ᐅ Floor plans for a single-family house with a secondary suite – looking for tips and feedback

Hello 11ant. My pictures already show the existing old building that extends across the entire plot of land, which is planned to be divided. This old building is only going to be demolished and rebuilt so that two separate houses will be created, similar to many neighbors, with a shared central section. This is also intended according to the development plan / zoning regulations. The neighboring house across the street, to which the new building will be attached, has no windows on the southwest side for this reason, as it was always clear that an extension would be connected eventually. In addition, there is a fire protection wall between the two existing houses (facing each other), which will remain. It would be a waste not to use this wall for a room or extension.

Setback distances do not help much either when there is a house only 3m (10 feet) away. Besides, the space in the middle is also explicitly desired since the immediate neighbor will also build/extend there, as can be seen in the previous picture (blue frame). If they do, then there will be a zero meter setback, but rather a continuous building structure with two houses.

A basement with natural daylight on flat, level land is only achievable with considerable effort. The light wells need to be larger, and the balcony on the upper floor must be removed. I used to visit such an apartment frequently, where the light well was about 3 meters (10 feet) deep and 5 meters (16 feet) wide to get a reasonable amount of light.

The basement will cost you at least 200,000 plus groundwork and landscaping, and living comfort upstairs. Will you get enough rent to cover the debt service and build reserves? Remember, you have to pay taxes.

Build a stylish single-family home without compromises for the future. An entrance that welcomes you, a cloakroom, stairs that don’t pass through the dirty area, laundry on the upper floor where it is generated, and stairs leading to the attic.

You also need to invest money to make changes. So why not do it according to what suits you at point X in time?

You’re thinking of a caregiver, about living on one level. The ground floor does not allow for living as a person in need of care.

Apart from the orientation of the rooms, I wouldn’t plan anything like this. Even the entrance resembles that of a rental apartment.

I rarely write here because others have much more expertise, but I have to say something this time.

First of all, you have a decent budget. Why don’t you hire an architect?

For such a really small plot, you have an extremely long wish list—think about that. Why does the office have to be inside the house? Is it so that your wife can look after the children alongside her full-time job? Where does the club work now? Can’t it rent other rooms?

Then the whole layout is unbalanced. Upstairs, one room is 9sqm (97 sq ft), another 18sqm (194 sq ft), and the large one is 35sqm (377 sq ft). And you want one child to have the 9sqm room, the other the 18sqm room, and you as the parents get the 35sqm bedroom? Such a distribution doesn’t make sense. As a child, I would be really unhappy about being stuck in the tiny room. I’m supposed to play, study, hang out with friends, sleep, and keep my clothes, books, school supplies, etc., all in that? Meanwhile, the parents only use 35sqm just for sleeping? No, that’s just not right. This is no longer a compromise to make the house flexible for future use; it’s just poor planning.

On the ground floor, the hallway is simply too cramped. It’s fine to want as little hallway space as possible, but there needs to be some room to arrive, take off jackets and shoes, tidy up (for four people), put down bags and keys, and move around comfortably. The staircase is too short; that definitely won’t work. The hallway narrows to less than a meter where it opens into the living room. That’s not pleasant.

Then you have a sofa that basically stands right in front of the living room corner because it doesn’t fit inside. You end up looking at the TV from that corner. The window doesn’t face greenery but instead overlooks a light well. The same goes for the dining room window. And there’s basically no space left for any furniture.

The kitchen island in the plan has less than 60cm (24 inches) clearance. That’s a joke. It simply won’t work.

Freiburger2020 schrieb:

The technical room will be about 10sqm (108 sq ft) to allow more space for living areas. In the end, you have to see if KNX, network cabinet, ventilation systems, battery storage, inverters, etc., all fit within 10sqm or if significantly more space is needed.

And what if it’s not enough? Then you start moving things around like Tetris—and it won’t fit anywhere. This needs to be properly planned from the start.

These are just a few specific points that are really problematic. Many others have already made similar comments.

You can tell from the floor plan that a layperson has simply stacked rooms next to and on top of each other, without understanding spatial concepts or having a sense of spatial visualization.

You want to spend a lot of money—hire a professional!

Detach yourself emotionally from this "attempt" and leave it to a professional!
You first have to recover the rent for the self-contained flat, which surely costs around 200,000 (two hundred thousand) fully equipped, so I would completely avoid it.

I agree with Charli.
I also don’t like the layout of the rooms on the upper floor for the same reasons.
You spend $700,000 on a house, and the kid gets a 9m² (97 ft²) room. Have you ever been in a 9m² (97 ft²) room? Yes, I know it’s doable, but not when the master bedroom is 35m² (377 ft²)!!! and you’re spending such a fortune.
If I had your options, I would plan two nice large children’s rooms on the upper floor, a similarly sized master bedroom, a master bathroom, and a children’s bathroom.

I find the idea of having a kitchen on the upper floor totally unnecessary, especially since you already have a granny flat.
As a tip: my parents also have kitchen connections and a bathroom in the basement, both on the ground floor, and actually kitchen connections on the upper floor as well.
Neither has ever been used so far, and now they are 70.
MOREOVER / HOWEVER: my room on the upper floor had kitchen connections, but apart from the caps behind my wardrobe, it was a perfectly normal and nice children’s room.
You have to plan so that it works NOW. If you can lay an extra pipe for a possible future use, then you can do that. But don’t plan only for hypothetical possibilities!

The main entrance also looks expensive and impractical to me.

The only thing I see differently from others is the light well.
We also have a light trench right next to the terrace. You just put a railing there and that’s it. I don’t understand the problem. My parents have a light trench by the terrace and so do several friends of ours.

You really are the perfect example of having an architect. You can afford one, and you want to build a rather complicated house.
That’s something a layperson just can’t do.

Freiburger2020 schrieb:

I’m completely withdrawing from the association because here it is being implied that this is a community education center, which is total nonsense. It’s simply a granny flat, and my wife is setting up her personal workspace/office there. Is that better for you? It’s not like a hardware store with 100 customers per hour, so we don’t need extra car parking spaces and we hardly ever get visitors. But when you have family visits with children and three cars parked outside, nobody complains…

How many parking spaces does the municipality or regulation 34 require? One employee from the association walks there? One parking space for two residential units is planned far below actual needs. I had to designate four parking spaces for two residential units. I need those as well.

@haydee Thanks. You’re the only one who finally contributes something. Regarding your point:
The existing house is 9 x 9 meters (29.5 x 29.5 feet).

Are we supposed to guess? Your plans don’t show this. Such details belong in the site plan.

It also has a granny flat in the basement that is also rented out. My project is supposed to replicate this house exactly, with the only change being a small annex in the center as before. In the middle of the plots is a fire separation wall, which will of course remain. It provides excellent privacy and shields the opposite halves of the house.

I’m looking for this wall in the middle of the plot.

Granny flat:
a) The wife and her assistant aren’t strangers 🙂 And if we rent to others, they’re always strangers. We accommodate them in the granny flat, not in our main house on the ground floor/first floor.
b) Do you have a good suggestion on how to get more natural light into the granny flat and still make use of the top floor/terrace/garden areas?

A light well isn’t that bad. You even planned a fall protection for it. I also have a light well right next to the terrace. See picture.

c) One fixed parking space is needed and planned. Another could be designated on a neighboring property (relative’s) or purchased from the municipality in an adjacent area.

If the municipality offers that, that’s great. How much does it cost? $10,000 per parking space? Is that really a good idea?

I’ll recalculate the stairs. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a quarter-turn staircase with dimensions among the templates here. The washing machine is planned to be in the basement bathroom or kitchen. If the basement becomes a home office (to everyone, NOT for the association anymore), we actually don’t need one, only if it’s rented to someone who really lives there. The technical room will be about 10 sqm (108 sq ft) to leave more space for living areas. In the end, it needs to be seen if KNX, network cabinet, ventilation units, battery storage, inverter, etc. can fit into 10 sqm (108 sq ft) or if significantly more space is needed.

An outside staircase is a complex matter. My experience says it’s best to cover it.

2. The light well is essentially unnecessary, but how else do I get light down there?

See above. I combined the outside staircase with a light well. That light well was meant for the office. Today, I prefer to work on the laptop in the living room. That means an office doesn’t belong in the basement. Alternatively, a light shaft with a glass cover also works.

The second door to the office on the ground floor was actually meant to be functional. Private use is the door to the living room, use in connection with the basement stairs is the other door. I understand that’s overdoing it. If the granny flat is later used by ourselves, the internal staircase from the ground to basement is ideal. A closed opening is enough for now, then obviously only one door and perhaps optionally an archway/opening.

Stairs are expensive, outside stairs very expensive. They require many design ideas.

The second child gets one of the small rooms on the first floor. The parents take the large one, which also has optional kitchen connections.

My bedroom is much smaller than the kids’ rooms.

A nice house would be great. The space of 320 sqm (3440 sq ft) is limited, and the requirements for the annex, driveway, and granny flat must be considered. It’s clear it won’t be a mansion. So far, there has been little input here.

You struggled to express your requirements in the planning. Who would rent a granny flat in the basement? You probably don’t want those kinds of people in your own house. A good architect can turn your ideas into something workable. DIY is not a good idea here. I don’t even want to start listing everything I don’t like. Start over. When the architect has initial ideas, feel free to come back here.

The folding staircase to the attic is in the hallway on the first floor, it’s visible.

I’m not interested in searching. A proper floor plan would surely show that.

Comments as above.