ᐅ Floor Plan Review Single-Family Home with Basement on a Gentle Slope
Created on: 8 Dec 2020 21:21
K
Kuzorra
Hello everyone,
after following along for a long time and reading through various threads and comments, I’m now stepping forward with our current planning status and hope for brutally constructive feedback. Of course, I followed the example of @ypg...
Development Plan / Restrictions
Fortunately, we have “access” to a family-owned plot. The old house needs to be demolished, and we want to rebuild roughly in the same spot. Setback distances are sufficient on all sides.
Plot size: approx. 900m² (9700 sq ft) with a slight slope
Number of parking spaces: existing double garage (old) remains for now
Number of floors: II allowed
Roof shape: gable roof specified, 40–50°
Maximum heights / limits: 3.25 m (10.7 ft) uphill side, 5.50 m (18 ft) downhill side
Homeowners’ Requirements
Basement, floors: full basement (partly used as living space), ground floor, attic floor
Number of occupants: 4 persons (2 adults + 2 toddlers)
Office: increasingly home office (both parents)
Overnight guests per year: 2–5 people, 3–10 visits per year (if not during COVID)
Open kitchen: yes, with a “half” cooking island
Number of dining seats: 6–8
Fireplace: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things are or aren’t included: We have planned a small pantry/storage room because we are used to it and find it very practical. The kitchen is already largely designed around our practical needs. The children’s rooms should be the same size because my wife is very traumatized by always having had the smaller room. ;-)
House Design
Who designed the plan: originally based on a standard model from a builder, but ultimately custom-designed (with the builder). We have already scaled back from much larger original plans and saved a total of 20 m² (215 sq ft).
What do you like particularly? Why? We already like a lot as it is. For example, the terrace is on the “pleasant” side and accessible from the kitchen and dining room. The ground-level basement exit uses the slope to provide offices (or guest room) with plenty of daylight. We don’t need a huge wellness area in the attic; a compact bathroom is sufficient. A walk-in closet would only be nice to have, but we skipped it and made sure there is enough space for our large wardrobes.
What don’t you like? Why? At the moment we are quite satisfied.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €320,000 (we have already included as many options as possible in an initial sample selection). A finished basement will add around €50,000–60,000 (we are currently waiting for the soil survey results).
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: please not too much ;-)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump (gas is basically available but inconveniently located relative to the house. Furthermore, a photovoltaic system should eventually help supply the heat pump).
What details / expansions can you do without?
- can do without: photovoltaic system for now (roof and wiring will be prepared for it), centrally controlled ventilation system is too expensive for us, probably will take compromises on the staircase flooring and choose the second most expensive and second nicest solid wood floor.
- cannot do without: basement, second bathroom on the ground floor.
Why did the design turn out like it did? We researched a lot ourselves (catalogs, show homes, friends and relatives, and our current apartment) and worked through several iterations of the plan together with the builder.
The main living area will probably always be the open living/dining room, but the kids should have enough private retreat space in their own bedrooms. Optionally, home office and children’s rooms could be swapped later.
What do you think makes the design especially good or bad? The design covers what we imagine and we currently see no shortcomings.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Are we overlooking anything important? Any tips regarding the outdoor areas?
We have been a bit careless about the outdoor areas so far but have now contacted landscaping professionals. The parents-in-law live in house number 31, towards which we plan to orient the terrace. Additionally, there will be another seating area toward the barn (with afternoon/evening sun), but this is on the “lower level”. The outdoor unit of the air-to-water heat pump is located towards the neighbor at number 35. At the front entrance, 3 m (10 ft) must remain free to the neighboring property, which can also be used occasionally as a parking spot (but this should not be the main parking space).
after following along for a long time and reading through various threads and comments, I’m now stepping forward with our current planning status and hope for brutally constructive feedback. Of course, I followed the example of @ypg...
Development Plan / Restrictions
Fortunately, we have “access” to a family-owned plot. The old house needs to be demolished, and we want to rebuild roughly in the same spot. Setback distances are sufficient on all sides.
Plot size: approx. 900m² (9700 sq ft) with a slight slope
Number of parking spaces: existing double garage (old) remains for now
Number of floors: II allowed
Roof shape: gable roof specified, 40–50°
Maximum heights / limits: 3.25 m (10.7 ft) uphill side, 5.50 m (18 ft) downhill side
Homeowners’ Requirements
Basement, floors: full basement (partly used as living space), ground floor, attic floor
Number of occupants: 4 persons (2 adults + 2 toddlers)
Office: increasingly home office (both parents)
Overnight guests per year: 2–5 people, 3–10 visits per year (if not during COVID)
Open kitchen: yes, with a “half” cooking island
Number of dining seats: 6–8
Fireplace: no
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things are or aren’t included: We have planned a small pantry/storage room because we are used to it and find it very practical. The kitchen is already largely designed around our practical needs. The children’s rooms should be the same size because my wife is very traumatized by always having had the smaller room. ;-)
House Design
Who designed the plan: originally based on a standard model from a builder, but ultimately custom-designed (with the builder). We have already scaled back from much larger original plans and saved a total of 20 m² (215 sq ft).
What do you like particularly? Why? We already like a lot as it is. For example, the terrace is on the “pleasant” side and accessible from the kitchen and dining room. The ground-level basement exit uses the slope to provide offices (or guest room) with plenty of daylight. We don’t need a huge wellness area in the attic; a compact bathroom is sufficient. A walk-in closet would only be nice to have, but we skipped it and made sure there is enough space for our large wardrobes.
What don’t you like? Why? At the moment we are quite satisfied.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €320,000 (we have already included as many options as possible in an initial sample selection). A finished basement will add around €50,000–60,000 (we are currently waiting for the soil survey results).
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: please not too much ;-)
Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump (gas is basically available but inconveniently located relative to the house. Furthermore, a photovoltaic system should eventually help supply the heat pump).
What details / expansions can you do without?
- can do without: photovoltaic system for now (roof and wiring will be prepared for it), centrally controlled ventilation system is too expensive for us, probably will take compromises on the staircase flooring and choose the second most expensive and second nicest solid wood floor.
- cannot do without: basement, second bathroom on the ground floor.
Why did the design turn out like it did? We researched a lot ourselves (catalogs, show homes, friends and relatives, and our current apartment) and worked through several iterations of the plan together with the builder.
The main living area will probably always be the open living/dining room, but the kids should have enough private retreat space in their own bedrooms. Optionally, home office and children’s rooms could be swapped later.
What do you think makes the design especially good or bad? The design covers what we imagine and we currently see no shortcomings.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Are we overlooking anything important? Any tips regarding the outdoor areas?
We have been a bit careless about the outdoor areas so far but have now contacted landscaping professionals. The parents-in-law live in house number 31, towards which we plan to orient the terrace. Additionally, there will be another seating area toward the barn (with afternoon/evening sun), but this is on the “lower level”. The outdoor unit of the air-to-water heat pump is located towards the neighbor at number 35. At the front entrance, 3 m (10 ft) must remain free to the neighboring property, which can also be used occasionally as a parking spot (but this should not be the main parking space).
Kuzorra schrieb:
I can't really just move the doors around in our floor plan....Actually, I would estimate about 30cm (12 inches) for the west child's room and nearly half a meter (about 20 inches) for the south child's room soon.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Hi @Michilo, sorry for the really long silence….
things are moving forward – slowly but surely!
a) The living space in the basement is about 176 m² (1,895 sq ft)
b) We received the building permit / planning permission last week 🙂
There is still a lot to do – I need to write a detailed update for the forum soon.
Right now, I’m focusing on the financing question: We are aiming for an installment of roughly 1200€ and have always planned for the option of extra repayments….
a) …should we choose a better interest rate for 15 years or
b) lock in the current low interest rate for 20 years (or even longer)?
a) – the question here is what interest rate you can get for the remaining 226,000€ as follow-up loan
b) – here, I would pay almost 12,000€ more interest over the comparable period, which is roughly equivalent to one average year of repayments
For 25 years, the interest rate increases somewhat more to about 1.25%. There are also no benefits for a full repayment loan (around 32 years).
things are moving forward – slowly but surely!
a) The living space in the basement is about 176 m² (1,895 sq ft)
b) We received the building permit / planning permission last week 🙂
There is still a lot to do – I need to write a detailed update for the forum soon.
Right now, I’m focusing on the financing question: We are aiming for an installment of roughly 1200€ and have always planned for the option of extra repayments….
a) …should we choose a better interest rate for 15 years or
b) lock in the current low interest rate for 20 years (or even longer)?
a) – the question here is what interest rate you can get for the remaining 226,000€ as follow-up loan
b) – here, I would pay almost 12,000€ more interest over the comparable period, which is roughly equivalent to one average year of repayments
For 25 years, the interest rate increases somewhat more to about 1.25%. There are also no benefits for a full repayment loan (around 32 years).
Kuzorra schrieb:
a) Including the living spaces in the basement, we have about 176 m² (1,895 sq ft) I didn’t include the rooms in the basement. I played around a bit with your floor plan and used the basement only for technical rooms and storage. That leaves about 140 m² (1,507 sq ft) 🙂
Kuzorra schrieb:
b) We received the building permit / planning permission last week 🙂 That’s great to hear! I hope you’ll keep us updated and share some progress here.
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