ᐅ Floor plan single-family house approximately 160 m², main entrance in the basement, north-facing slope, plot size 1700 m²
Created on: 25 Jul 2024 07:06
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Boman19
Hello fellow home builders,
We have been reading this forum for several weeks now. We are still in the research phase and have decided to build a solid masonry house. We have already reserved a plot of land. This plot has a significant slope, which we plan to level by landscaping the terrain. Any excess excavated soil will likely be easy to get rid of. So far, we have not involved an architect because the costs and the uncertainty of the outcome have deterred us. Therefore, we are doing a lot of research ourselves and are making intensive use of the information in this forum.
We believe we have found a suitable solution for our single-family house. The structural engineer/architect from our general contractor (GC) implemented our ideas and wishes but offered hardly any of their own suggestions or improvements. As laypeople, it is difficult for us to judge whether we have truly achieved the best possible result.
We would now like to draw on your experience and expertise and look forward to your honest opinions and possible improvement suggestions.
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Clients’ Requirements
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be included
House Design
If you have to cut back, on which details or extras
Why has the design ended up like this?
Standard design from the planner?
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
We have been reading this forum for several weeks now. We are still in the research phase and have decided to build a solid masonry house. We have already reserved a plot of land. This plot has a significant slope, which we plan to level by landscaping the terrain. Any excess excavated soil will likely be easy to get rid of. So far, we have not involved an architect because the costs and the uncertainty of the outcome have deterred us. Therefore, we are doing a lot of research ourselves and are making intensive use of the information in this forum.
We believe we have found a suitable solution for our single-family house. The structural engineer/architect from our general contractor (GC) implemented our ideas and wishes but offered hardly any of their own suggestions or improvements. As laypeople, it is difficult for us to judge whether we have truly achieved the best possible result.
We would now like to draw on your experience and expertise and look forward to your honest opinions and possible improvement suggestions.
Zoning Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: | 1700m² (18,300 sq ft) |
Slope: | 9m (30 ft) north-facing slope over 50m (165 ft) length |
Other: | No zoning plan, §34 (local building regulations) |
Clients’ Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: | Single-family house, gable roof |
Basement, number of floors: | Basement, 1 ½ floors |
Number of occupants, age: | 2 adults around 30 years old + 2 children (0 and 2 years), planning for 3–4 children total |
Space needed on ground floor and upper floor: | Approximately 70m² (750 sq ft) each |
Office: | For family use and home office |
Guest stays per year: | Relatives staying 30–50 nights |
Open or closed architecture: | Open |
Conservative or modern construction: | Modern |
Open kitchen, kitchen island: | Open with kitchen island |
Number of dining seats: | 8 |
Fireplace: | Yes |
Music/stereo wall: | No |
Balcony, roof terrace: | No |
Garage, carport: | Garage in basement (for stroller, bicycles, etc.), carport for car |
Utility garden, greenhouse: | Utility garden, possibly a natural stone seating area with fire pit |
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be included
- For us, the kitchen/dining area is the central hub, even when guests are present. The living room should be relatively private.
- The children’s rooms do not need to be very large. The parents’ bedroom is the least important room for us.
House Design
Who designed the plan: | Planner from a construction company |
What do you particularly like? Why? |
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What do you dislike? Why? |
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Cost estimate according to architect/designer: | 540K (excluding photovoltaic system and fireplace) |
Personal price limit for the house, including features: | 550K with photovoltaic system and fireplace |
Preferred heating technology: | Heat pump (geothermal) |
If you have to cut back, on which details or extras
- Can be omitted: Fireplace, garage in the basement
- Cannot be omitted: Spacious kitchen/dining area, office on the ground floor
Why has the design ended up like this?
Standard design from the planner?
- Second iteration, with smaller floor area to reduce costs
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
- Open staircase with landing stairs
- House entrance in the basement
- Southeast terrace
- Kitchen not visible from the living room
- Three children’s rooms + two offices/guest rooms
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
- We like the open and integrated staircase and the entrance in the basement because it keeps the ground floor hallway free for living space
- Very flexible room usage possible due to similar room sizes
ypg schrieb:
The different north arrows confuse me! I believe only the green arrow indicates true north. The black arrows are more like directional arrows, possibly showing earth movements or similar.
The main issue, as always, is that the plans are set in different orientations. Here, there are three different orientations.
Compiled here just for an overview:
What stands out very negatively is the south corner of the ground floor with the kitchen, where the tall cabinet corner is planned. I consider this worth redesigning. The 3m (10 feet) wide kitchen doesn’t really work well—it’s neither a good galley kitchen nor a proper island kitchen or similar, and the current layout wastes usable floor area.
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hanghaus202311 Sep 2025 14:45ypg schrieb:
I assumed the blue terrain section indicated the building boundary. My mistake. The dashed-dotted line usually represents the building boundary.Yes, that can easily happen, especially since building boundaries are normally shown in blue.Who plans in red??? That can’t be a professional.
kbt09 schrieb:
the south corner of the ground floor with the kitchen .. where the tall cabinet corner is planned Maybe @Boman19 can explain what the idea behind it was. What purpose is intended with the house extension.
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hanghaus202311 Sep 2025 18:41Thanks @kbt09, I was just about to ask the original poster to show it properly rotated. This way, you can even notice that the upper floor, in my opinion, should be mirrored.
Like I said, not a professional at work.
Like I said, not a professional at work.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
This way, you even notice that the upper floor should be mirrored in my opinion.That's correct, the original attachment is wrong; the staircase layout does not match.Similar topics