Hello,
I have been reading along for some time now and finally dare to share a floor plan here.
First, here is the list of questions:
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 576 sqm (6,200 sq ft)
Slope: Yes, slight. According to the site plan, the top "right" corner is at 295.4 meters (970 feet), lower at 293.88 meters (964 feet), left side goes from 295.17 meters (968 feet) to 293.43 meters (963 feet)
Floor area ratio: 0.3
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Applies to house number 16
Surrounding buildings
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of stories: 2 full floors required, plus optional recessed floor (setback floor)
Roof type: Flat roof, max. 5° pitch
Maximum height/limits: Max. 10 m (33 ft) high
Additional requirements: Equipment (heat pump) must be integrated, not external. Maximum of 2 residential units. Specific exterior colors required, rainwater should infiltrate (soil report says this is unlikely). Roofs must be greened. No oil or gas heating allowed.
Client requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Actually, none specified.
Basement, floors: No basement, 2 floors.
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people — 2 adults, 2 children
Ground floor space needs: Daily life (living, kitchen, dining, technical room, guest room)
Upper floor: Family (2 children's rooms, master bedroom, separate bathrooms), home office
Office: Home office, second workspace for occasional use such as a work window sill for example in the bedroom
Guests per year: Currently few.
Open or closed architecture, conservative or modern style: Either is fine.
Open kitchen, kitchen island: We are still considering. Initial wish was separate pantry like in the floor plan. An island would be nice if space allows.
Number of dining seats: Normally 4, rarely up to 8.
Fireplace: None.
Music/stereo wall: Multi-room audio with central unit in technical room.
Balcony, roof terrace: Neither.
Garage, carport: 1 garage
Other wishes: Central vacuum system, laundry chute, smart home (KNX) (I am mostly doing this myself, yes, I am a certified electrician, can program, but will also get additional help)
House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company: Correct, with some input from us. Based on an existing plan.
Price estimate by architect/planner: approx. 485,000 € (euros) for the house, approx. 210,000 € for the plot including basic services (survey, soil report, etc.)
Personal price limit for the house including features: approx. 800,000–850,000 € (including land)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump
If you had to give up, which details/extra features could you skip:
- Could skip:
- Cannot skip:
Why is the design like it is now? For example:
Standard design by the planner? Yes, with minor wishes from us (wall between study and child’s room 2, T-walls in bathrooms, porch roof, conservatory, pantry)
What do you find especially good or bad about it? So far it seems to fit; apart from possibly the pantry/dining room, we don’t see major issues yet. But that’s why I’m here now.
Edit: The furniture shown in the floor plans can be safely ignored. Planners seem to like adding these.
Best regards
Ganneff
I have been reading along for some time now and finally dare to share a floor plan here.
First, here is the list of questions:
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 576 sqm (6,200 sq ft)
Slope: Yes, slight. According to the site plan, the top "right" corner is at 295.4 meters (970 feet), lower at 293.88 meters (964 feet), left side goes from 295.17 meters (968 feet) to 293.43 meters (963 feet)
Floor area ratio: 0.3
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Applies to house number 16
Surrounding buildings
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of stories: 2 full floors required, plus optional recessed floor (setback floor)
Roof type: Flat roof, max. 5° pitch
Maximum height/limits: Max. 10 m (33 ft) high
Additional requirements: Equipment (heat pump) must be integrated, not external. Maximum of 2 residential units. Specific exterior colors required, rainwater should infiltrate (soil report says this is unlikely). Roofs must be greened. No oil or gas heating allowed.
Client requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Actually, none specified.
Basement, floors: No basement, 2 floors.
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people — 2 adults, 2 children
Ground floor space needs: Daily life (living, kitchen, dining, technical room, guest room)
Upper floor: Family (2 children's rooms, master bedroom, separate bathrooms), home office
Office: Home office, second workspace for occasional use such as a work window sill for example in the bedroom
Guests per year: Currently few.
Open or closed architecture, conservative or modern style: Either is fine.
Open kitchen, kitchen island: We are still considering. Initial wish was separate pantry like in the floor plan. An island would be nice if space allows.
Number of dining seats: Normally 4, rarely up to 8.
Fireplace: None.
Music/stereo wall: Multi-room audio with central unit in technical room.
Balcony, roof terrace: Neither.
Garage, carport: 1 garage
Other wishes: Central vacuum system, laundry chute, smart home (KNX) (I am mostly doing this myself, yes, I am a certified electrician, can program, but will also get additional help)
House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company: Correct, with some input from us. Based on an existing plan.
Price estimate by architect/planner: approx. 485,000 € (euros) for the house, approx. 210,000 € for the plot including basic services (survey, soil report, etc.)
Personal price limit for the house including features: approx. 800,000–850,000 € (including land)
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump
If you had to give up, which details/extra features could you skip:
- Could skip:
- Cannot skip:
Why is the design like it is now? For example:
Standard design by the planner? Yes, with minor wishes from us (wall between study and child’s room 2, T-walls in bathrooms, porch roof, conservatory, pantry)
What do you find especially good or bad about it? So far it seems to fit; apart from possibly the pantry/dining room, we don’t see major issues yet. But that’s why I’m here now.
Edit: The furniture shown in the floor plans can be safely ignored. Planners seem to like adding these.
Best regards
Ganneff
Papierturm schrieb:
Comparing the latest drawing with the first one, I find the latest significantly better.Oh yes, the input here really helped develop it well.Papierturm schrieb:
Regarding the quote above: There’s a reason why large home builders somewhat disparagingly call architects "drawing slaves."ypg schrieb:
You have to say: they work fast. That can lead to mistakes being overlooked.She’s pretty quick, yes, even if by now I’m probably one of the more demanding clients. 🙂 I don’t want to or can really judge quality. Apart from minor details, I have no complaints. A superstar architect might be different, but on the one hand, I didn’t book that, and on the other hand, such a person probably wouldn’t enjoy change requests.
Papierturm schrieb:
Sink height usually around 90cm (35 inches). The window sill height has to be higher then.It’s an 82cm (32 inches) window, so on the upper floor the finished floor level to sill is at 1.265m (50 inches).Papierturm schrieb:
I would consider whether there might be another option there. A mirror is important, I think.I can’t think of a good alternative right now. Except maybe having the window separate, the sink to the left, and the second window over the bathtub.Papierturm schrieb:
Minor deviations are acceptable.Though “minor” is open to interpretation, yes.Papierturm schrieb:
Therefore: Venetian blinds (raffstores) are a good option for many south-facing windows.I want to equip all windows, all around the house, with blackout or shading solutions anyway. No matter which, all will get some, mostly roller blinds, some Venetian blinds.M
motorradsilke1 Jul 2025 17:34At least in our case, you can move windows, doors, and interior walls freely, as long as you comply with the zoning plan (if applicable) or usual local building styles and meet the requirements for window sizes. You could also change this later without needing to submit a new building permit / planning permission. I clarified this with our building authority at the time because our floor plan ended up a bit different from the one in the building application.
I wouldn’t place a window above the sink, since I would definitely want a mirrored cabinet there. I would move the sink slightly toward the top of the plan and shift the window toward the bottom. That way, you can look outside from the bathtub and avoid having a window above the tub, which tends to be impractical because it’s hard to open and clean.
I wouldn’t place a window above the sink, since I would definitely want a mirrored cabinet there. I would move the sink slightly toward the top of the plan and shift the window toward the bottom. That way, you can look outside from the bathtub and avoid having a window above the tub, which tends to be impractical because it’s hard to open and clean.
Then swap the toilet and washbasin if you still want light above the bathtub. Unfortunately, I also have to say that the soil pipe should be positioned cost-effectively. In my planning, I naturally considered the stack of the soil and vent system. Ultimately, the professional needs to identify the issue and coordinate it with the ground floor.
Papierturm2 Jul 2025 07:54Ganneff schrieb:
Although "minor" is again a matter of interpretation, yes. Experience report: we moved almost all the windows. Changed the size of 3 windows. And merged two windows into one large window. No problem at all. The positioning of the house, the size, and everything relevant in the development plan are more important to the building authority.
Papierturm schrieb:
Experience report: we moved almost all the windows. We changed the size of 3 windows. And combined two windows into one large window. No problem at all.
When it comes to the house’s positioning, size, and everything relevant to the zoning plan, that is more important to the building authority. Sorry, but how can you generalize from “your” building authority to others?
One takes 3 months, another 3 years.
One offers consultation hours, another does not.
One is strict, another is lenient.
One requires building permit amendments / planning permission modifications, another does not.
In general: construction must follow the application and the approved permit. Especially regarding the facade, meaning the external appearance.
And then there is the construction company: some are very precise and will not simply build your later changes. The client tends to shift responsibility onto the company when problems arise, so why should those responsible take the risk and build arbitrary changes not approved by the building authority?
Papierturm schrieb:
Even though I think it’s very positive to involve children in planning their rooms, here I would consider that children grow up. This is a common issue for homeowners: the family’s self-image is like a still picture, and the fact that "everything flows" (pantha rhei) is overlooked. Not only do children become adults, but more attitudes and needs change than people realize. For this reason, I always recommend to those seeking advice to think of the room group KGB (child/guest/office) flexibly. Network outlets in the guest room are inexpensive. In many children’s rooms, the floor plan is already outdated as soon as you imagine rotating the bed (not to mention moving it somewhere else).
Ganneff schrieb:
New drawings attached. There are still two small mistakes, The pointless partition wall between the living and dining area is a Feng Shui fail from both the terrace and living room door perspectives, and its “purpose” is at least not clear to me. It is somehow uncoordinated with anything, even the symbolic color change in the floor plan is off.
Papierturm schrieb:
There is a reason why architects working for large home builders are sometimes disparagingly called “drawing slaves.” It’s not the architects themselves, but the “architects” who get called that—meaning the human interface between client and CAD who ideally isn’t hindered by architectural competence and is able to click through even the most ill-conceived requests from laypeople.
motorradsilke schrieb:
I wouldn’t put a window above the sink; I would definitely want a mirrored cabinet there. It would be funny to have a one-way mirrored window where the facial expressions while applying makeup or shaving also entertain passersby *LOL*
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