ᐅ Offer for a single-family house, 2 full stories, basement plus an additional floor—what do you think?
Created on: 12 Jun 2018 13:53
C
chewbacca123
Hello everyone,
we are currently in the planning stage and are in talks with three construction companies. Our house will be built on a slope with a 3.5 m (11.5 ft) drop over 34 m (111.5 ft). The land is 26 m (85 ft) wide, with a total area of 881 sqm (9,485 sq ft).
We have almost finished the floor plans for both levels. In the "basement," meaning the lower ground floor, we will have a bedroom, main bathroom, guest room, and utility room. Through the utility room, you can access our hobby room, as well as a cellar garage (or carport).
What still bothers us is that the living room should have a minimum width of 3.70 m (12 ft); 3.51 m (11.5 ft) is too narrow for us. What could be changed?
We are experiencing a planning block... :-( Do you have any other tips for us? Attached are the floor plans.
We will probably have a kitchen island.
Turnkey price including all painting and floor installation, including a double carport and storage room with cellar garage, was quoted at 412,000 Euros.
An extract from the offer:
It is a solid construction with a ventilation system Wolf Comfort CWL residential ventilation, underfloor heating (air-to-water heat pump); underfloor heating on the lower and upper floors (calculation based on energy certificate)
with separate controls (room thermostats) in every room; heating in the utility room / house connection room but no separate control; no heating in the hobby room!
Tiles at 25 €/sqm (2.32 $/sq ft), bay window with balcony on top, roof overhang all around at least 60 cm (24 inches), roof covering with Koramic clay tiles, triple-glazed windows with burglar resistance (some floor-to-ceiling), sliding door to the balcony, 2 outdoor water taps.
Aluminum front door, white or colored on both sides according to color chart, push/pull handle and lever set, security profile cylinder lock, steel bolt locking with 3 hinges, multiple burglary-resistant features.
Non-load-bearing interior walls on the living floors made of gypsum plasterboard stud walls about 15 cm (6 inches), including double-layer sound insulation, OSB reinforcement in utility room / kitchen, WC and bathrooms. Electric shutters on all elements (switch and connection at the window), high-voltage connection (for possible external plastering after moving in), 1 connection each for telephone and TV or CAT 6 cables (in 6 rooms).
Interior and exterior window sills made of granite. Interior stairs: cantilevered solid wood staircase with railing.
No terrace, no landscaping, we will pave the terrace and driveway/carport ourselves.
Do you think this is reasonable? We welcome any advice.
Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards
Ina
we are currently in the planning stage and are in talks with three construction companies. Our house will be built on a slope with a 3.5 m (11.5 ft) drop over 34 m (111.5 ft). The land is 26 m (85 ft) wide, with a total area of 881 sqm (9,485 sq ft).
We have almost finished the floor plans for both levels. In the "basement," meaning the lower ground floor, we will have a bedroom, main bathroom, guest room, and utility room. Through the utility room, you can access our hobby room, as well as a cellar garage (or carport).
What still bothers us is that the living room should have a minimum width of 3.70 m (12 ft); 3.51 m (11.5 ft) is too narrow for us. What could be changed?
We are experiencing a planning block... :-( Do you have any other tips for us? Attached are the floor plans.
We will probably have a kitchen island.
Turnkey price including all painting and floor installation, including a double carport and storage room with cellar garage, was quoted at 412,000 Euros.
An extract from the offer:
It is a solid construction with a ventilation system Wolf Comfort CWL residential ventilation, underfloor heating (air-to-water heat pump); underfloor heating on the lower and upper floors (calculation based on energy certificate)
with separate controls (room thermostats) in every room; heating in the utility room / house connection room but no separate control; no heating in the hobby room!
Tiles at 25 €/sqm (2.32 $/sq ft), bay window with balcony on top, roof overhang all around at least 60 cm (24 inches), roof covering with Koramic clay tiles, triple-glazed windows with burglar resistance (some floor-to-ceiling), sliding door to the balcony, 2 outdoor water taps.
Aluminum front door, white or colored on both sides according to color chart, push/pull handle and lever set, security profile cylinder lock, steel bolt locking with 3 hinges, multiple burglary-resistant features.
Non-load-bearing interior walls on the living floors made of gypsum plasterboard stud walls about 15 cm (6 inches), including double-layer sound insulation, OSB reinforcement in utility room / kitchen, WC and bathrooms. Electric shutters on all elements (switch and connection at the window), high-voltage connection (for possible external plastering after moving in), 1 connection each for telephone and TV or CAT 6 cables (in 6 rooms).
Interior and exterior window sills made of granite. Interior stairs: cantilevered solid wood staircase with railing.
No terrace, no landscaping, we will pave the terrace and driveway/carport ourselves.
Do you think this is reasonable? We welcome any advice.
Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards
Ina
chewbacca123 schrieb:
We also have a balcony where we can sit.
We have now lived for 9 years in a top-floor apartment where we always had to go down two flights of stairs, which isn’t a big deal.Hello, you are in the floor plan planning subforum, so the completed questionnaire belongs here.
If you were to fill it out, would it say “the most important and most exposed room should be the bathroom, the child’s room doesn’t matter”?
Regarding the living room width: you won’t have the same sofa for the next 40 years. Be prepared that most sofas are nearly 3 meters (10 feet) wide. I see a chimney in your plan, so a fireplace probably won’t fit there anymore.
You need to calculate: plaster will be added to the raw dimensions. Baseboards prevent furniture from being placed directly against the wall. Air circulation behind sofas and cabinets is necessary anyway.
As for the quote “that’s not a big deal” — for me, that would be an impossible statement in a new house that I’m building.
How will it look in 10 years? What is the garden for? Like older people here—not that old either 🙂—nobody likes to climb stairs anymore.
The biggest problem isn’t even about sitting, but garden maintenance. On hot days you need to go outside quite often, and during TV commercial breaks it’s quite common. If you have to shuffle in a cramped living room along the wall, a broken little toe plays an unpleasant role that slowly kills your motivation to use the stairs.
Hosting guests in the evening is also not easy. And the balcony isn’t very large either. Four adults plus two children... children’s birthday parties or other celebrations on the terrace are not possible unless you hire catering!
I like the house’s exterior, but I would not buy it.
Reasons: the terrace and garden are your primary living spaces in summer, and for me they are not accessible from the main living level as planned. The balcony with the corner doesn’t compensate either because it’s also obstructed.
The bathroom may be great, but at the expense of guest and child. The child’s room feels like a hole, almost halfway in the basement, with no daylight from October onward.
A chimney without purpose. The 3.70-meter (12 feet) width of the living room wouldn’t be a dealbreaker for me.
A quick second look: bedroom as a passageway is inconvenient when people have different waking times. The pantry would be too far when carrying groceries. There is unused space in the middle of the open plan area, but many rooms are missing. The guest room is basically a joke, the child’s room is not even west-facing, more like northwest...
I would relocate the bedrooms upstairs to the entrance level and give the child more daylight.
chewbacca12315 Jun 2018 14:57[QUOTE="ypg, post: .[/QUOTE]
Well, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a child or not – with 15 sqm (160 sq ft), a child certainly does matter. Besides, I myself grew up in a hillside house with a room in the basement and I didn’t suffer any harm from it. On the contrary, it was always pleasantly cool in summer, and my sister, who had her room upstairs, eventually moved down to join me.
Also, you could always swap the child’s room and the office later if the child preferred to be upstairs. That wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Guest – we hardly ever have guests who stay overnight. Since this room is primarily meant for sleeping, we think what’s planned is perfectly sufficient. We don’t prioritize this room! If someone stays over once a year, it won’t be a problem if there’s only a small window facing outside during the night.
From experience, I wouldn’t put a bedroom upstairs because it can get too hot in the summer. Downstairs rooms stay comfortably cool regardless of outdoor weather. After nine years in an attic apartment, we’re experts on this… nothing beats a good night’s sleep!
Living area downstairs – definitely. With our sloped site, you’d always have to use the stairs, and you’d have to rush upstairs to the kitchen.
The living room is definitely fine now, we painted the fireplace; the plan is outdated. You need to imagine it without the fireplace. Our current sofa is 3 m (10 ft) wide, so we were able to arrange everything quite well.
Well, nothing is set in stone yet; we’re still reconsidering everything and also checking out what other builders offer us.
Well, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a child or not – with 15 sqm (160 sq ft), a child certainly does matter. Besides, I myself grew up in a hillside house with a room in the basement and I didn’t suffer any harm from it. On the contrary, it was always pleasantly cool in summer, and my sister, who had her room upstairs, eventually moved down to join me.
Also, you could always swap the child’s room and the office later if the child preferred to be upstairs. That wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Guest – we hardly ever have guests who stay overnight. Since this room is primarily meant for sleeping, we think what’s planned is perfectly sufficient. We don’t prioritize this room! If someone stays over once a year, it won’t be a problem if there’s only a small window facing outside during the night.
From experience, I wouldn’t put a bedroom upstairs because it can get too hot in the summer. Downstairs rooms stay comfortably cool regardless of outdoor weather. After nine years in an attic apartment, we’re experts on this… nothing beats a good night’s sleep!
Living area downstairs – definitely. With our sloped site, you’d always have to use the stairs, and you’d have to rush upstairs to the kitchen.
The living room is definitely fine now, we painted the fireplace; the plan is outdated. You need to imagine it without the fireplace. Our current sofa is 3 m (10 ft) wide, so we were able to arrange everything quite well.
Well, nothing is set in stone yet; we’re still reconsidering everything and also checking out what other builders offer us.
Please do not compare an older attic apartment with a new build. With modern roof insulation, no heat or cold enters the house due to poor roof insulation. Not under today’s energy saving regulations.
If you have a window facing northwest with a bay window on the west side, this room loses all the sunlight that would normally provide comfort for three quarters of the year. In summer, there is only one hour of sun in the evening. Instead, you are planning the bathroom on the exposed southwest side.
You are contradicting yourself. Your bedroom has south-facing windows: it doesn’t matter whether they are upstairs or downstairs. It will either be too hot, or the blinds are closed. Who wants to sweat in the bathroom after showering?
You don’t need to justify yourself. You asked questions and you’re receiving answers.
Of course, the guest room is not that important. But honestly: many things don’t add up here. Based on your arguments, it’s unclear what your actual goal is, except perhaps misplaced praise.
However, when it comes to selling, because residents eventually notice the planning flaws, these issues become apparent and significantly reduce the chances of a successful sale.
With good planning, a properly designed guest room can also serve as a second children’s bedroom.
Edit: On a slope, the lower level is not cool!
And yes: living/dining/kitchen areas should be on the lower floor to make proper use of the garden.
Maybe you should have your wife read this 😉
If you have a window facing northwest with a bay window on the west side, this room loses all the sunlight that would normally provide comfort for three quarters of the year. In summer, there is only one hour of sun in the evening. Instead, you are planning the bathroom on the exposed southwest side.
You are contradicting yourself. Your bedroom has south-facing windows: it doesn’t matter whether they are upstairs or downstairs. It will either be too hot, or the blinds are closed. Who wants to sweat in the bathroom after showering?
You don’t need to justify yourself. You asked questions and you’re receiving answers.
Of course, the guest room is not that important. But honestly: many things don’t add up here. Based on your arguments, it’s unclear what your actual goal is, except perhaps misplaced praise.
However, when it comes to selling, because residents eventually notice the planning flaws, these issues become apparent and significantly reduce the chances of a successful sale.
With good planning, a properly designed guest room can also serve as a second children’s bedroom.
Edit: On a slope, the lower level is not cool!
And yes: living/dining/kitchen areas should be on the lower floor to make proper use of the garden.
Maybe you should have your wife read this 😉
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