ᐅ Is this floor plan suitable for a multigenerational house?

Hello everyone,

this is my first post, so I apologize in advance if I haven’t provided all the necessary information – I put this together to the best of my knowledge and ability :-)

We are currently planning a multi-generational house and have already received some plans from the construction company. This is the current plan. The house is planned to be built on a plot of about 475sqm (5113 sq ft).

Due to the small size of the plot, the idea is for the parents-in-law to live on the ground floor, and for us (2 adults + 2 small children) to live on the upper floor and attic. We had also considered a semi-detached house with an asymmetric design, but that was too expensive and too large for the plot. Our goal is to still have enough garden space.

In the basement, provisions are planned for a granny flat or accessory dwelling unit that could be developed later if needed. Initially, this space will be used purely as a utility cellar.

Because of the photovoltaic requirement in Baden-Württemberg and the conditions for related subsidies, the house has been designed as a solid construction meeting KfW40 plus QNG standards. Electrically operated roller shutters or venetian blinds are standard throughout the living room and kitchen.

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: approx. 475sqm (5113 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site occupancy index: 0.3
Floor area ratio: unknown
Building envelope, building line, boundary: open construction method
Edge development: 1 neighboring house on the left side
Number of parking spaces: 2 per dwelling unit
Number of floors: 2.5 + basement
Roof type: gable roof
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum heights/limits: main building height 9.50m (31 ft), living area height 6.50m (21 ft)
Additional specifications

Homeowner requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: Basement, ground floor, upper floor, and attic floor
Number of residents, ages: 2 parents-in-law + 2 adults + 2 children (1.5 years, 1 month)
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office?: One office for home office is planned on both the ground floor and upper floor, which will also serve as guest rooms
Number of guest stays per year: few
Open or closed architecture
Traditional or modern design
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Kitchen in L-shape plus kitchen island
Number of dining spaces: At least 6 on both ground floor and upper floor
Fireplace: no
Music/sound system wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony planned on the upper floor
Garage, carport: double garage
Utility garden, greenhouse
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons for design choices

House design
Planner: construction company
- Planner from a construction company
- Architect
- Do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you not like? Why?
In my opinion, the children’s rooms in the attic are planned too small. This might work now when they’re toddlers, but as bedrooms for teenagers, I find them too small. We considered removing the storage room in the attic and adding it to the master bedroom so the children’s rooms could be larger. Or are we mistaken? As a replacement for the storage room, we possibly considered additional storage space under the staircase.

I have never lived under sloping ceilings, but unfortunately, there is no other way to design this (see above). However, they do significantly reduce the room size.

Price estimate according to architect/planner: The house, excluding incidental building costs and land, should cost around €800,000 (approx. $870,000) turnkey. We will have to do a significant amount of work ourselves to bring the price down.

Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: Our maximum budget for everything is €950,000 (approx. $1,035,000). Whether this is realistic remains to be seen ;-)
Preferred heating system: planned is an air-to-water heat pump plus underfloor heating

If you had to give up something, on which details/upgrades
- could you do without:
- couldn’t do without: basement

Why is the design the way it is now? For example:

The construction company already adapted the designs because previous versions were too expensive. The floor area was reduced from initially 100sqm (1076 sq ft) to 90sqm (970 sq ft). Due to the partly integrated staircase, the effective floor area is now a bit above 80sqm (860 sq ft).

Standard design from the planner?
Which/all wishes were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?

Do you see any potential improvements regarding the floor plans?

Hello,
could you please share the site plan (plot) again? Also, the orientation of the house (north/south) and the age of the seniors?
Do you have any specific hobbies? What do you like about the house?
Are you not planning a balcony or something similar for the upper unit?

Dutchi695 schrieb:

A mix of many examples from various magazines...

What is that, for example?

One tip in advance: it is useful to furnish the design plans yourself with to-scale furniture so you can see where the shortcomings or potentials are (dining area size, TV distance, space in the children’s rooms). You should definitely work on this.
Templates are suitable for moving around.

Good heavens. This won’t work. The density of requirements in this design is too high. This is not a multi-generational house, but rather a two-family house with an additional granny flat, executed in the worst possible way. Go to an independent architect instead of having a construction company botch something together and then shrink it even further. Also, eliminate the granny flat, since its inclusion is probably the main reason the design had to be reduced in size in the first place. Build with just one standard staircase and a spiral staircase in the upper floor/attic maisonette.

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ypg schrieb:

A tip in advance: it is advisable to furnish the design plans yourself with to-scale furniture,

An urgent recommendation from my side... for example, when furnishing the bedroom on the ground floor.

ypg schrieb:

Could you please also provide the site plan (plot)?

I would be interested as well, since there must be at least 4 parking spaces with the option for 2 additional spaces.

kbt09 schrieb:

I’m also interested, since there need to be at least 4 parking spaces with the option for 2 more.

That will be a problem on less than 500sqm (approx. 5,380 sq ft).
I assume south is at the bottom, where it belongs, and the granny flat is only there to compensate for the excess space in the basement. Off the top of my head, I don’t see a quick solution.
For the existing ground floor, I would extend the hallway a bit, plan a built-in wardrobe for coats at its end, and swap the bedroom and office functions (adjust sizes accordingly) so the bathroom is next to the bedroom. The door to the office can then be positioned to suit the living room furniture. The extended hallway also benefits the dining area by providing better structure.

The children’s rooms are not too small. However, you should make sure that deep cabinets can fit behind the windows, which means the windows need to be spaced further apart. I would avoid floor-to-ceiling windows because they can compromise privacy — after all, the neighbor could see too far in. For storage under the sloped ceiling at the knee wall, consider low built-in cabinets or place an upside-down Kallax unit there to make good use of the low space.

Still, with these tips, the parking space issue remains unsolved.

ypg schrieb:

However, the parking space issue is not resolved with these tips.

Dutchi695 schrieb:

Can’t you do without: basement?

However, I wonder why the basement is considered fixed when everyone only gets their 9sqm (97 sq ft) of storage space plus the utility room. For laundry, you have the bathroom niches. For bikes, surely a garden shed will be added, and a second one for the lawnmower, right?
In that case, you could build a 25 to 30sqm (269 to 323 sq ft) extension on the ground floor at the back for the ancillary rooms, save yourself the basement and the placeholder granny flat, and instead treat yourself to some nice extras with the money saved: larger windows, an open gable, a better balcony with garden stairs and roofing.
Of course, it would be perfect to use the freezer extension for this purpose straight away. That would require a new plan.
Otherwise, it works fine as it is.