ᐅ House with Roof Terrace in Passau

Hello everyone!

After taking some time to consider our architect’s design and adjusting the ground floor to fit our ideas, I would now like to share the floor plan with you. Ideally, construction would start next year, but we are not in a real hurry.

The plans show a second preliminary draft from our architect, including an initial cost estimate. Unfortunately, dimensions are not included yet. The first draft was mainly to illustrate that our dreams cannot be realized within the original budget we had planned.

Development plan/restrictions

Plot size => approx. 450-500 m² (The exact size is not yet fixed as we are receiving the plot as a gift from my parents, and we are still unsure about the future boundaries.)

Slope => slight slope from west to east (approx. 1m (3 feet) over the house’s length)

[I]The house has an almost ideal north/south orientation. The entrance, carport, and driveway are therefore located on the north side.[/I]

- There is no development plan.

Homeowner requirements:

Style, roof type, building type => flat roof with roof terrace


Exterior dimensions => [I]11.80m x 7.2m (39 feet x 24 feet) with a bay window of 4.4m x 1.5m (14 feet x 5 feet) (no specification from us)
[/I]

Basement, floors => basement with a granny flat + 2 full floors + roof terrace


Number of people, age => 2 adults in the main living unit + 2 children expected soon + 1 person in the granny flat

Office: family use or home office? => My wife is a teacher and will regularly do some work at home. I will be working from home up to 4 days a week in the future.


Open or closed architecture => open living/kitchen/dining area


Conservative or modern design => modern design


Open kitchen, kitchen island => open, yes, but no island (if possible, without overhead cabinets)


Number of dining seats => 6-10 people (table 2.4m x 1.0m (8 feet x 3 feet) + 8-10 chairs)


Fireplace => undecided (my wife wants one, I don’t – leaning towards no)


Music/stereo wall => no


Balcony, roof terrace => roof terrace


Garage, carport => 2x carport


Utility garden, greenhouse => no

House design
Planning by:
- our trusted architect.


What do you like in particular?:
- open kitchen, cube on the roof with covered roof terrace, small utility room on the ground floor for washer and dryer


What do you dislike/what needs improvement?:
Basement – the layout needs optimization for a technical room.
Ground floor – should be mirrored west to east completely; we are also concerned that the living room width of 3.5m (11.5 feet) feels narrow and tunnel-shaped. I want the sofa on the north side and the TV on the south side.
Upper floor – 45° walls in the children’s bathroom

Preferred heating technology:
- gas boiler/solar vs. heat pump (air/water or geothermal) – still completely undecided, the floor plan should be finalized first, then heating load will be calculated.

If you had to do without certain features/extensions …
… what could you do without:
for now, the carport and basement finishing as well as expanding the children’s rooms + bathroom since we don’t have children yet. Otherwise, we would like everything included.

… what can’t you do without:
- open living area on the ground floor, granny flat, roof terrace

Since our architect is on vacation until early December, we are currently on a bit of a break, which we have used to reshape the ground floor according to our ideas.
[I][I]
We are now considering extending the longitudinal side by at least 50cm (preferably 1.0m (3 feet)) to increase the living room width from 3.5m (11.5 feet) to 4.0-4.5m (13-15 feet) (we extended the building by 1m (3 feet)).[/I]

We mirrored the plan from west to east to achieve a greater spatial separation between the living room and the granny flat. Additionally, we planned a niche for a side-by-side refrigerator – unfortunately at the expense of the already small utility room.

Sorry there are no measurements included yet, I will provide them as soon as possible. Please ask if you want specific dimensions.

Now to the architect’s cost estimate:

Site development: 7,000€
Surveying: 2,500€
Main house: 285,000€
Carport: 12,000€
Controlled ventilation system: 10,000€ (requested by us)
Sun protection: 7,500€
Ceiling spotlights: 2,000€ (requested by us)
Landscaping: 2,500€
Paved surfaces: 20,000€
Kitchen: 15,000€
Fireplace: 7,000€ (initially requested by us, now uncertain)
Architect fees approx.: 29,000€[/I]
Specialist experts, structural engineering, fire protection, energy saving regulations approx.: 11,000€

Total: 410,500€

The architect’s calculation assumes building costs of 326€/m³ (including VAT) of gross volume.

The living area currently is approx. 156m² (1,680 sq ft) + 38m² (410 sq ft) granny flat + 30m² (320 sq ft) usable space in the basement.
Calculating only on living area, that equates to around 1,470€/m² (137 USD/sq ft).

Including all costs, it comes to 2,110€/m² (197 USD/sq ft).

Does this seem realistic to you?

What do you think about the design? What would you improve?

I look forward to your suggestions!

Best regards, Mathias