ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family House, Basement / Ground Floor / Upper Floor, North Rhine-Westphalia
Created on: 17 Jun 2018 20:46
H
HeinoHello everyone,
I have been following this forum for almost a year now and have already received many useful tips – thank you for that! I hope that in the future I can also help someone else.
My partner and I have been planning to build a house for about a year. Although construction will only start next year, we would like to finalize the preliminary draft from the structural engineer soon so that we can begin discussions with the tradespeople.
We want to contract the trades individually, and my aunt (an architect) is supporting us with this.
We believe we now have a fairly solid design and would like to present it for your feedback.
For reference, I am using the floor plans and elevations from our SketchUp model. The structural engineer’s preliminary plan is available but does not show the final version (windows, details).
We are looking forward to your opinions and are open to all criticism – so let’s get started! 🙂
Best regards,
Sebastian
Development Plan / Restrictions
(no development plan specified!)
Plot size:
1200 m² (12917 sq ft), adjacent hinterland (1150 m² (12375 sq ft)) owned by family
Slope:
Gradient to the south and west, approx. 4 meters (13 feet) total drop diagonally over the entire length
Setbacks:
3 meters (10 feet) for residential buildings, garage allowed on boundary
Number of floors permitted:
2 full stories allowed
Roof type:
Flat roofs not permitted
Architectural style:
Existing buildings are traditional with hip or gable roofs
Other requirements:
Square building footprints are not desired
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type:
Modern, simple, gable roof for cost reasons, “city villa” type
Basement, number of floors:
Yes, basement plus 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages:
Four (31 + 29 + potentially 2 children)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors:
Upper floor: master bedroom, walk-in closet, 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms
Ground floor: open kitchen/dining/living, study, wardrobe area, pantry, guest toilet
Basement: hobby room, technical room, storage, laundry
Office:
Family use and home office
Number of guest stays per year:
Hard to say – maybe around 10
Open or closed architecture:
Open
Traditional or modern construction:
Modern
Open kitchen, island:
Yes to both
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace:
Yes
Garage, carport:
Garage with 2 parking spaces plus additional room for bins, sink, bicycles, etc.
Utility garden, greenhouse:
We’ll see… there is space
Other wishes/special features:
Large glass front over two floors, gallery above dining area, technical service shaft, laundry chute to basement, ground-level garage access on main floor
House Design
Who designed it:
In-house creation, developed over a year, structural engineer has reviewed it and currently sees no issues
What do you particularly like:
The gallery combined with the glass façade, straight staircase (ground to upper floor)
What do you not like:
Uncertain about window planning – enough windows / large enough?
Price estimate according to architect/planner:
385,000 EUR (according to structural engineer, basic standard, no electrical installation)
Personal maximum budget for house including fittings:
400,000 EUR (plot is owned, and many tradespeople with family connections: grandfather’s carpentry, father electrical engineer, cousin master carpenter and roofer, many good trade contacts)
Preferred heating system:
Ground-source heat pump, underfloor heating on all floors
If you had to forgo something, which features/finishes
- can you live without:
Fireplace, garage size, balcony
- can you not live without:
Basement, gallery, 2 bathrooms upstairs
Why does the design look like it does?
A lot of research, trial and error, measuring on site, CAD visualization, some compromises for cost reasons (gable roof instead of hip roof)
What is your main question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
We already feel almost moved in but worry we’re not looking “objectively enough” anymore – windows?
I have been following this forum for almost a year now and have already received many useful tips – thank you for that! I hope that in the future I can also help someone else.
My partner and I have been planning to build a house for about a year. Although construction will only start next year, we would like to finalize the preliminary draft from the structural engineer soon so that we can begin discussions with the tradespeople.
We want to contract the trades individually, and my aunt (an architect) is supporting us with this.
We believe we now have a fairly solid design and would like to present it for your feedback.
For reference, I am using the floor plans and elevations from our SketchUp model. The structural engineer’s preliminary plan is available but does not show the final version (windows, details).
We are looking forward to your opinions and are open to all criticism – so let’s get started! 🙂
Best regards,
Sebastian
Development Plan / Restrictions
(no development plan specified!)
Plot size:
1200 m² (12917 sq ft), adjacent hinterland (1150 m² (12375 sq ft)) owned by family
Slope:
Gradient to the south and west, approx. 4 meters (13 feet) total drop diagonally over the entire length
Setbacks:
3 meters (10 feet) for residential buildings, garage allowed on boundary
Number of floors permitted:
2 full stories allowed
Roof type:
Flat roofs not permitted
Architectural style:
Existing buildings are traditional with hip or gable roofs
Other requirements:
Square building footprints are not desired
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type:
Modern, simple, gable roof for cost reasons, “city villa” type
Basement, number of floors:
Yes, basement plus 2 full floors
Number of occupants, ages:
Four (31 + 29 + potentially 2 children)
Room requirements on ground and upper floors:
Upper floor: master bedroom, walk-in closet, 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms
Ground floor: open kitchen/dining/living, study, wardrobe area, pantry, guest toilet
Basement: hobby room, technical room, storage, laundry
Office:
Family use and home office
Number of guest stays per year:
Hard to say – maybe around 10
Open or closed architecture:
Open
Traditional or modern construction:
Modern
Open kitchen, island:
Yes to both
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace:
Yes
Garage, carport:
Garage with 2 parking spaces plus additional room for bins, sink, bicycles, etc.
Utility garden, greenhouse:
We’ll see… there is space
Other wishes/special features:
Large glass front over two floors, gallery above dining area, technical service shaft, laundry chute to basement, ground-level garage access on main floor
House Design
Who designed it:
In-house creation, developed over a year, structural engineer has reviewed it and currently sees no issues
What do you particularly like:
The gallery combined with the glass façade, straight staircase (ground to upper floor)
What do you not like:
Uncertain about window planning – enough windows / large enough?
Price estimate according to architect/planner:
385,000 EUR (according to structural engineer, basic standard, no electrical installation)
Personal maximum budget for house including fittings:
400,000 EUR (plot is owned, and many tradespeople with family connections: grandfather’s carpentry, father electrical engineer, cousin master carpenter and roofer, many good trade contacts)
Preferred heating system:
Ground-source heat pump, underfloor heating on all floors
If you had to forgo something, which features/finishes
- can you live without:
Fireplace, garage size, balcony
- can you not live without:
Basement, gallery, 2 bathrooms upstairs
Why does the design look like it does?
A lot of research, trial and error, measuring on site, CAD visualization, some compromises for cost reasons (gable roof instead of hip roof)
What is your main question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
We already feel almost moved in but worry we’re not looking “objectively enough” anymore – windows?
The design does not include any dimensions... The exterior measurements alone don’t provide much useful information.
Regarding the costs:
The price estimate is about 100,000 too low. The plans appear to show roughly 180-200m² (1,940-2,150 sq ft) plus a basement and a double garage. That won’t work with 385,000.
Regarding the costs:
The price estimate is about 100,000 too low. The plans appear to show roughly 180-200m² (1,940-2,150 sq ft) plus a basement and a double garage. That won’t work with 385,000.
Please upload JPEGs; PDFs tend to be somewhat cumbersome.
The price won’t work this way, as @ivenh0 already mentioned.
Without dimensions, it’s also difficult.
Otherwise, here are some quick thoughts.
Ground Floor:
- Huge garage
- Large cloakroom (some will love this, others won’t)
- Hallway to the office is quite a waste of space
- WC will be really tight with the toilet and tiny washbasin
- Laundry chute in the office is very unfortunate. It would need to be cleverly integrated with the furniture
- Dining room might be a bit narrow, and the fireplace is quite the tripping hazard. Dimensions would be helpful
Upper Floor:
- Chimney flue in the dressing room is very unfortunate and could severely limit furniture placement on that side (dimensions?)
- Niche in the bedroom is a nice idea but probably won’t be longer than 1.50m (5 feet); what’s supposed to go there? Better to align with the exterior wall, sacrificing the unnecessary side of the balcony
- Bathroom 1 has two doors. That’s always tricky but depends on the occupants. If someone is supposed to have privacy, this will be problematic. No bathtub in the house?
- Room 2 seems to have awkward proportions. Dimensions?
- Enormous gallery. You have to be able to afford that...
Basement:
- The utility room is already placed as well as possible in the floor plan, but it is several meters farther from the street (a north arrow on all plans would be helpful). This will mean additional costs.
- Hallway is wasted space
Regarding windows/facade:
- The small window in the guest toilet on the ground floor might still be okay, but the one in the “children’s bathroom” upstairs is borderline. It’s a dark room. As a first step, I would align both windows with the height and size of the surrounding windows.
- The window grille on the back is certainly attractive, especially with the view outside. Which cardinal direction is that? Shade? If it faces south or west, it will heat up considerably and, due to the gallery, affect the whole house. Climate concerns?
- I like the basement-level windows (last view / “bottom of plan”), but everything above is rather randomly arranged
All in all (since you wanted it like this 😀), I think it’s time to involve an architect, not a technician. There are still some rough edges to smooth out, and the price estimate seems quite off to me—although the glass frontage should not be overvalued, those aren’t that expensive. The fireplace is probably costlier.
This becomes very clear in the elevations. You can see the priorities. The rear elevation with the glass frontage is nice; all the others not so much 😉 Random window placement is a symptom of unbalanced spatial planning!
The price won’t work this way, as @ivenh0 already mentioned.
Without dimensions, it’s also difficult.
Otherwise, here are some quick thoughts.
Ground Floor:
- Huge garage
- Large cloakroom (some will love this, others won’t)
- Hallway to the office is quite a waste of space
- WC will be really tight with the toilet and tiny washbasin
- Laundry chute in the office is very unfortunate. It would need to be cleverly integrated with the furniture
- Dining room might be a bit narrow, and the fireplace is quite the tripping hazard. Dimensions would be helpful
Upper Floor:
- Chimney flue in the dressing room is very unfortunate and could severely limit furniture placement on that side (dimensions?)
- Niche in the bedroom is a nice idea but probably won’t be longer than 1.50m (5 feet); what’s supposed to go there? Better to align with the exterior wall, sacrificing the unnecessary side of the balcony
- Bathroom 1 has two doors. That’s always tricky but depends on the occupants. If someone is supposed to have privacy, this will be problematic. No bathtub in the house?
- Room 2 seems to have awkward proportions. Dimensions?
- Enormous gallery. You have to be able to afford that...
Basement:
- The utility room is already placed as well as possible in the floor plan, but it is several meters farther from the street (a north arrow on all plans would be helpful). This will mean additional costs.
- Hallway is wasted space
Regarding windows/facade:
- The small window in the guest toilet on the ground floor might still be okay, but the one in the “children’s bathroom” upstairs is borderline. It’s a dark room. As a first step, I would align both windows with the height and size of the surrounding windows.
- The window grille on the back is certainly attractive, especially with the view outside. Which cardinal direction is that? Shade? If it faces south or west, it will heat up considerably and, due to the gallery, affect the whole house. Climate concerns?
- I like the basement-level windows (last view / “bottom of plan”), but everything above is rather randomly arranged
All in all (since you wanted it like this 😀), I think it’s time to involve an architect, not a technician. There are still some rough edges to smooth out, and the price estimate seems quite off to me—although the glass frontage should not be overvalued, those aren’t that expensive. The fireplace is probably costlier.
This becomes very clear in the elevations. You can see the priorities. The rear elevation with the glass frontage is nice; all the others not so much 😉 Random window placement is a symptom of unbalanced spatial planning!
Well, I have no idea how I would really need to break down our invoices to calculate your possible additional costs, but I see the totals on our side and read about 400,000 with you – and you want a significantly larger house than us plus a basement. That doesn’t add up.
It would be easier if the pictures were posted as images here instead of PDFs.
It would be easier if the pictures were posted as images here instead of PDFs.
Hello ivenh0,
Result: 194 m² (2,087 sq ft) of living space.
Please excuse the “excessiveness” 😉
Ground Floor:
Cloakroom 7.02 m² (75.6 sq ft)
Hallway 12.63 m² (136 sq ft)
WC 2.45 m² (26.4 sq ft)
Study 20.46 m² (220.3 sq ft)
Pantry 5.63 m² (60.6 sq ft)
Kitchen 12.91 m² (139 sq ft)
Living / Dining 43.78 m² (471.2 sq ft)
Total: 104.88 m² (1,129 sq ft)
Upper Floor:
Room 1 12.62 m² (135.8 sq ft)
Room 2 16.82 m² (181 sq ft)
Small Bathroom 5.98 m² (64.4 sq ft)
Large Bathroom 14.37 m² (154.7 sq ft)
Dressing Room 9.11 m² (98 sq ft)
Master Bedroom 17.29 m² (186 sq ft)
Corridor 10.91 m² (117.4 sq ft)
Balcony 2.47 m² (25% counted) (26.6 sq ft)
Total: 89.54 m² (963.5 sq ft)
Basement:
Total: 104.56 m² (1,125.7 sq ft)
Garage:
Total: 60 m² (646 sq ft)
I prefer not to post the preliminary plan with detailed room dimensions online since I’m not sure if the structural engineer agrees with that. If this makes evaluation impossible, then that’s just tough luck 😉
The price was calculated based on volume: 1299 m³ (45,860 cu ft) were estimated at €265/m³ — the garage was additionally calculated at €140/m³.
Several local builders have confirmed to me that “you can reliably calculate with prices from XX” — I have also partially compared the prices for trades with offers and detailed cost calculations. Everything seems to fit — the architect is satisfied as well. If necessary, there is still some buffer.
The remark is certainly well intended, but I specifically posted this request in the forum for floor plan planning. It would be great if we could avoid focusing on costs here.
Thanks in any case for your reply! 🙂
Good luck,
Seb
Result: 194 m² (2,087 sq ft) of living space.
Please excuse the “excessiveness” 😉
Ground Floor:
Cloakroom 7.02 m² (75.6 sq ft)
Hallway 12.63 m² (136 sq ft)
WC 2.45 m² (26.4 sq ft)
Study 20.46 m² (220.3 sq ft)
Pantry 5.63 m² (60.6 sq ft)
Kitchen 12.91 m² (139 sq ft)
Living / Dining 43.78 m² (471.2 sq ft)
Total: 104.88 m² (1,129 sq ft)
Upper Floor:
Room 1 12.62 m² (135.8 sq ft)
Room 2 16.82 m² (181 sq ft)
Small Bathroom 5.98 m² (64.4 sq ft)
Large Bathroom 14.37 m² (154.7 sq ft)
Dressing Room 9.11 m² (98 sq ft)
Master Bedroom 17.29 m² (186 sq ft)
Corridor 10.91 m² (117.4 sq ft)
Balcony 2.47 m² (25% counted) (26.6 sq ft)
Total: 89.54 m² (963.5 sq ft)
Basement:
Total: 104.56 m² (1,125.7 sq ft)
Garage:
Total: 60 m² (646 sq ft)
I prefer not to post the preliminary plan with detailed room dimensions online since I’m not sure if the structural engineer agrees with that. If this makes evaluation impossible, then that’s just tough luck 😉
The price was calculated based on volume: 1299 m³ (45,860 cu ft) were estimated at €265/m³ — the garage was additionally calculated at €140/m³.
Several local builders have confirmed to me that “you can reliably calculate with prices from XX” — I have also partially compared the prices for trades with offers and detailed cost calculations. Everything seems to fit — the architect is satisfied as well. If necessary, there is still some buffer.
The remark is certainly well intended, but I specifically posted this request in the forum for floor plan planning. It would be great if we could avoid focusing on costs here.
Thanks in any case for your reply! 🙂
Good luck,
Seb
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