Hello everyone,
I have been reading here for a while, and now it’s time for us to start planning the floor plan. We had our first appointment with the architect this week and have already shared our ideas with him as preparation. We received a first draft, which we will discuss during our meeting. Additionally, we created some rough sketches ourselves (without considering structural issues, windows, the staircase is drawn way too small, etc. – really just very basic to clarify our ideas, I’m attaching those as well).
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 635 sqm (6,840 sq ft)
House size: 135 sqm (1,450 sq ft)
Number of floors: 1.5
Roof type: Gable roof
Maximum heights / limits: Knee wall 1.20 m (4 ft)
(We would have preferred a bungalow or a townhouse, but unfortunately, there are no plots available here. We are happy to have found one at all, even if that means we have to accept 1.5 floors and a knee wall.)
Client requirements
Basement, floors: no basement
Number of occupants, age: 2 persons, 39 years old (children are 90% unlikely to be planned)
Office: Home office about once a week – although I usually work from the living room with my laptop
Guest stays: maybe 2 to 3 times a year, so far managed without a guest room in the apartment
Architecture: open plan
Construction style: modern
Kitchen: an island kitchen probably won’t fit, but it should be an open kitchen, possibly with a breakfast bar
Dining seats: 4 to 6 – for occasional visitors – but that could also work by putting in a dining table as needed and otherwise using a kitchen breakfast bar daily
Fireplace: rather no, due to cost and space reasons
Balcony, roof terrace: terrace
Garage, carport: carport
Desired ground floor layout:
Includes utility room, guest WC, hallway, living area (consisting of living room, kitchen, dining area/other)
Entrance and ancillary rooms:
- small hallway with space for a coat rack
- utility room about 8 sqm (86 sq ft), space for technical equipment, washing machine, dog food & co.
- guest WC max. 3 sqm (32 sq ft); no guest shower needed
Living area:
- quick access from the entrance to the living area, ideally directly to the kitchen
- living/kitchen/dining area as large as possible (ideally approx. 50 sqm (540 sq ft)), minimizing space wasted by other areas/rooms on the ground floor
- kitchen possibly with island/breakfast bar if space allows
- book corner with window seat if space allows (for info: I have about 1,000 books and a piano – these need to be accommodated somewhere)
- space-saving staircase, preferably open/integrated in the living area to save hallway space
Desired upper floor layout:
Includes bathroom, bedroom, dressing room, hobby room, another room (possibly office, guest room)
Bathroom:
- bathroom with walk-in shower + bathtub (freestanding = nice to have)
- possible wall separation for the toilet (if it fits)
Sleeping area and dressing room:
- bedroom with walk-in closet/dressing room, if feasible given house size
- access from bedroom to dressing room and bathroom
Additional rooms:
- hobby room with space for desk, crafting corner, small seating area
- another room as office/sports/guest room or possibly a child’s room after all – alternatively, a larger hallway/gallery with seating area and light well to the floor below
House design
Designed by: planner/architect from a design-build company
What don’t we like? Why?
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: $240,000 – that is also the financial plan (excluding kitchen or additional furniture, plot and landscaping – total budget is about $400,000)
Preferred heating technology: air-source heat pump
If you had to give up something, which features/finishes could you do without? very reluctantly the dressing/walk-in closet
What is the most important fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
How should we best proceed with the draft? Are there ideas that could help us align better with our wishes for the discussion? Which ideas should we discard?
A few more remarks: Reading other posts here sometimes makes me feel guilty because we are “only” building 135 sqm and everything seems so “small.” Still, I want to get the best possible value for my money. Financially, this size is the most reasonable for now.
(PS: And in case the question arises: Why are children only 90% excluded? There are many reasons – for example, difficulties conceiving, but not completely giving up hope.)
Thank you in advance for your opinions.
I have been reading here for a while, and now it’s time for us to start planning the floor plan. We had our first appointment with the architect this week and have already shared our ideas with him as preparation. We received a first draft, which we will discuss during our meeting. Additionally, we created some rough sketches ourselves (without considering structural issues, windows, the staircase is drawn way too small, etc. – really just very basic to clarify our ideas, I’m attaching those as well).
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 635 sqm (6,840 sq ft)
House size: 135 sqm (1,450 sq ft)
Number of floors: 1.5
Roof type: Gable roof
Maximum heights / limits: Knee wall 1.20 m (4 ft)
(We would have preferred a bungalow or a townhouse, but unfortunately, there are no plots available here. We are happy to have found one at all, even if that means we have to accept 1.5 floors and a knee wall.)
Client requirements
Basement, floors: no basement
Number of occupants, age: 2 persons, 39 years old (children are 90% unlikely to be planned)
Office: Home office about once a week – although I usually work from the living room with my laptop
Guest stays: maybe 2 to 3 times a year, so far managed without a guest room in the apartment
Architecture: open plan
Construction style: modern
Kitchen: an island kitchen probably won’t fit, but it should be an open kitchen, possibly with a breakfast bar
Dining seats: 4 to 6 – for occasional visitors – but that could also work by putting in a dining table as needed and otherwise using a kitchen breakfast bar daily
Fireplace: rather no, due to cost and space reasons
Balcony, roof terrace: terrace
Garage, carport: carport
Desired ground floor layout:
Includes utility room, guest WC, hallway, living area (consisting of living room, kitchen, dining area/other)
Entrance and ancillary rooms:
- small hallway with space for a coat rack
- utility room about 8 sqm (86 sq ft), space for technical equipment, washing machine, dog food & co.
- guest WC max. 3 sqm (32 sq ft); no guest shower needed
Living area:
- quick access from the entrance to the living area, ideally directly to the kitchen
- living/kitchen/dining area as large as possible (ideally approx. 50 sqm (540 sq ft)), minimizing space wasted by other areas/rooms on the ground floor
- kitchen possibly with island/breakfast bar if space allows
- book corner with window seat if space allows (for info: I have about 1,000 books and a piano – these need to be accommodated somewhere)
- space-saving staircase, preferably open/integrated in the living area to save hallway space
Desired upper floor layout:
Includes bathroom, bedroom, dressing room, hobby room, another room (possibly office, guest room)
Bathroom:
- bathroom with walk-in shower + bathtub (freestanding = nice to have)
- possible wall separation for the toilet (if it fits)
Sleeping area and dressing room:
- bedroom with walk-in closet/dressing room, if feasible given house size
- access from bedroom to dressing room and bathroom
Additional rooms:
- hobby room with space for desk, crafting corner, small seating area
- another room as office/sports/guest room or possibly a child’s room after all – alternatively, a larger hallway/gallery with seating area and light well to the floor below
House design
Designed by: planner/architect from a design-build company
What don’t we like? Why?
- Narrow galley kitchen. I already have this in my apartment and don’t want it anymore. Is it really not possible to do it differently? Structural or other reasons?
- Staircase located in the dirty area. Shoes, dirt, etc. I don’t want to walk through that every time I go upstairs.
- Dressing room under a sloped ceiling. Not much space left for wardrobes...
- Office only 7 sqm (75 sq ft). Does that make sense? If, against expectations, a child arrives, this would be the hobby room, which would then be much too small.
- Bathrooms. Does the layout make sense? I always thought they should be arranged above/below each other.
- Technical equipment. Could it also be located in the attic?
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: $240,000 – that is also the financial plan (excluding kitchen or additional furniture, plot and landscaping – total budget is about $400,000)
Preferred heating technology: air-source heat pump
If you had to give up something, which features/finishes could you do without? very reluctantly the dressing/walk-in closet
What is the most important fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
How should we best proceed with the draft? Are there ideas that could help us align better with our wishes for the discussion? Which ideas should we discard?
A few more remarks: Reading other posts here sometimes makes me feel guilty because we are “only” building 135 sqm and everything seems so “small.” Still, I want to get the best possible value for my money. Financially, this size is the most reasonable for now.
(PS: And in case the question arises: Why are children only 90% excluded? There are many reasons – for example, difficulties conceiving, but not completely giving up hope.)
Thank you in advance for your opinions.
R
Reluctance24 Feb 2019 20:00kaho674 schrieb:
I assume the contract was signed for a two-story townhouse with 135m² (1453 sq ft) of net floor area. Usually, the contract includes something like "see sketch / plan," which indicates the two-story structure. Since this cannot be verified at the building site, it might be possible to contest the contract. The simplest solution would probably be an appropriate amendment with a new offer from the builder. It’s also possible that the contract was indeed signed for 135m² (1453 sq ft) of living area, and the original poster just confused the terminology.Phew, thanks. Glad someone else understood it. The terms are not mixed up; we signed for a two-story house with 135m² (1453 sq ft) of net floor area (not living area). When the new plot was involved, the builder simply changed the house type in the offer but did not alter the net floor area, price, or anything else.
I already mentioned this, but the response was more of a vague "Yes, we’ll have to see"... I will follow up more thoroughly.
(In the meantime, we asked several times what it would cost if the house were a bungalow or something else, and the answer was always that it would cost the same—it’s a mixed calculation based on the price per square meter (net living area).)
R
Reluctance24 Feb 2019 20:05kbt09 schrieb:
Net floor area is NOT the external dimensions (yours are 10.05 x 8.2 = 80.6 m² (867 sq ft), which is not the same as 67.75 m² (729 sq ft)).
Difference between net floor area and living area:
Net floor area also includes spaces with a ceiling height under 1 m (3 ft 3 in) or areas where shafts need to be installed. These areas are not counted as living area.Correct. I explained this in a post just before yours:
Reluctance schrieb:
Without. Including exterior walls, it is the gross floor area. This is a fairly standard method of calculating floor space, as far as I can tell as a layperson. From what I have read so far, it is roughly as follows:
- Gross is the total/floor area including exterior walls/structural elements
- Net is the total/floor area excluding exterior walls/structural elements
- Living area is the habitable space, where areas with a height under one meter (3 ft 3 in) do not count as living area. Areas between one and two meters (3 ft 3 in and 6 ft 7 in) high count as 50 percent of living area...We will discuss the area again with the building authority and clarify all other questions.
Regarding the wall thickness: Good point. We are building with expanded clay aggregate blocks, but my partner has dealt with this and I cannot say much about it myself... I will pass it on to him.
Reluctance schrieb:
With the new plot, the builder simply changed the house type in the offer, but not the net floor area, price, or anything else.
I already mentioned this, but the response was rather vague, like "Yeah, we’ll have to see"... I will definitely follow up more thoroughly on this. That doesn’t sound very reassuring. I would start building the walls. Of course, a completely new offer is needed, and don’t let yourselves be taken advantage of with a casual “we’ll see” attitude. I would use the DIN standard for living area as the basis for renegotiating the contract. Anything else would need to be very well justified to me.
Reluctance schrieb:
(In between, we repeatedly asked what it would cost if the house was a bungalow or something else, and the answer was always that it would cost the same; it’s just a mixed calculation based on the price per square meter of net living area.) In that case, everyone would just build a bungalow, as long as the zoning plan / building permit allows it.
R
Reluctance24 Feb 2019 20:20kaho674 schrieb:
That doesn't sound very reassuring. I would start by building up the walls. Of course, a completely new quote is needed, and make sure you don’t get taken advantage of with a casual “we’ll see” approach. I would use the DIN standard for living area as the basis for renegotiating the contract. Anything else would really need to be well justified to me. Could you help me again here? According to DIN 277, the net floor area is the usable area plus the technical area plus the circulation area. So basically the entire floor footprint. And unfortunately, in the case of a 1.5-story building, it’s exactly the same size as for a townhouse, or am I missing something?
kaho674 schrieb:
Everyone would immediately build a bungalow there, as long as the development plan allows it. That was my first thought too :-p. Just tell him it’s going to be a bungalow. I’m curious to see his reaction.
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