ᐅ Preliminary floor plan design for a single-family house of approximately 230 sqm plus a basement

Hello,

we are planning a new build and have put our ideas into a floor plan. We would greatly appreciate any suggestions for improvements.

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 2000m² (21,528 ft²)
Slope approximately 8% (east to west)
Site coverage ratio approximately 110m² (1,184 ft²)
Floor area ratio 3 (including basement)
Building envelope, building line and boundary: sufficient space
Edge development: no
Number of parking spaces: 4
Number of floors: upper floor full storey
Roof shape: -
Architectural style: -
Orientation: see plan
Maximum height/limits: < 300m² (3,229 ft²) footprint / 2 full floors

Client Requirements
Style: modern, gable roof
Basement, floors: basement, ground floor, upper floor
Number of occupants, age: 2 adults, 3 children = 5 persons
Space requirement ground/upper floor: approx. 110/120m² (1,184/1,292 ft²)
Office: family use and home office (2 workrooms)
Occasional guest bedrooms: space for 2 persons (planned in the ground floor workroom)
Open or closed layout: tendency to open, only the kitchen should be separable
Modern construction method
Kitchen island
Number of dining seats: at least 10
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony/roof terrace: possible on all sides, main direction north but also west and in front of the house to the south
Garage/carport: planned on the right in front of the house (starting from the WC to the right, so a covered walkway to the front door is possible)
Utility garden, greenhouse: utility garden located in the north
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why some things should or should not be:
Space between children’s room and parents’ room, short walking distances
Street is on the south side

House Design
Who designed the plan: DIY
What do you especially like? Why? The entrance vestibule is important to us. The kitchen should be comfortably large because it will be used a lot (often two adults and children). A double garage is planned next to the front door, starting with the WC (to the right). The hallway will be illuminated during the day by glass doors (ground floor) and hallway/bathroom windows upstairs, as well as a glass door in the workroom.

What do you dislike? Why? Unsure if the entrance vestibule is adequately sized.
Price estimate according to architect/designer: own estimate: 650k EUR
Personal budget limit for the house, including fittings: 700k EUR
Preferred heating system: heat pump (in basement)

If you had to forego certain details or extensions
- what can you give up: floor size
- what can you not do without: kitchen, children’s rooms, storage room, workroom 1, workroom 2, basement

Why is the design the way it is? For example:
A mix of many examples from various magazines...

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
We have created several floor plans. We like this one but are sure many optimizations are possible. We welcome any suggestions or critiques.

No floor plan discussions with me.
I just want to point out that the house is calculated with a maximum price of about €3,000 per square meter (approximately $3,300 per square yard).
That’s fine. However, the basement and double garage, site development, additional construction costs, landscaping, and so on are extra. Or should those be included in the price? Then building the house won’t work out, unless you do a lot of work yourself.

Please look up floor area ratio and floor space index... it seems there was some misunderstanding.

Otherwise: price-wise, it will be tight to impossible, depending on what is included in the 700,000. Building a slightly smaller house would still be comfortable. For 5 people, you do NOT need more than 200 sqm (2,150 sq ft).

Vivusorg schrieb:

I can’t get the images to display directly. Using the "insert image" button only inserts the images as links.

This is not a bug, it’s a feature: this behavior signals to the uploader that they are uploading Gigapixel drawings.

Vivusorg schrieb:

Sure, they’re unfortunately A4 pages, so there’s quite a bit of white space.

A4 is a good reference point. I strongly recommend that you sketch your floor plan ideas by hand. That way, you’ll more quickly notice if you lack a sense of scale and end up designing an unnecessarily oversized house without realizing it. Your draft shows no characteristics of a home where a family enjoys generous living spaces. Instead, it looks like someone has lost track of the scale. Maybe try A5 size instead, because on A4 you should generally be able to fit both floors.

Vivusorg schrieb:

Price estimate according to architect/planner: Own estimate: 650k EUR
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 700k EUR

Even if these numbers were realistic, this alone should raise a serious warning: that’s clearly less than ten percent “buffer” before hitting a critical limit. You would need an architect with a five-star approval from @Gerddieter to handle that.

Without saying “everything is bad” here: definitely start over from scratch.
And don’t forget the site plan. Even on a 2,000 sqm (0.5 acre) plot, it matters greatly where the house is positioned.

By the way: 230 sqm (2,475 sq ft) is a size suitable for dual-income households with both incomes above the threshold used for cost assessments!

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This is less about whether I can afford it or not. My focus is on the planning.

KarstenausNRW schrieb:

No floor plan discussions with me.
I just want to point out that the house has been budgeted at roughly €3,000 per square meter (about $320 per square foot) as the maximum price.
That’s fine. However, the basement and double garage, site development, additional construction costs, landscaping, etc. will still be extra. Or do you expect those to be included in the price? Then building the house won’t work, unless you do a considerable amount of work yourself.

This is about the house including the basement. My own contribution would be installing liquid screed in the basement, and wallpapering and painting on wooden floors.

Yosan schrieb:

Please look up floor area ratio and plot ratio... it seems there was a misunderstanding.

Otherwise: pricewise it will be tight to impossible, depending on what exactly is supposed to be included in the €700,000. Building a slightly smaller house would still be comfortable. You simply don’t need more than 200 square meters (about 2,150 square feet) for five people.

You are, of course, right. Thanks for the hint.

Certainly, nobody needs more than 200 square meters (about 2,150 square feet), but that wasn’t what I wanted to discuss here. My concern is the floor plan. Leave the costs and feasibility worries to me.

Site plan with elevation details are the minimum requirements for an assessment.

An aerial view of the surroundings and the zoning plan would also be helpful.

The house can be more efficient.