ᐅ Floor Plan: What Is Living Area / Usable Area?

Hello everyone,

can someone help me understand which rooms in our floor plan are counted as living space and which as usable space?

Basement:
Kitchen: 25.52 m² (275 sq ft)
Pantry: 9.23 m² (99 sq ft)
Dining: 20.48 m² (220 sq ft)
Living room: 35.94 m² (387 sq ft)
Hallway: 8 m² (86 sq ft)
Garden equipment room (inside the house): 14.36 m² (155 sq ft)
Utility room (technical room): 8.68 m² (93 sq ft)
Guest toilet: 4 m² (43 sq ft)
Laundry room: 16 m² (172 sq ft)

Upper floor:
Entrance area: 9.28 m² (100 sq ft)
Bedroom: 13.44 m² (145 sq ft)
Dressing room: 11.12 m² (120 sq ft)
Master bathroom: 15.25 m² (164 sq ft)
Child 1 room: 18.45 m² (199 sq ft)
Child 2 room: 18.45 m² (199 sq ft)
Children’s bathroom: 8 m² (86 sq ft)
Hallway: 9.84 m² (106 sq ft)

Is usable space calculated differently from living space in new construction?

Thanks 🙂

I would say that for you, everything is considered living space. By useful space, I personally mean, for example, a basement that does not meet the criteria of living space. This means it does not have the required ceiling height, number of windows, emergency exits, etc.

Calculation according to the Living Space Ordinance or DIN 277? This can lead to different results. I am also missing the information on balconies/terraces, as these are also considered living space.
By the way, it does not matter whether it is a new building or an existing one.

Unfortunately, I don’t know that.
We have a balcony that was included in the planning with 4.9 m² (53 sq ft). The terrace has not been finalized yet.

EberhardT3001 schrieb:

Is usable area calculated differently from living area in new constructions?
Thanks 🙂

EberhardT3001 schrieb:

Can someone help me understand which rooms in our floor plan count as living area and which as usable area?

EberhardT3001 schrieb:

Unfortunately, I don’t know.
We have a balcony included as 4.9m² (53ft²) in the planning. The terrace is not yet finalized.

Again: what exactly is the question? I think you did not fully understand the follow-up questions.

For later rental of the new building, the details about usable and living area are important for calculating the rent.

When building a house, these areas are less relevant unless you need to create a cost calculation for yourself or the bank. In that case, everything inside the thermal envelope counts as living area, and outside the thermal envelope a reduced factor is used for cost calculation.

For heating calculations, the volume of the enclosed space is more relevant.

(To check compliance with plot coverage ratio you use another method. There, usable or living area is irrelevant.)

So you should specify your concern more clearly if you want someone to help you.

When it comes to your house, the basement and the garage, if both are outside the thermal envelope, count as usable space and I would calculate them at 1500/sqm (1500/sqft). Everything else will be heated and falls under living area. The balcony is an extra and will be calculated separately.