ᐅ Floor Plan Comparison for a Single-Family Home: 3 Designs, Family Planning, Honest Opinions Requested

Based on these designs?

The contract will only be signed after the final designs are completed.

Everyone uses the same basic resources, and the highest offer is by no means the most expensive provider. Often, their packages include items that others charge extra for. Light switches, tiles (higher quality, larger formats), waste removal, portable toilets, insurance.

NMarieKH schrieb:

Because they definitely wanted to sign before 2026…

… now they need a lawyer rather than advice from a homebuilding forum community. Having three brothers declared legally incapacitated at their own request won’t be cheap, even in Austria.

NMarieKH schrieb:

Believe me, I definitely don’t want to build with those outward-opening doors… [ / ] everyone designed a house 🙂 this is not trolling, I’m just the desperate partner trying to hold it together without really knowing what I’m doing…

I didn’t accuse you of trolling; I just explained what a troll over there (in the green area) uses to keep my attention busy with popcorn threads.

So I misunderstood the basis of your thread. Apparently, there are three brothers who were unwise to enter into construction contracts too early. But we are not supposed to help choose between bad options A, B, or C—instead, these are the houses of Tick, Trick, and Track. Each is building a different house; the only common factors are the basement concept and that each already has a partner and a plot of land. You are Tick’s partner, and apparently the only one among the six of you actively seeking solutions (?)

NMarieKH schrieb:

There were many comparison offers and none was even close to being as good

If the basis is not even suitable for a serious offer, then there will be even fewer comparable offers.

• First, go to a lawyer who can help you get out of the contracts.
• After that, the three brothers, considering their similar house sizes, should seriously think about collaborating with an architect to develop a joint house design and also look for a joint general contractor (at least for the shell construction). I assume the plots are adjacent, so similar building conditions apply. This shows how important the land is for the planning discussion.
• It’s best to close this thread here and open either one new thread—or three separate ones if the plots differ significantly.

This confusion doesn’t help anyone (except that you’re competing with the troll over there for viewership of popcorn threads).

By the way, I recommend my “Homebuilding Roadmap, also for you: the HOAI Phase Model!” But with facts at stake and contracts signed prematurely, every minute counts—so go to a lawyer first. We can discuss the somewhat technical planning advice afterward.

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NMarieKH schrieb:

But a building permit / planning permission plan still needs to be created together with the construction company.

Maybe a (somewhat imperfect) example using a car (since the car body is fixed, unlike a house). You go to VW wanting to buy a Passat, but you don’t yet know the exact specifications. However, you know it should be 490 cm (193 inches) long, have four seats, and an engine. The salesperson then tells you that’s no problem. You can sign a quote — this means you get the base model with no special features, solid black color, and the smallest gasoline engine. The offer is only valid for today. The detailed planning of the car follows later.

Three weeks later, you’ve reconsidered. Instead of a sedan, you want a wagon. Instead of a gasoline engine, you want all-wheel drive and diesel. Black is no longer appealing. You want leather seats. You need a navigation system. No one has thought about winter tires yet. And so on.

As I said, the example is imperfect, but it illustrates your “problem.”

NMarieKH schrieb:

But a submission plan still needs to be created together with the construction company

The fact that this is still pending unfortunately does not have the effect of suspending the construction contract or delaying anything; the client can only fall into default for failure to cooperate. The contractor will probably be looking forward to using this as a reason to justify price increases. So, as I said: get a lawyer quickly, then handle everything else. But don’t get your hopes up—getting out of this will be difficult. €1,536,000 (approximately $1,536,000) for three surprise packages—back in Hänschen Rosenthal's time, Mady would have converted that into schillings for us ;-)

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NMarieKH schrieb:

So even if I want to remove a room, do you think that will result in a significant additional cost?

Let’s assume the general contractor wants to make a 10% margin on the house. With construction costs of 500,000€ (about 500,000 USD), that would mean roughly 50,000€ (50,000 USD) profit. That profit is guaranteed for them.
If you were to reduce the size of the house by half, they obviously wouldn’t want to give up that profit. So with 250,000€ (about 250,000 USD) in production costs, they would still include the 50,000€ (50,000 USD) profit, totaling 300,000€ (about 300,000 USD). Additionally, there are extra costs for revising the plans, which you won’t be credited for. Both of these (and probably more) are additional expenses you would face compared to planning the correct size from the start.

It’s also important to note that a smaller house tends to be more expensive per square meter than a larger house with comparable features.
You still have the costly rooms like bathrooms and kitchens in a smaller house, and there are fixed costs in any building project that don’t depend on the size of the house.

So when you reduce the size of the house, you won’t necessarily pay less, or at least not as much less as you might expect, because the cost per square meter increases significantly.

On top of that, you’ll likely want better finishes or upgrades in certain areas. If you had asked for those initially, the contractor would have planned with the original 10% margin. Now that you’ve already signed a contract, they may be able to ask for 15% or even 20% margin. You are tied to them.
It therefore always makes sense to plan as accurately as possible from the start and clarify as much as you can in advance.

PS: Margins and construction costs mentioned here are purely illustrative.

Dear Marie,
I feel a bit sorry for you. It seems you’re quite worried about this situation, and now it’s probably too late... If you’re also expected to put your financial resources into the project, I would strongly recommend making your voice heard more clearly from now on and telling the guys that they made a mistake.
Maybe one of you has good legal expenses insurance and can get free advice from a specialist lawyer. I have also had good experiences with legal insurance phone consultations, where you get an appointment very quickly or they call you back. It’s important for you to act as soon as possible. Don’t hesitate to spend some money now. A good lawyer can certainly help, at least to minimize the damage.
Good luck!