs) aren’t as bad as their sales agents. However, I recommended those well-known townhouse and semi-detached home developers for good reason, since their construction proposals are much more useful for your inspiration: they build whole terraces of semi-detached and row houses with highly refined variations. If you want to build with a bit more relaxed width than their models, you can copy those plans with a slightly loosened belt and get functional layouts with “business” instead of “economy” elbow room. If you go to a GC with a request for a semi-detached house 8 or 8.5 meters (26.2 or 27.9 feet) wide, they’ll just pull out a detached single-family home plan with a bricked-up window side from their drawer — the disappointing result is unavoidable.

I’ve seen this happen quite often, so I thought it was normal, also because of Google and all 🙂
Oh, the Koblenz lady? That was by far the worst conversation… never before have I looked at my husband during a talk and silently asked him if I misheard. The knockout phrase, so snippy: “Then buy yourself a Ytong block from the hardware store and put it in the bathtub. Then you’ll see how much moisture it absorbs.” Brilliant. The houses may be good, but that was a deal breaker.

In general, I could go on at length about sales agents. I really wonder if there are people who get talked into signing during the second appointment just because they get a free iPad. Those rock-bottom prices and “only this month” special discounts completely put us off; we always walked away quickly.
Appointment at ELK: “What is important to you? What do you expect from me as a consultant?” Me: “Transparency: I want no surprises and to keep costs under control”… then came the offer on one DIN A4 sheet… and it was calculated without the foundation slab.

And so on... and so on...

Your list of providers is already “in progress” 🙂

11ant13 Feb 2023 18:03

#27

Mar_Mar schrieb:

Your list of providers is already "in progress"

??? I only listed several semi-detached/row house developers for you—not as a general contractor for your project, but merely as examples of floor plans for functioning semi-detached houses.

Mar_Mar schrieb:

Oh, the lady from Koblenz?

Why Koblenz? According to your profile, you are building in Hesse?

Mar_Mar schrieb:

We have now narrowed it down to Klimaver (glass) at 36.5cm (14.4 inches) or Poroton at 36.5cm (14.4 inches), monolithic

Keep my stone mantra in mind! Can you really find an experienced general contractor nearby for such an unusual building material? You can find one for Poroton “on every corner,” and Weton was already recommended for Liapor.

Mar_Mar schrieb:

Originally, we also preferred the stair, but we were already told it would take up too much space.

Above all, starting with the staircase is the wrong first step for floor plan design. Use suitable floor plan examples and always plan starting from the upper floor; I have explained this general approach several times. My previously mentioned external posts also include contact information. Guiding prospective builders who keep going in circles is exactly my profession.

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

ypg13 Feb 2023 18:33

#28

Mar_Mar schrieb:

And that very company (where the least was possible) turned out to be by far the most expensive 😳

To clarify that, you would probably need to compare the detailed building specifications. As long as no contract is signed, builders usually just calculate their construction scope with a price per square meter. But once the customer is locked in, the costs for custom features come into play.
Anyway, that’s just guesswork in murky waters now.

Mar_Mar schrieb:

That’s also our perspective regarding the basement: If I only use it as storage space without an office or anything else, I still have to mentally balance the cost of the basement against what it would cost to throw away all that stuff and replace it if really needed (okay, let’s put the environmental argument aside for now). I see it so often with others… so much storage space, so much room, and nobody even knows what’s in the drawer anymore… my first thought when I enter such a house is, “Call bulky waste collection.” I find having too much stuff burdensome; I want space, a view—that’s more important to us than keeping my daughter’s Puky for 5 years 😉

… and that’s in response to my quote 😉
Check this out https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/die-liste-die-jeden-bauherren-zu-interessieren-hat.34418/
By the way, I deliberately built without a basement 😀

Mar_Mar schrieb:

but gladly consolidated in large built-in closets in the bedrooms/office/attic, not scattered everywhere. Can you understand my point of view? 😀

Partly: better to have a closet exactly where chaos could arise. And if your 5-year-old daughter in five years shows up punky instead of with the Puky, you’ll be glad to have a built-in closet right there—precisely where in every home chaos first begins to spread—instead of clutter. Because right at the wall’s edge, you might just as well have a wall cupboard.

There is no practical reason in planning to squeeze a door dangerously close to the house corner if it can be done otherwise.
As I said before, from a design perspective, that “corner squeeze” actually achieves exactly the opposite of what you want: space and a clear view.

And with your layout, everything would have to be carried past the kitchen anyway, which doesn’t work well for an open cooking and dining area.

Mar_Mar schrieb:

Space, view—that’s more important to us than keeping my daughter’s Puky for 5 years 😉

Mar_Mar schrieb:

Originally, the staircase was also our first choice, but we were already told it would take up too much space.

Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to reconsider that because such a staircase further reduces the usable attic space.

Mar_Mar13 Feb 2023 18:58

#29

11ant schrieb:

??? I only listed several DH/RH developers for you—not as general contractors for your construction project, but simply as examples of floor plans for functional semi-detached houses.

So, that means I just google them and take a look.

11ant schrieb:

Why Koblenz? According to your profile, you are building in Hesse?

Yes, in Hesse. We had the pleasure of meeting both ladies. Originally, we met the lady from Frankfurt at the building fair. At the same time, a friend who had built with the provider made contact with his representative. She immediately informed the Frankfurt lady that she was "already handling us," so that was where the first conversation ended. But to be honest, there was no difference between the two.

11ant schrieb:

Keep my stone mantra in mind! Can you really find an experienced general contractor near you for a niche building material? For Poroton, you can find one “on every corner,” and for Liapor, Weton was already recommended.

In this case, Lechner Massivhaus. We find lightweight expanded clay aggregate extremely interesting. But it would have to be a 42cm (17 inches) wall. To achieve the same thermal performance, Klimaver requires 36.5cm (14.5 inches)… the rest, such as workmanship, is the same with Lechner Massivhaus.

11ant schrieb:

Guiding homebuyers stuck in endless circles is exactly my job.

Hi, that’s me :p

11ant13 Feb 2023 22:42

#30

Mar_Mar schrieb:

Hi, it's me

I haven’t received anything from you yet, not even in the spam folder.

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

ᐅ Assessment & Assistance for a Semi-Detached House, Approximately 180 sqm, DIY Floor Plan

Reaktionen