ᐅ New single-family house construction, approximately 170 m², townhouse-style villa
Created on: 24 Nov 2019 13:19
F
fskscorp
Hello everyone,
We are planning to make our dream of owning a home come true next year. So far, we have visited five general contractors and received fairly comparable initial offers from them. At this point, only two remain in consideration based on quality, reputation, price, and overall feeling.
The basic floor plan has been set from the very beginning, but we have continuously modified and optimized it and have not yet finalized a version, as we also want to keep an eye on construction costs. The attached floor plans include one initial design from the architect and one optimized version by me regarding the window placements and staircase location.
I would appreciate your feedback. Are there any critical issues we might be missing? What could be solved more intelligently? Perhaps something “unusual” that could be added quickly and without significant expense.
I am looking forward to your input!
Thank you very much!
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 1086 m2 (11,685 sq ft); approximately 31m (102 ft) wide on the street side, 29m (95 ft) deep. Located at the end of a dead-end street, with an unobstructed view of fields and forest.
Slope: The terrain currently drops about 2.80m (9 ft 2 in) from south to north but will be leveled during self-performed earthworks to about 1m (3 ft 3 in) above street level.
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building setback: 3 meters (10 ft) from the street
Adjacent buildings: none
Parking spaces required: 2 per housing unit
Number of floors allowed: Max. 2
Roof pitch: Between 25° and 45°
Architectural style: Classic-modern?
Orientation: Open
Maximum heights/limitations:
Additional requirements: Roof color (although no one has really stuck to this)
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Classic modern, urban villa with tent or hipped roof accordingly
Basement, floors: 2 full stories plus a large double garage with flat roof
Number of residents, age: 2 adults in their early 30s
Room requirements on the ground floor: Cloakroom, guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living and dining room
Room requirements on the upper floor: 2 children’s rooms, master bedroom, walk-in closets, bathroom, office
Office: Family use + minimal home office
Guests per year: Rarely
Open or closed architecture: Open, but living-dining area separated from the hallway
Conservative or modern construction: We see ourselves as modern but not over the top.
Open kitchen, island: Open kitchen with island and ideally a side-by-side refrigerator
Number of dining seats: Usually 4-6
Fireplace: None
Media/wall unit: Media wall for TV
Balcony, roof terrace: The adjacent double garage should be accessible from the parents’ bedroom (planned for the future, probably never realized but option should exist).
Garage, carport: Double garage with space to serve as a cellar substitute room
Utility garden, greenhouse: Possibly later
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons for or against certain choices:
- Utility room next to kitchen on the ground floor, accessible from the garage
- Spacious open living and dining area
- Smart Home is a topic everywhere, but we have decided that KNX will only be feasible as self-installation
- No external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS)
House design
Who created the plan:
- Architect, self-drawn
What do you like most?
Open and spacious, all our wishes were considered. We wanted to keep the building’s shape as simple as possible and avoid dormers, bay windows, and indentations. Lots of large windows facing the back, as the view is really great and unobstructed.
What don’t you like? Why?
Price estimate according to general contractor/general planner: about €395,000 (approx. $440,000) including additional building costs.
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with photovoltaic. However, the photovoltaic system is not included in the price.
Only the point that you don’t really get anything special for this fairly high amount. I would like to have one or two ‘gimmicks.’
If you had to give up anything, which details/features?
From our perspective, it is already minimalistic. We reduced from 190 down to these 175 m² (1882 sq ft).
Why does the design look the way it does now? For example:
We put a lot of thought into the floor plans, looked at many houses online and from friends/family. We wrote down everything we liked as well as what we didn’t want. Budget-wise, it quickly became clear that in this price range, you have to forego visual and technical highlights. We want to optimize the window work; reportedly, we are about €10,000 (approx. $11,200) above average for a house of this type.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Are there optimizations in the floor plan we have overlooked? All existing furniture except the kitchen is drawn to scale. Enough windows/light overall?
We are planning to make our dream of owning a home come true next year. So far, we have visited five general contractors and received fairly comparable initial offers from them. At this point, only two remain in consideration based on quality, reputation, price, and overall feeling.
The basic floor plan has been set from the very beginning, but we have continuously modified and optimized it and have not yet finalized a version, as we also want to keep an eye on construction costs. The attached floor plans include one initial design from the architect and one optimized version by me regarding the window placements and staircase location.
I would appreciate your feedback. Are there any critical issues we might be missing? What could be solved more intelligently? Perhaps something “unusual” that could be added quickly and without significant expense.
I am looking forward to your input!
Thank you very much!
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 1086 m2 (11,685 sq ft); approximately 31m (102 ft) wide on the street side, 29m (95 ft) deep. Located at the end of a dead-end street, with an unobstructed view of fields and forest.
Slope: The terrain currently drops about 2.80m (9 ft 2 in) from south to north but will be leveled during self-performed earthworks to about 1m (3 ft 3 in) above street level.
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building setback: 3 meters (10 ft) from the street
Adjacent buildings: none
Parking spaces required: 2 per housing unit
Number of floors allowed: Max. 2
Roof pitch: Between 25° and 45°
Architectural style: Classic-modern?
Orientation: Open
Maximum heights/limitations:
Additional requirements: Roof color (although no one has really stuck to this)
Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Classic modern, urban villa with tent or hipped roof accordingly
Basement, floors: 2 full stories plus a large double garage with flat roof
Number of residents, age: 2 adults in their early 30s
Room requirements on the ground floor: Cloakroom, guest toilet, utility room, kitchen, living and dining room
Room requirements on the upper floor: 2 children’s rooms, master bedroom, walk-in closets, bathroom, office
Office: Family use + minimal home office
Guests per year: Rarely
Open or closed architecture: Open, but living-dining area separated from the hallway
Conservative or modern construction: We see ourselves as modern but not over the top.
Open kitchen, island: Open kitchen with island and ideally a side-by-side refrigerator
Number of dining seats: Usually 4-6
Fireplace: None
Media/wall unit: Media wall for TV
Balcony, roof terrace: The adjacent double garage should be accessible from the parents’ bedroom (planned for the future, probably never realized but option should exist).
Garage, carport: Double garage with space to serve as a cellar substitute room
Utility garden, greenhouse: Possibly later
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons for or against certain choices:
- Utility room next to kitchen on the ground floor, accessible from the garage
- Spacious open living and dining area
- Smart Home is a topic everywhere, but we have decided that KNX will only be feasible as self-installation
- No external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS)
House design
Who created the plan:
- Architect, self-drawn
What do you like most?
Open and spacious, all our wishes were considered. We wanted to keep the building’s shape as simple as possible and avoid dormers, bay windows, and indentations. Lots of large windows facing the back, as the view is really great and unobstructed.
What don’t you like? Why?
Price estimate according to general contractor/general planner: about €395,000 (approx. $440,000) including additional building costs.
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with photovoltaic. However, the photovoltaic system is not included in the price.
Only the point that you don’t really get anything special for this fairly high amount. I would like to have one or two ‘gimmicks.’
If you had to give up anything, which details/features?
From our perspective, it is already minimalistic. We reduced from 190 down to these 175 m² (1882 sq ft).
Why does the design look the way it does now? For example:
We put a lot of thought into the floor plans, looked at many houses online and from friends/family. We wrote down everything we liked as well as what we didn’t want. Budget-wise, it quickly became clear that in this price range, you have to forego visual and technical highlights. We want to optimize the window work; reportedly, we are about €10,000 (approx. $11,200) above average for a house of this type.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Are there optimizations in the floor plan we have overlooked? All existing furniture except the kitchen is drawn to scale. Enough windows/light overall?
kaho674 schrieb:
Well, that already looks quite well planned. I don’t think it’s bad, even though I wouldn’t do everything exactly like that. But one thing I have to criticize: the window in Child 1’s room is really tiny. It is floor-to-ceiling, but to me it seems too small. Don’t you want to let in a bit more light there? I currently have a similar window in my office with almost the same floor plan and find it sufficient. On paper, I admit it looks a bit lost.
kbt09 schrieb:
Hmm ... just a few things I noticed. Unfortunately, there is no north arrow on the drawings again.
Ground floor
- Sofa and window with a sill height of 125 cm (49 inches) ... I always get a basement feeling from that, especially since this should be the south side, if I checked correctly and the drawing in the first post was oriented.
Upper floor
- The hallway will be quite bright compared to Child 1’s room. For Child 1, I would choose a much wider window with a sill height. The narrow, tall window does not let light in over a wide area of the room.
- You have around 20 sqm (215 sq ft) for the parents’ area, but only space for a 3 m (10 ft) closet.
- The master bed including nightstands has about 300 cm (118 inches) of space next to the window. With only 30 cm (12 inches) nightstands and an estimated 200 cm (79 inches) mattress width (assuming a box spring bed), there are just under 70 cm (28 inches) from the edge of the bed to the wall on the top side of the plan. It will probably be closer to 60 cm (24 inches), since you wouldn’t place the nightstands right next to the window opening.
- Bathroom is 11 sqm (118 sq ft) for a washbasin, toilet, and shower? Still, the path between washbasin and toilet will be quite tight.
Yes, I cut out the north arrow. But your assumption about direction is correct. I also thought about it, but putting a couch in front of a floor-to-ceiling window seems a bit wasteful to me.
Okay, of course the window won’t provide widespread light. I will bring that up.
In the bedroom, the closet will be arranged in an L-shape. The Pax system is already available. Additionally, in front of the wall that is set back 30.5 cm (12 inches), there will be two dressers. The master bed is currently positioned that way in our home, and my side works well there as well. We could also move the bed a bit lower, since the access to the garage terrace won’t be built for now.
The bathroom is now planned differently. Toilet and washbasin remain in the same place, but the shower will be enclosed by a straight wall and accessible from the side by the toilet. Very open and the window’s light works quite well there. Unfortunately, I can’t share the plan.
Thanks for the feedback!
fskscorp schrieb:
Hello,
it has been quiet here for a long time as I was working on the initial design and the corresponding building permit / planning permission application. Both are now complete, so I wanted to check in again since some of the input from here has been incorporated. I would swap Child 1 and the study in the upper floor, then move the wall so that the proportions are balanced again.
Child 1 should have two windows on the south and east sides. For Child 2, add a window on the south side and remove one of the windows on the west side.
Eventually, kids spend most of their time in their rooms, just like you do downstairs in the living area, so you want those spaces to be bright and filled with natural light.
In the master bedroom, I would remove the partition wall; instead, you could place a wardrobe as a room divider, which can be easily moved or replaced later to accommodate future changes. If the TV is planned there, there are also units designed to house TVs as part of a "living wall" or media center.
The technical room on the ground floor should combine storage, heating, and pantry functions, and possibly laundry as well. Due to the room climate requirements, I would separate the pantry from the rest and, when positioning the door from the hallway, keep in mind where a wall could be added later.
There should be more options for sill heights between windows with a sill height over 120 cm (47 inches) (“basement windows”) and floor-to-ceiling windows. I also don’t like having floor-to-ceiling windows right behind the sofa.
I like Itenzers’ idea about swapping Child 1’s room with the office.
In many rooms, it’s noticeable that the exterior appearance seems to be prioritized over the window placement within the room. There are many windows placed right next to walls, which limits the possibilities for placing furniture such as wardrobes. This applies to Child 2’s room, the office, the bedroom, and the door from the terrace to the garage.
I like Itenzers’ idea about swapping Child 1’s room with the office.
In many rooms, it’s noticeable that the exterior appearance seems to be prioritized over the window placement within the room. There are many windows placed right next to walls, which limits the possibilities for placing furniture such as wardrobes. This applies to Child 2’s room, the office, the bedroom, and the door from the terrace to the garage.
Vicky Pedia16 Jan 2020 08:07@Altai is right! Even if you mainly take showers, there are situations where you need to take a bath, for example, when you have a cold. This should definitely be possible in a 170 m² (1830 sq ft) house.
Similar topics