Hello everyone,
We are starting to plan an alternative to the costly renovation of our house. So far, we have had our first discussions and collaboration with a general contractor of our choice.
I would appreciate honest feedback so that we can identify any overlooked issues now, rather than during construction.
Summary:
Development plan exists, few restrictions, maximum eaves height of 8m (26 ft) might cause some issues for us.
Plot size: 710m² (7,645 ft²)
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Hip roof
Style: Townhouse / Urban villa
Orientation: Plot faces northwest, see attachment
Maximum height/limits: 8m (26 ft) eaves height, 5m (16 ft) setback from northern and western property boundaries for the building, due to requested landscaping
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Flexible; overall package must be appealing
No basement, two full stories
Number of occupants: 6 persons (ages 38, 37, 8, 6, 2, 2)
Space needs: 5 bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 offices on the ground floor, at least 2 showers
Offices: Both offices necessary, 1 fully dedicated home office (regardless of pandemic), 1 study for a teacher
Overnight guests per year: 6; can sleep elsewhere or in one of the offices
Open or closed layout: Flexible
Conservative or modern construction: Flexible
Kitchen: Preferably open with an island (for food prep, not for cooking at)
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Provision for a wood stove, thus chimney required
2 carports, no garage
Special features: A cleaning area/utility room “mudroom” is desired because our children tend to be messy. Children’s bedrooms to be approximately the same size (+/-).
House design
Designed by: Planner from a construction company
What we like:
- Simple floor plan
- 2 offices
- 5 bedrooms on one level
- Bedrooms roughly the same size
- Kitchen easily furnishable
- Not larger than 200m² (2,153 ft²) (cleaning, construction costs)
- Fits the plot well
- Short access for groceries (directly into kitchen)
What we don’t like:
- The path to the living room goes through the kitchen
- Relatively large circulation areas
- No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approximately €440,000 (about $490,000) excluding painting and floor coverings (except tiles, which are included for kitchen, entrance, hallway on ground floor, and bathrooms)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: €540,000 (about $600,000), including fittings and additional construction costs, land extra. Can be increased if needed up to €640,000 (about $710,000)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump or gas
What can you do without? Which details or extras can you skip?
- Can omit 1 office if the corresponding bedroom is 3m² (32 ft²) bigger (a desk corner instead)
Why does the design look like this now?
We found a standard design that we were able to adapt to our needs with relatively few changes.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
What daily challenges do you see with 4 children that we might have missed? What haven’t we considered?
The house is planned for the top left corner plot (circled) on the site map.
The floor plans have unfortunately been manually altered, so my revisions regarding room names are included. The guest room is actually office 2... The revised room sizes are approximate.
Thank you very much and best regards,
SoL
We are starting to plan an alternative to the costly renovation of our house. So far, we have had our first discussions and collaboration with a general contractor of our choice.
I would appreciate honest feedback so that we can identify any overlooked issues now, rather than during construction.
Summary:
Development plan exists, few restrictions, maximum eaves height of 8m (26 ft) might cause some issues for us.
Plot size: 710m² (7,645 ft²)
Slope: No
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: Hip roof
Style: Townhouse / Urban villa
Orientation: Plot faces northwest, see attachment
Maximum height/limits: 8m (26 ft) eaves height, 5m (16 ft) setback from northern and western property boundaries for the building, due to requested landscaping
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Flexible; overall package must be appealing
No basement, two full stories
Number of occupants: 6 persons (ages 38, 37, 8, 6, 2, 2)
Space needs: 5 bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 offices on the ground floor, at least 2 showers
Offices: Both offices necessary, 1 fully dedicated home office (regardless of pandemic), 1 study for a teacher
Overnight guests per year: 6; can sleep elsewhere or in one of the offices
Open or closed layout: Flexible
Conservative or modern construction: Flexible
Kitchen: Preferably open with an island (for food prep, not for cooking at)
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: Provision for a wood stove, thus chimney required
2 carports, no garage
Special features: A cleaning area/utility room “mudroom” is desired because our children tend to be messy. Children’s bedrooms to be approximately the same size (+/-).
House design
Designed by: Planner from a construction company
What we like:
- Simple floor plan
- 2 offices
- 5 bedrooms on one level
- Bedrooms roughly the same size
- Kitchen easily furnishable
- Not larger than 200m² (2,153 ft²) (cleaning, construction costs)
- Fits the plot well
- Short access for groceries (directly into kitchen)
What we don’t like:
- The path to the living room goes through the kitchen
- Relatively large circulation areas
- No pantry
Price estimate according to architect/planner: approximately €440,000 (about $490,000) excluding painting and floor coverings (except tiles, which are included for kitchen, entrance, hallway on ground floor, and bathrooms)
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: €540,000 (about $600,000), including fittings and additional construction costs, land extra. Can be increased if needed up to €640,000 (about $710,000)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump or gas
What can you do without? Which details or extras can you skip?
- Can omit 1 office if the corresponding bedroom is 3m² (32 ft²) bigger (a desk corner instead)
Why does the design look like this now?
We found a standard design that we were able to adapt to our needs with relatively few changes.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
What daily challenges do you see with 4 children that we might have missed? What haven’t we considered?
The house is planned for the top left corner plot (circled) on the site map.
The floor plans have unfortunately been manually altered, so my revisions regarding room names are included. The guest room is actually office 2... The revised room sizes are approximate.
Thank you very much and best regards,
SoL
SoL schrieb:
I’ll test this out with some real details in the next few days to see what fits well and what might not 😀 The 15 sq m (160 sq ft) I managed to save, I would invest in a conservatory facing the terrace. 😎
haydee schrieb:
@K a t j a The software looks familiar to me. Yay, I’m excited! Couldn’t resist – it’s addictive. 😉
K a t j a schrieb:
I managed to save 15sqm (161 sq ft), which I would invest in a conservatory facing the terrace. 😎
Couldn’t resist – the addiction. 😉 I thought you were clean after such a long time. I’m really happy for you.
SoL schrieb:
I’ll try to bring this to life in the next few days to see what fits well and what might work less well 😀 I want to show the open version in response to #52. I personally like it better. However, you probably won’t get away without a beam here – indicated as a double line:
The exterior door for the offices is no longer optional, because otherwise colleagues have to walk through the living area to get to meetings.
SoL schrieb:
...I, on the other hand, have a lot of conferences.Oh, so these are all online conferences? I thought you regularly had the house full of people. 😉I overlooked the 22° roof pitch. Maybe you noticed that I planned a glass ridge beam with open ceilings up to the roof in the hallway upstairs. This is quite important for this floor plan. Otherwise, the hallway would get dark quickly. While you can also plan skylights above doors, the effect is obviously quite different:
Whether it still looks good with a 22° pitch would need to be tested in 3D.
Whether it still looks good with a 22° pitch would need to be tested in 3D.
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