ᐅ Planning a Multi-Generational Home – Ideas and Tips

Hello, dear forum community.

I have been a silent reader for some time and have now decided to start my own thread.

We—that is, my wife, our three daughters (4, 2, 1 years old), and my parents-in-law—have decided to start a joint building project. It will be a multigenerational house or a single-family home with a granny flat.

Currently, we all live in separate houses.

The house will be built on my parents-in-law’s land (1,000 m² (10,764 sq ft) in size). The existing house will be demolished, and my parents-in-law will move into an apartment temporarily.

For financing, we have the land (valued at about €230,000; land here is quite expensive) and our current house (built in 2006, 160 m² (1,722 sq ft), timber frame construction, plastered, on a 480 m² (5,167 sq ft) private plot) as equity. We will handle the full financing of the new house since the parents-in-law are contributing the land.

I would like to discuss the following topics and get some external input on our plans:

- Type of house (we want a modern building with a flat roof or alternatively a shed roof; the local zoning plan / building permit allows this flexibility)

- Layout:

• With three daughters, it definitely makes sense to have an additional, so a second bathroom on the upper floor
• Utility room with a mudroom on the basement level (laundry chute?)
• Double garage with a hobby workshop and space for 5 bicycles
• Kitchen with pantry, open but still separate
• Integration of the granny flat (preferably as a separate unit so that after my parents-in-law pass away, the property can be rented out more easily)

Are there any standard floor plans available? (Unfortunately, I can’t find any with four bedrooms.)

- Process of selling our current house (What should we do first? The new house will take several months until it is move-in ready... Is our current house still marketable?)

I’m sure I have forgotten something, but this topic will develop over time.

I look forward to your comments, questions, suggestions, and critiques.

Best regards

Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 1000sqm (front approx. 29m (95 feet))
Slope: -
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.5
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: see photo

Edge development:
Number of parking spaces:
Number of stories: 2
Roof type: N/A
Architectural style: N/A
Orientation:
Maximum height/limits: 9 meters (30 feet), flat roof 7.5 meters (25 feet)
Additional requirements: N/A

Homeowners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: flat roof / shed roof
Basement, stories: no basement, 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 7 (72, 70, 37, 37, 4, 2, 1)
Space needs on ground floor: kitchen, living and dining, office, guest WC, pantry, laundry room
Upper floor: 1 master bedroom with dressing room and bathroom, 3 children’s bedrooms with bathroom, storage room
Office: home office
Overnight guests per year: not relevant
Open or closed architecture: both
Conservative or modern design: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage

House Design
Designed by: N/A
What do you particularly like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
Price estimate from architect/planner:
Personal price maximum for house including fittings: 550,000
Preferred heating system: gas

If you have to give up, which details or features
-can you do without:
-can you not do without:

Standard designs for families with three children plus a separate granny flat or in-law apartment are unlikely to be found in any builder’s catalog. This also wouldn’t make much sense. Such layouts are almost always custom-designed and adapted to the specific plot. To avoid ending up with a poorly executed design, I would recommend investing more in the initial planning phase and choosing a qualified architect (rather than a draftsman from a general contractor or similar).

Building boundary ... 5m (16 feet) to the southeast and 3m (10 feet) towards the northeast? Northeast ... the dark orange area, is that a dead-end street? Could the property access also be from there?

What type of road is marked in yellow?
Is the adjacent plot to the north still undeveloped?

Hesseder1 schrieb:

Utility room with dirt lock in the basement (laundry chute?)

Is the house going to be built with a basement? Although the questionnaire specifies no basement.

Hi,

unfortunately, I don’t understand the question about the building envelope...

All the plots are already built on.
The dark orange area is a footpath, about 1.8 meters (6 feet) wide. The road is a standard street in a residential area.

My mistake, I meant the ground floor...