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?
I spent last night thinking about the walk-in closet and came up with the following solution without changing the room sizes. Only two narrower floor-to-ceiling windows need to be modified. See the sketch... just quickly drawn over.
The office and child’s room 1 will be swapped, and then the wall will be moved to create a niche of 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) for a desk.
We never consciously aimed for symmetry; it just resulted from the new layout upstairs.
Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you about the bathtub—there won’t be one.
The office and child’s room 1 will be swapped, and then the wall will be moved to create a niche of 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) for a desk.
We never consciously aimed for symmetry; it just resulted from the new layout upstairs.
Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you about the bathtub—there won’t be one.
fskscorp schrieb:
Honestly, I have to disappoint you, there won’t be one.Why do you say "we"? You are the ones affected when it’s needed for medical baths. You can get a slipped disc or similar even in your early 30s. It reminds me of my alkaline baths.
The house probably isn’t unsellable, but the target group and/or the price will be lower.
fskscorp schrieb:
I’m afraid I really have to disappoint you—there won’t be a bathtub.If it’s just a matter of the floor plan: a bathtub would actually fit in the bathroom. Maybe plan it so it can at least be added later?
For example: place the shower in the upper-left corner of the plan with just a simple partition instead of an "L-shaped" wall. To the right of that, a double vanity would fit. Along the bottom wall of the plan, both the bathtub and the toilet could be positioned side by side. I would suggest visually separating the toilet with a small partition about half the room height.
The door could be moved slightly upward on the plan to avoid bumping into the bathtub.
The wall on the right side of the plan would remain available for storage, towels, etc.
As long as the window on the right side of the plan doesn’t have to be floor-to-ceiling, there would be many more attractive options.
While a floor-to-ceiling window can bring in a lot of light and looks impressive at first glance, I personally prefer some privacy in the bathroom, especially right in front of the toilet.
Last Monday marked the groundbreaking, and I wanted to briefly share the originally planned earthworks. The level of the top of the finished floor slab is now 1.30m (4 feet 3 inches) higher than the street in the preliminary development stage, so almost 1m (3 feet 3 inches) higher later on.
Some key figures for the earthworks:
- approx. 330m³ (430 cubic yards) of topsoil removed and stored
- approx. 600m³ (785 cubic yards) of excavated soil removed and stored
- approx. 350m³ (460 cubic yards) of excavation for the ring trench collector removed and replaced
- approx. 280m³ (365 cubic yards) of excavation for the actual building pit
- approx. 160m³ (210 cubic yards) of soil re-used in the fill area
- approx. 150m³ (196 cubic yards) of gravel installed
In total, 5 days of work (including the ring trench collector, installation of empty conduits and drainage) with two workers.
Hopefully, it is clear what this is going to become.
Now the structural builder can start work on the foundation slab next week.
Some key figures for the earthworks:
- approx. 330m³ (430 cubic yards) of topsoil removed and stored
- approx. 600m³ (785 cubic yards) of excavated soil removed and stored
- approx. 350m³ (460 cubic yards) of excavation for the ring trench collector removed and replaced
- approx. 280m³ (365 cubic yards) of excavation for the actual building pit
- approx. 160m³ (210 cubic yards) of soil re-used in the fill area
- approx. 150m³ (196 cubic yards) of gravel installed
In total, 5 days of work (including the ring trench collector, installation of empty conduits and drainage) with two workers.
Hopefully, it is clear what this is going to become.
Now the structural builder can start work on the foundation slab next week.
fskscorp schrieb:
Hopefully you can see what this is going to be.It looks like a spot where you might soon have a deer visiting you too @kaho674https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Just in time for Christmas, I wanted to share a quick update.
The construction has gone "smoothly" so far. The schedule is more than fine. Originally, we planned to move in during the first week of March. Now it will be January 22.
Only the bathroom installations (from January 10), the fine plaster in the bathrooms, interior doors (from January 4), kitchen (January 18) are still missing, and I have to finish the floor on the upper floor during the days between Christmas and New Year. There are still a few painting jobs left, but the major work is done.
On the other hand, I’m almost done with the electrical installations, or already handling small tasks that I actually didn’t want to finish before moving in, like connecting the heat pump’s cooling function to KNX, installing the doorbell, printing adapters for the Unifi access points, etc. :-)
Overall, we really haven’t had a so-called building fail yet (knock on wood).
We are still on budget, even though we added two air conditioning units, the kitchen got more expensive again, and we installed KNX automation. For that, I’ve just had to spend a few extra hours on site so far :-)
So, now I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
The construction has gone "smoothly" so far. The schedule is more than fine. Originally, we planned to move in during the first week of March. Now it will be January 22.
Only the bathroom installations (from January 10), the fine plaster in the bathrooms, interior doors (from January 4), kitchen (January 18) are still missing, and I have to finish the floor on the upper floor during the days between Christmas and New Year. There are still a few painting jobs left, but the major work is done.
On the other hand, I’m almost done with the electrical installations, or already handling small tasks that I actually didn’t want to finish before moving in, like connecting the heat pump’s cooling function to KNX, installing the doorbell, printing adapters for the Unifi access points, etc. :-)
Overall, we really haven’t had a so-called building fail yet (knock on wood).
We are still on budget, even though we added two air conditioning units, the kitchen got more expensive again, and we installed KNX automation. For that, I’ve just had to spend a few extra hours on site so far :-)
So, now I wish you all a Merry Christmas!