ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Townhouse with a Gable Roof

Hello, great forum,

we are now also starting to fulfill a small dream of owning our own home. I am very curious about your opinions and experiences.
Currently, we live in a 4-room apartment of 70 sqm (750 sq ft).
We are planning for just under 200 sqm (2,150 sq ft).
We need a room for each of our three children; the house should be functional.
From the outside, it should have a modern appearance.
We would like two full floors with a small flat or hipped roof. Unfortunately, this is not possible, and these restrictions apparently only allow what has been designed so far.
I would like the dormer at the front and the front extension to be larger purely for aesthetic reasons, but the architect says it is not necessary.

Development plan / restrictions
Attached is the third house/plot from the top.
Plot size: 700 sqm (7,535 sq ft)
- Minimum distance to the street is 7.0 m (23 feet)
- Building depth is 12.0 m (39 feet)
- Orientation MUST be ridge side facing the street according to the development plan
- The eaves and ridge heights follow §34 of the Building Code, i.e., as high as the neighbors. We can include the basement (cellar) for the floor heights of the ground and upper floors.
- However, it will not be a two-story building! I estimate the knee wall / dwarf wall currently at about 1.0 m (3 feet)! (For an exact statement, the eaves and ridge heights of the neighbors would have to be measured.)
- A plaster facade is NOT required; it can be fully clad in brick or masonry
- Roof pitch may be between 45 - 52 degrees
- No basement possible due to peat soil and groundwater issues.

Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Gable roof
Basement, floors: 1 floor + attic
Number of people, ages: 5 people aged between 2 and 35
Space needed on ground and upper floors
Office: Family use or home office? Home office
Guest sleepers per year: 3
Open or closed architecture: Open, if possible
Conservative or modern construction: Modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Closed kitchen
Number of dining seats: 8, and there should be a breakfast nook in the kitchen
Fireplace: Would be nice

House design
Who created the plan: Our idea, implemented by the architect
What do you particularly like? Why?
Width of the hallway downstairs and the entrance area, the view to the living room from the entrance.
Passage from the kitchen to the utility room with pantry

What do you not like? Why?
Everything seems very tight, or maybe that is just an impression.

Price estimate according to architect/planner:
450k

Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 550k
Preferred heating system: Heat pump or gas heating

If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can you give up: Currently, we can only imagine not finishing the attic first.

I don’t want to be a spoiler, but the architect’s cost estimate seems quite naive.
If you calculate with the typical 3000€ per square meter (approximately $300 per square foot), you would end up at around 600,000€.
Depending on what you mean by finishes, there could be additional costs on top of that.
Of course, there are also ancillary building costs and expenses for landscaping to consider.

Sure, it’s possible to come in cheaper, but I would only base your calculations on that if you can afford to spend more without any issues in the end. Otherwise, it might be worth considering designing the house a bit smaller.

A few things I’ve noticed:

- The kitchen is quite far from the terrace.
- What is the very narrow utility room intended for?
- Where will the main service connections enter the house?
- The storage room door opening outward into the carport will probably not be ideal for the car’s fender.
- The entrance platform in front of the front door will not be very deep, otherwise it will be difficult to pass by safely with a car.
- The low bed access on one side in the master bedroom seems interesting to me.

Enrico02 schrieb:

I don’t want to be a party pooper, but the architect’s cost estimate is quite optimistic.
If you calculate with the typical 3000€ per square meter (approximately $320 per square foot), you’d end up around 600,000€.
Depending on what you include in the fittings, there will be additional costs on top of that.
Of course, you also have to factor in ancillary building costs and expenses for the landscaping.

Sure, you can manage to spend less, but I would only plan with that if you can afford to spend more without any problems in the end. Otherwise, you might want to consider designing a slightly smaller house.

Yes, that’s true. I forgot to mention earlier that we will contract all trades separately.
This way, we hope to keep the construction costs between 2600€ and 2700€ per square meter (approximately $280 to $290 per square foot).

hanse987 schrieb:

A few things I’ve noticed:

- The kitchen is quite far from the terrace.
- What is supposed to go into that very narrow utility/technical room?
- Where are the main utility connections coming into the house?
- The outward-opening door of the storage room leading to the carport will probably cause issues with the car’s fender.
- The entrance platform in front of the main door won’t be very deep, otherwise cars won’t be able to pass without damage.
- The low headspace on one side of the bed in the master bedroom seems interesting.

There will also be a terrace at the kitchen/dining area. It faces southwest.

The utility/technical room is considered sufficient according to the architect. It is supposed to house the building services... hmm.

The house connections come in from the street side where the utility/laundry room is located. We are considering enlarging the office and moving the technical equipment into the utility/laundry room, and removing the cloakroom, since the current design of the utility room is not very functional.

You’re right about the storage room.
The architect says we don’t need an entrance platform.
The distance from the neighbor’s property line to the house wall/entrance is 3.40 meters (11 ft). That should be enough for a car to pass, right?

Or do you have another suggestion here?

You are right about the bedroom.
What would be a practical solution there?

Also, won’t it get very hot upstairs in the attic during summer?

A note and your experience.

For the creation of the plans, phases 1-4, the architect is asking for just under 15,000 euros. Is this reasonable?

Another architect had quoted 6,700 euros for phases 1-4, but he was not local.

That felt too risky for us because we currently have a lot of ongoing communication with the architect.