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
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
Looks more expensive and complicated. Is it going to be timber frame construction?
I like split-level designs – but does it actually make sense for your situation?
It feels like there’s a lot of circulation space and the layout seems a bit busy. The overall arrangement isn’t bad – although the kids will have to pass through all the rooms. I would add a skylight to the walk-in closet – otherwise, it feels a bit like a cave.
I like split-level designs – but does it actually make sense for your situation?
It feels like there’s a lot of circulation space and the layout seems a bit busy. The overall arrangement isn’t bad – although the kids will have to pass through all the rooms. I would add a skylight to the walk-in closet – otherwise, it feels a bit like a cave.
Timber frame construction? The architect said that the costs are not significantly different from a conventional build. Although I often read the opposite online, I trust him because he has built these kinds of houses several times and always stayed within the estimated budget.
Since the site has an elevation difference of about 1.5-2m (5-6.5 feet) along the length of the house, it makes a lot of sense.
What do you mean by a lot of circulation space and it feeling chaotic?
We have also noticed the issue with the children, but I think we would have to accept that.
Great idea with the skylight. It was a big drawback for me that no natural light came in there. Thanks!
Since the site has an elevation difference of about 1.5-2m (5-6.5 feet) along the length of the house, it makes a lot of sense.
What do you mean by a lot of circulation space and it feeling chaotic?
We have also noticed the issue with the children, but I think we would have to accept that.
Great idea with the skylight. It was a big drawback for me that no natural light came in there. Thanks!
After almost exactly three months, I’m back here with an update.
First of all, a lot has happened, and I want to apologize for sharing preliminary plans very early in our process that were repeatedly discarded.
Earlier this week, we had an appointment with our architect, and since then, he has been working on the plans for the building permit / planning permission application.
Since I don’t have the updated plans yet but want to initiate changes early, I’m now sharing our current plans. These correspond to what will be applied for.
So please forgive the somewhat inaccurate presentation and dimensions.
We are now planning a split-level house, which we will enter from the lower level, even though originally we did not want that.
Another access option is via the exit to the north terrace, but to take full advantage of that, a kind of ramp would need to be built on the north side of the house to allow cars to drive up. That would lead to very high costs, and we would end up with a driveway with a 15% slope, which we would have to drive down or up in reverse every time.
This means we have to carry all groceries up half a floor, but at least we can do that under cover. Also, in the current design, we wouldn’t have to shovel a single meter of snow since there would be no walkway to clear.
There is a large terrace on the south side and a smaller one on the north, planned for midsummer.
Both are located close to the kitchen.
For the roof terrace, we now have a kind of lobby where we can store garden furniture and plants in winter, so we don’t have to carry everything down to the basement (this room will eventually be replaced by a sauna).
There should also be space for a small kitchenette with a refrigerator to make the roof terrace more integrated into daily life.
We would have liked the children’s rooms to be a little bigger, but due to the building’s geometry, this is only possible with overhangs.
We are still considering whether it would be worthwhile to move the south wall of the children’s rooms slightly to the south to make the rooms a bit larger.
That would create an overhang, but it would also serve its purpose on the main floor as sun protection in summer and partly cover the south terrace.
We still have to clarify this, but right now, it doesn’t seem likely.
We definitely wanted the guest toilet on the main floor to have two doors, separating it from the living area to create a noise and odor barrier.
The architect’s suggested solution is a glass partition wall between the landing and the lobby.
Another option would be to combine the lobby and the toilet into one room, but then there would only be one door between the toilet and the living area again.
The kitchen/dining and living areas are connected by a gallery-type space, which is kept open with a glass balustrade.
The bathroom furnishings have not been finalized yet and will come later.
What else stands out to you? I have really been thinking hard about this for the last three months, but sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees.
I would be very grateful for any feedback!
Best regards!
First of all, a lot has happened, and I want to apologize for sharing preliminary plans very early in our process that were repeatedly discarded.
Earlier this week, we had an appointment with our architect, and since then, he has been working on the plans for the building permit / planning permission application.
Since I don’t have the updated plans yet but want to initiate changes early, I’m now sharing our current plans. These correspond to what will be applied for.
So please forgive the somewhat inaccurate presentation and dimensions.
We are now planning a split-level house, which we will enter from the lower level, even though originally we did not want that.
Another access option is via the exit to the north terrace, but to take full advantage of that, a kind of ramp would need to be built on the north side of the house to allow cars to drive up. That would lead to very high costs, and we would end up with a driveway with a 15% slope, which we would have to drive down or up in reverse every time.
This means we have to carry all groceries up half a floor, but at least we can do that under cover. Also, in the current design, we wouldn’t have to shovel a single meter of snow since there would be no walkway to clear.
There is a large terrace on the south side and a smaller one on the north, planned for midsummer.
Both are located close to the kitchen.
For the roof terrace, we now have a kind of lobby where we can store garden furniture and plants in winter, so we don’t have to carry everything down to the basement (this room will eventually be replaced by a sauna).
There should also be space for a small kitchenette with a refrigerator to make the roof terrace more integrated into daily life.
We would have liked the children’s rooms to be a little bigger, but due to the building’s geometry, this is only possible with overhangs.
We are still considering whether it would be worthwhile to move the south wall of the children’s rooms slightly to the south to make the rooms a bit larger.
That would create an overhang, but it would also serve its purpose on the main floor as sun protection in summer and partly cover the south terrace.
We still have to clarify this, but right now, it doesn’t seem likely.
We definitely wanted the guest toilet on the main floor to have two doors, separating it from the living area to create a noise and odor barrier.
The architect’s suggested solution is a glass partition wall between the landing and the lobby.
Another option would be to combine the lobby and the toilet into one room, but then there would only be one door between the toilet and the living area again.
The kitchen/dining and living areas are connected by a gallery-type space, which is kept open with a glass balustrade.
The bathroom furnishings have not been finalized yet and will come later.
What else stands out to you? I have really been thinking hard about this for the last three months, but sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees.
I would be very grateful for any feedback!
Best regards!
Hello, quite some changes have been made. You need to like the house type, it wouldn’t be my choice, but it’s for you, not for me!
Here are my first impressions.
Move the door to the utility room (HWTR) to the right or left. That way, you can properly place a coat closet there, which isn’t possible at the moment.
Where are you planning to put closets in the walk-in wardrobe? There are only doors and recesses less than 60cm (24 inches) wide. This is not a walk-in wardrobe but just a passage room!
The door to the master bathroom seems to be only 78cm (31 inches) wide?!
The double door/wall in front of the toilet is really over the top. There are sufficiently soundproof doors where you can’t hear anything anymore. Or do you only eat beans?
How is the master bathroom supposed to be laid out? The size clearly calls for the classic T-shaped solution, but the position of the door and window doesn’t fit for that.
Best regards,
Andreas
Here are my first impressions.
Move the door to the utility room (HWTR) to the right or left. That way, you can properly place a coat closet there, which isn’t possible at the moment.
Where are you planning to put closets in the walk-in wardrobe? There are only doors and recesses less than 60cm (24 inches) wide. This is not a walk-in wardrobe but just a passage room!
The door to the master bathroom seems to be only 78cm (31 inches) wide?!
The double door/wall in front of the toilet is really over the top. There are sufficiently soundproof doors where you can’t hear anything anymore. Or do you only eat beans?
How is the master bathroom supposed to be laid out? The size clearly calls for the classic T-shaped solution, but the position of the door and window doesn’t fit for that.
Best regards,
Andreas
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