ᐅ New Single-Family Home Construction Without a Basement: Seeking Floor Plan Review and Improved Upper Floor Layout
Created on: 30 Dec 2025 15:07
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thorsten2025
Hello home builders,
I’m new here, so please forgive me if I accidentally break any forum etiquette.
A brief introduction: I’m 49 years old, a mechanical engineer, separated, with 2 children (9 and 12 years old). I have renovation experience since I completely renovated a house built in 1978 together with my ex-partner, doing most of the work ourselves. The children live with me about 30% of the time.
I think it’s great that forums like this exist and I’m looking forward to your answers.
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 573m2 (6,171 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: no development plan
Floor area ratio: no development plan
Building envelope / building line / boundary: Requirement that the house should be positioned similarly to the previous house on the plot (heritage-listed, but no longer salvageable)
Border development: to the north (top), a 2.5m (8 ft) setback from the center of the path must be maintained
Number of parking spaces: no requirement, double garage planned
Number of floors: 1.5, or adapted to surrounding buildings
Roof type: gable roof with approx. 40° pitch
Architectural style: adapted to surroundings, reddish-brown tiles
Orientation: gable facing the street
Maximum height / limits: adapted to surroundings
Other requirements
Client requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Single-family house, timber frame, KfW40 standard
Basement, floors: no basement, 1.5 floors with 1.5m (5 ft) usable knee wall height
Number of occupants, ages: 3 people, 49, 9, 12
Space requirements on ground floor / upper floor: Ground floor with utility room, guest WC, storage room, open living-dining area, entrance from the courtyard, not from the street
Office: family use or home office? 95% family use
Annual overnight guests: 10 (mostly the children)
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern style: conservative to fit the surroundings
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes + yes
Number of dining seats: 4-6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: TV wall
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage with workshop room behind
Utility garden, greenhouse: eventually...
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things are desired or avoided
Wish: platform staircase for aesthetic and comfort reasons, lots of natural light on the ground floor, space for a small study that can also be used as a guest room
House design
Who designed it: The plan is from me (engineer, can’t help myself), almost adopted 1:1 from several prefab home suppliers and my carpenter’s design office
What do you especially like? The open layout of the ground floor facing the garden
What don’t you like? Why?: The upper floor, as there is always some unused space and no proper walk-in closet (though the walk-in closet is not a must since there’s no woman in the house ;-) )
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 365,000 as a shell house
Personal price limit for house, including fittings: 510,000
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating, ventilation system
If you had to give up, which details or expansions
- you could give up: walk-in closet and … if it really brings a big advantage -> platform staircase
- you couldn’t give up: open living-dining area
Why did the design turn out like it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?: Looked at many show homes, thought it through, then created several variations myself in CAD
Which requests were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it, in your opinion, particularly good or bad? The room layout on the upper floor gives me a headache... it can definitely be optimized
The dimensions in the hand sketch of the site plan are not 100% accurate, it still shows 9.5m (31 ft), but now I’m at around 8.3-8.5m (27-28 ft)
Best regards from sunny Baden-Württemberg,
thorsten2025
I’m new here, so please forgive me if I accidentally break any forum etiquette.
A brief introduction: I’m 49 years old, a mechanical engineer, separated, with 2 children (9 and 12 years old). I have renovation experience since I completely renovated a house built in 1978 together with my ex-partner, doing most of the work ourselves. The children live with me about 30% of the time.
I think it’s great that forums like this exist and I’m looking forward to your answers.
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 573m2 (6,171 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: no development plan
Floor area ratio: no development plan
Building envelope / building line / boundary: Requirement that the house should be positioned similarly to the previous house on the plot (heritage-listed, but no longer salvageable)
Border development: to the north (top), a 2.5m (8 ft) setback from the center of the path must be maintained
Number of parking spaces: no requirement, double garage planned
Number of floors: 1.5, or adapted to surrounding buildings
Roof type: gable roof with approx. 40° pitch
Architectural style: adapted to surroundings, reddish-brown tiles
Orientation: gable facing the street
Maximum height / limits: adapted to surroundings
Other requirements
Client requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: Single-family house, timber frame, KfW40 standard
Basement, floors: no basement, 1.5 floors with 1.5m (5 ft) usable knee wall height
Number of occupants, ages: 3 people, 49, 9, 12
Space requirements on ground floor / upper floor: Ground floor with utility room, guest WC, storage room, open living-dining area, entrance from the courtyard, not from the street
Office: family use or home office? 95% family use
Annual overnight guests: 10 (mostly the children)
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern style: conservative to fit the surroundings
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes + yes
Number of dining seats: 4-6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: TV wall
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage with workshop room behind
Utility garden, greenhouse: eventually...
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons why certain things are desired or avoided
Wish: platform staircase for aesthetic and comfort reasons, lots of natural light on the ground floor, space for a small study that can also be used as a guest room
House design
Who designed it: The plan is from me (engineer, can’t help myself), almost adopted 1:1 from several prefab home suppliers and my carpenter’s design office
What do you especially like? The open layout of the ground floor facing the garden
What don’t you like? Why?: The upper floor, as there is always some unused space and no proper walk-in closet (though the walk-in closet is not a must since there’s no woman in the house ;-) )
Price estimate according to architect/planner: 365,000 as a shell house
Personal price limit for house, including fittings: 510,000
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump with underfloor heating, ventilation system
If you had to give up, which details or expansions
- you could give up: walk-in closet and … if it really brings a big advantage -> platform staircase
- you couldn’t give up: open living-dining area
Why did the design turn out like it is now? For example:
Standard design from the planner?: Looked at many show homes, thought it through, then created several variations myself in CAD
Which requests were implemented by the architect?
A mix of many examples from various magazines...
What makes it, in your opinion, particularly good or bad? The room layout on the upper floor gives me a headache... it can definitely be optimized
The dimensions in the hand sketch of the site plan are not 100% accurate, it still shows 9.5m (31 ft), but now I’m at around 8.3-8.5m (27-28 ft)
Best regards from sunny Baden-Württemberg,
thorsten2025
11ant schrieb:
First of all, thanks for setting a good example by not messing around with correction fluid on the site plan. P.S.: Also, a special compliment from me for the detached garage instead of attaching the house to the side entrance and compromising the layout.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
T
thorsten20251 Jan 2026 21:53Hello and Happy New Year to you all.
Thank you for the quite varied feedback.
I fell in love with the living-dining area in a show home and have almost exactly replicated it (with some adjustments for my house). That is not negotiable ;-)
Leaving out the storage room on the ground floor in a house without a basement? I can’t understand that.
I want a timber frame because I’m a hardcore DIYer and plan to do almost everything myself. Running pipes and cables is much easier, the walls are nice and straight after boarding (hopefully), and I don’t need drywall inside. For KfW40 standard, stone walls would also be thicker according to my information, and I find timber walls always feel warmer than stone. I’m aware opinions on this vary significantly.
The children’s rooms are large, considering the kids only spend about 30% of the time with me, but you never know how things might develop. Although 15m² (161 sq ft) isn’t a huge size.
With a 1.5m (5 ft) knee wall, you can easily fit a bed and a desk; I have even seen that done with just 1m (3 ft 3 in) knee wall.
I’m quite good with measurements. If you build stair treads with, for example, 19cm (7.5 inches) rise and 25cm (10 inches) run, you comply with the 63cm (25 inches) step formula and match the dimensions I’ve drawn up. I have checked this. It is also allowed by standards. I built a steeper staircase myself in my old house, and so far there have been no accidents or such.
A friend suggested yesterday that I could put the bathroom at the back (west side) under the master bedroom and have the two children’s rooms facing east (towards the street, a 30 km/h (19 mph) zone). I want to try that tomorrow. I imagine it would be nice to be able to look out into the garden from the bathroom. As you say, the children will eventually move out.
Routing the 100mm (4 inch) waste pipe down under the dining area will be tricky, but we’ll find a solution. If needed, I can raise the installation space on the west side from 60 to 100mm (2.4 to 4 inches).
Best regards,
thorsten2025
Thank you for the quite varied feedback.
I fell in love with the living-dining area in a show home and have almost exactly replicated it (with some adjustments for my house). That is not negotiable ;-)
Leaving out the storage room on the ground floor in a house without a basement? I can’t understand that.
I want a timber frame because I’m a hardcore DIYer and plan to do almost everything myself. Running pipes and cables is much easier, the walls are nice and straight after boarding (hopefully), and I don’t need drywall inside. For KfW40 standard, stone walls would also be thicker according to my information, and I find timber walls always feel warmer than stone. I’m aware opinions on this vary significantly.
The children’s rooms are large, considering the kids only spend about 30% of the time with me, but you never know how things might develop. Although 15m² (161 sq ft) isn’t a huge size.
With a 1.5m (5 ft) knee wall, you can easily fit a bed and a desk; I have even seen that done with just 1m (3 ft 3 in) knee wall.
I’m quite good with measurements. If you build stair treads with, for example, 19cm (7.5 inches) rise and 25cm (10 inches) run, you comply with the 63cm (25 inches) step formula and match the dimensions I’ve drawn up. I have checked this. It is also allowed by standards. I built a steeper staircase myself in my old house, and so far there have been no accidents or such.
A friend suggested yesterday that I could put the bathroom at the back (west side) under the master bedroom and have the two children’s rooms facing east (towards the street, a 30 km/h (19 mph) zone). I want to try that tomorrow. I imagine it would be nice to be able to look out into the garden from the bathroom. As you say, the children will eventually move out.
Routing the 100mm (4 inch) waste pipe down under the dining area will be tricky, but we’ll find a solution. If needed, I can raise the installation space on the west side from 60 to 100mm (2.4 to 4 inches).
Best regards,
thorsten2025
thorsten2025 schrieb:
I am quite comfortable working with measurements. But apparently not your planner, since no more than 2.30 meters (7 ft 7 in) depth is shown on the ground floor.
thorsten2025 schrieb:
I “fell in love” with it and replicated it almost 1:1 (slightly adapted to my house). It’s not “negotiable” ;-) Love fades. That’s probably why you’re building a new house. In that case, I would suggest being a bit more flexible.
thorsten2025 schrieb:
With a knee wall height of 1.5 meters (5 ft), it’s possible after all. Yes, it is possible.
thorsten2025 schrieb:
Leaving out the storage room on the ground floor in a house without a basement? I just can’t understand that. You have a utility/technical room where you can also conveniently store your mop.
thorsten2025 schrieb:
Although 15 square meters (160 sq ft) aren’t really that much. 15 square meters (160 sq ft) is actually quite large, even considering a 30% utilization rate.
thorsten2025 schrieb:
The 100 mm (4 inch) wastewater pipe will be tricky to route downwards in the dining area, though. Yes, in a new build you usually want to avoid sitting next to the sewage stack.
N
nordanney2 Jan 2026 09:40ypg schrieb:
@nordanney himself also has three children for half the time (or even one-third), he apparently has about 10m² (108ft²) for each child and enjoys quality time together.Yep. The kids are 17/17/13 – either they are all at the barn, with friends, or on TikTok/Instagram. The time left we actually don’t spend in the kids’ rooms. With my ex, two children also only have about 10m² (108ft²) each, and the third has a larger room. Everyone is happy with the situation.N
nordanney2 Jan 2026 09:44thorsten2025 schrieb:
According to my information, for KFW40 standards, masonry walls would also be thicker, and I find that wooden walls always feel warmer than masonry walls. Opinions on this vary widely, I am aware of that. Those are just subjective opinions. Objectively, you won’t be able to measure any difference. Besides, I don’t see why I should spend time leaning against a wall just because it feels warm. Nowadays, even floors with underfloor heating don’t really feel warm anymore...
thorsten2025 schrieb:
After the wallboards are installed, the walls are nicely straight (hopefully), and I don’t need plasterboard inside the house. Really? Who spends so much time filling and sanding to get nice walls? Yes, that can be done well with drywall, but solid walls have their justification too.
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