Since I received such quick and constructive feedback in the financing thread, I’m hoping to get some helpful suggestions for improvements here as well. First, the basic conditions:
Plot size: 800 sqm (32 meters long along the street side, 25 meters wide)
Slope: No
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Floor space index: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building envelope is about 18x18 meters
Adjacent buildings: allowed according to the building code
Number of parking spaces: 4, 2 covered
Number of floors: 2 full stories, attic without knee walls
Roof shape: Gable roof, 38-45 degrees; our deviation here is that we want only 28 degrees. Several houses in the area already have different roof pitches and some also have hip roofs
Style: not specified
Orientation: ridge line fixed
Maximum height/limits: Eave height max 6.10 m (20 feet)
Additional requirements: roof overhangs 0.4 m (16 inches) at verge, 0.5 m (20 inches) at eaves
- Terrace covered max. 1/3
- No walls or fences on concrete bases, max. 1 meter (3 feet) high
- And some other minor, mostly standard details
Client requirements
- Style, roof shape, building type: classic detached single-family house
- Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full stories
- Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons, aged 31/30/3/1
- Space requirements on ground floor (GF), upper floor (UF):
GF: living-cooking-dining area, bathroom with shower, small office also as emergency bedroom, pantry, pure utility room without washer and dryer etc.
UF: 2 children’s bedrooms, master bedroom with dressing room, main bathroom, laundry room
Attic: planned undamped, initially only for storage of temperature-insensitive items
- Office: family use
- Overnight guests per year: hard to estimate, probably 5 times per year
- Open architecture, classic as required by zoning plan
- Open kitchen with peninsula
- Number of dining seats: for larger gatherings we sometimes have up to 16 people, though it can be a bit tight then
Fireplace: desired, planned without water heating. Is a fireplace allowed so close to a door?
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double carport
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: yes, but not initially
Additional wishes/notes/daily routine:
We have heard many different opinions about external blinds and roller shutters. Group 1 recommends roller shutters in bedrooms for better darkening, group 2 says modern external blinds can achieve almost complete darkening as well. Complete darkness is not necessary for us, as we currently have round skylights in the bedrooms that cannot be darkened.
House design
Who designed it:
The floor plan is a standard one, which I adapted somewhat myself and the company’s seller then implemented with some changes to make it technically feasible.
What do you particularly like? Why?
Room layout works ideally for us, especially the upper floor.
Location of utility rooms and bathrooms makes sense.
Living and children’s rooms face south.
Sufficient storage options.
What do you not like? Why?
- Entrance area, little space for shoes etc.
- TV wall in the living room is very narrow, the view from the hallway leads directly to the couch; when sitting in front of the TV you look straight at the door, and I’m not sure how cozy this will feel. This could only be solved by swapping kitchen and living room, but then the pantry would no longer be positioned sensibly.
- Cost estimate according to architect/planner:
- 383,000, exact offer available
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: 390,000, preferably less and with some buffer for outdoor work etc.
Preferred heating technology: A ground-source heat pump would be nice but is financially not feasible; currently an air-to-water heat pump is planned.
- Photovoltaics are at least prepared but not yet budgeted.
If you had to give up certain details/extra features:
- Could do without:
- Fireplace is rather a luxury, but a big wish of my wife
- A bay window might also be considered, possibly combined with a space-saving staircase to gain a bit more room in the living area
- Pantry would only make sense to remove if storage elsewhere is created while simultaneously gaining more living space
- Replacing the living room lift-and-slide door with a normal hinged door, but then the space to the dining area would be too tight
- Cannot do without:
- Room program
- Everything that is standard nowadays.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Do you see any potential to reduce “dead” square meters and improve the living area to solve the issues mentioned above?
Plot size: 800 sqm (32 meters long along the street side, 25 meters wide)
Slope: No
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Floor space index: 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building envelope is about 18x18 meters
Adjacent buildings: allowed according to the building code
Number of parking spaces: 4, 2 covered
Number of floors: 2 full stories, attic without knee walls
Roof shape: Gable roof, 38-45 degrees; our deviation here is that we want only 28 degrees. Several houses in the area already have different roof pitches and some also have hip roofs
Style: not specified
Orientation: ridge line fixed
Maximum height/limits: Eave height max 6.10 m (20 feet)
Additional requirements: roof overhangs 0.4 m (16 inches) at verge, 0.5 m (20 inches) at eaves
- Terrace covered max. 1/3
- No walls or fences on concrete bases, max. 1 meter (3 feet) high
- And some other minor, mostly standard details
Client requirements
- Style, roof shape, building type: classic detached single-family house
- Basement, floors: no basement, 2 full stories
- Number of occupants, ages: 4 persons, aged 31/30/3/1
- Space requirements on ground floor (GF), upper floor (UF):
GF: living-cooking-dining area, bathroom with shower, small office also as emergency bedroom, pantry, pure utility room without washer and dryer etc.
UF: 2 children’s bedrooms, master bedroom with dressing room, main bathroom, laundry room
Attic: planned undamped, initially only for storage of temperature-insensitive items
- Office: family use
- Overnight guests per year: hard to estimate, probably 5 times per year
- Open architecture, classic as required by zoning plan
- Open kitchen with peninsula
- Number of dining seats: for larger gatherings we sometimes have up to 16 people, though it can be a bit tight then
Fireplace: desired, planned without water heating. Is a fireplace allowed so close to a door?
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double carport
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: yes, but not initially
Additional wishes/notes/daily routine:
We have heard many different opinions about external blinds and roller shutters. Group 1 recommends roller shutters in bedrooms for better darkening, group 2 says modern external blinds can achieve almost complete darkening as well. Complete darkness is not necessary for us, as we currently have round skylights in the bedrooms that cannot be darkened.
House design
Who designed it:
The floor plan is a standard one, which I adapted somewhat myself and the company’s seller then implemented with some changes to make it technically feasible.
What do you particularly like? Why?
Room layout works ideally for us, especially the upper floor.
Location of utility rooms and bathrooms makes sense.
Living and children’s rooms face south.
Sufficient storage options.
What do you not like? Why?
- Entrance area, little space for shoes etc.
- TV wall in the living room is very narrow, the view from the hallway leads directly to the couch; when sitting in front of the TV you look straight at the door, and I’m not sure how cozy this will feel. This could only be solved by swapping kitchen and living room, but then the pantry would no longer be positioned sensibly.
- Cost estimate according to architect/planner:
- 383,000, exact offer available
Personal price limit for the house including equipment: 390,000, preferably less and with some buffer for outdoor work etc.
Preferred heating technology: A ground-source heat pump would be nice but is financially not feasible; currently an air-to-water heat pump is planned.
- Photovoltaics are at least prepared but not yet budgeted.
If you had to give up certain details/extra features:
- Could do without:
- Fireplace is rather a luxury, but a big wish of my wife
- A bay window might also be considered, possibly combined with a space-saving staircase to gain a bit more room in the living area
- Pantry would only make sense to remove if storage elsewhere is created while simultaneously gaining more living space
- Replacing the living room lift-and-slide door with a normal hinged door, but then the space to the dining area would be too tight
- Cannot do without:
- Room program
- Everything that is standard nowadays.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Do you see any potential to reduce “dead” square meters and improve the living area to solve the issues mentioned above?
B
Bau-beendet16 Apr 2023 18:31@Jomasavi
If that's the case, then have the front door open to the other side, meaning towards the wall.
If that's the case, then have the front door open to the other side, meaning towards the wall.
Bau-beendet schrieb:
@Jomasavi
If so, then have the front door open the other way, towards the wall.Yes, the plan is obviously not optimized, and the windows and doors are certainly not all in the right places; it was only about the room layout 😉Jomasavi schrieb:
I have also been made aware of the price, but presumably it is still somewhat more achievable to get below 3000€/sqm (approximately $280/sq ft) in the eastern part of the country. I already have a written offer.Have you had the scope of work reviewed? Or at least thoroughly read and checked it yourself several times?A
Allthewayup16 Apr 2023 19:18Jomasavi schrieb:
Thanks first of all for the input.
I made some rough changes as you suggested and now I find the entrance area and the living room much nicer. We would still need to see if the fireplace could be placed elsewhere.
However, I can’t find a way to fit the small guest room/office upstairs.
We are planning a separate utility room upstairs for the washing machine, dryer, iron, and some extra storage, so I had hoped to fit everything into the 5 sqm (54 sq ft). A colleague of mine has a similar small technical room including photovoltaic system, storage battery, heat pump — it’s not spacious but everything has its place.
I have also been made aware of the price, but presumably, it might still be somewhat easier to get under 3000 €/sqm (279 sq ft) in the eastern part of the country. I already have a written offer. Here’s something a bit daring:
Move the kitchen wall towards the technical room further down, so the technical room becomes a bit larger. This will make access to the technical room more straightforward, and into the larger technical room you can relocate your utility room from the upper floor. The dryer can be stacked on top of the washing machine — there are some really cool systems for that, saving some space. Then you can make up for the office that was lost on the ground floor by adding it upstairs. The kitchen/living/dining area is really spacious, you can take away 2–3 sqm (22–32 sq ft) from that without really noticing. Extend the pantry all the way to the door in the hallway but reduce its depth. When coming down the stairs, you almost stand right in front of a wall — I estimate about 90–100 cm (35–39 inches) from the first stair step to the pantry wall? So I would extend the pantry in depth as mentioned and make it narrower instead.
Place the fireplace (freestanding, built-in?) at the bottom on the pantry wall. For the dining room, go with an extendable table — you probably don’t want to have 12 chairs ready all the time, or do you? Otherwise, it looks quite crowded and the room seems much smaller.
These are just suggestions; in the end, you have to live with it yourselves 🙂
Jomasavi schrieb:
383000, detailed offer availableHow much does the “fireplace” item cost in the offer, and what does it include?
What is the price for the exterior blinds?
Construction costs might be somewhat lower in the eastern regions, but materials are not free there either.
How many electrical outlets are planned for the kitchen and the bedrooms? Be careful that the currently low offer doesn’t backfire on you.
SoL schrieb:
Did you have the scope of work reviewed? Or at least read and checked it thoroughly yourselves multiple times? We did not have it reviewed externally, but we proceeded by requesting an initial offer from Company A and then presented it to Company B. Company B are acquaintances of mine and then created an identical offer, pointing out all potential pitfalls, which they then included in their own offer (disposal of excavated soil, preparation for internal infrastructure, stormwater infiltration shafts, etc.).
ypg schrieb:
How much does the "fireplace" item cost in the offer, and what does it include?
How expensive are the external blinds supposed to be?
Construction costs might be somewhat lower in the eastern regions, but materials are not free there either.
How many power outlets are planned in the kitchen and bedrooms? Make sure that the currently cheaper offer doesn’t backfire on you later. The fireplace, including everything, should cost around 7,000 euros (incl. roof access, etc., but without the stove itself).
External blinds are budgeted at about 14,000 euros.
For the electrical installation, 15,000 euros are planned. Since this will be subcontracted, we still need to meet with the electrician to plan everything in detail. It will not include KNX or similar systems.
We have another appointment with the company next week, where we need to change and discuss several points.
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