Hello everyone,
We have the opportunity to start a house construction project soon, and as complete beginners, we are not entirely sure about the most sensible next steps.
Background:
My parents have offered to provide us (my wife and me) with the plot of land shown below to build a single-family house.
Currently, we live in a cozy older apartment. Children are planned in the foreseeable future, so a single-family house with a small garden and proximity to my parents would be ideal.
Development plan / restrictions:
Plot size: 415 sqm (approximately 4465 sq ft), details below
Slope: yes, north-facing slope, details below
Old building area, no formal development plan / §34 Federal Building Code, in the neighborhood there is a mix of buildings (e.g., 1-3 stories, monopitch roof, flat roof, gabled roof)
Homeowners’ requirements:
Style, roof shape, building type: simple building form, clear structure, roof shape e.g. shallow gabled roof
Basement, floors: with or without basement (see question below), in any case 2 full stories
Number of occupants: 2 adults (28, 27), no children yet, 2 children’s rooms planned
Space requirements: optimized for family life, e.g., we particularly like this design from the forum: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-efh-140-qm-mit-keller.18255/
Office: 1 person home office
Overnight guests per year: few to none
Open or closed architecture: mix
Conservative or modern design: the house should ideally fit into the slope; otherwise, we are flexible
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: not essential
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: wooden terrace in the garden (we like to be outside), possibly a roof terrace for the view
Garage, carport: 2 vehicle parking spaces, indoors or outdoors / carport
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no vegetable garden
Here are our questions:
1) Do you consider the plot generally suitable to build a single-family house roughly as described above?
What kind of budget would you estimate for this (“standard quality”)?
2) The slope and side access are somewhat challenging. Where would you place the building area and main house entrance?
3) Does the slope necessarily argue for a basement / partially underground basement, or would you recommend leveling the site and building on a slab foundation without a basement?
4) Friends of ours recently built a solid wood house, which we like very much.
Is it possible to build a solid wood house on a concrete basement? Are there construction materials or wall systems you would especially recommend for a sloping site?
5) What is the best approach to start this project? In our opinion, the result will only be really good if the house is ideally integrated into the relatively small plot and slope. Therefore, we would now look for an independent architect and have them design freely based on the rough framework given above.
The general contractor’s planner or prefabricated house manufacturer is, in our view, only partly suitable because they tend to adapt their house types to the customer or plot, which does not necessarily lead to an optimal result. What do you think?
Many thanks and regards!
Andy
We have the opportunity to start a house construction project soon, and as complete beginners, we are not entirely sure about the most sensible next steps.
Background:
My parents have offered to provide us (my wife and me) with the plot of land shown below to build a single-family house.
Currently, we live in a cozy older apartment. Children are planned in the foreseeable future, so a single-family house with a small garden and proximity to my parents would be ideal.
Development plan / restrictions:
Plot size: 415 sqm (approximately 4465 sq ft), details below
Slope: yes, north-facing slope, details below
Old building area, no formal development plan / §34 Federal Building Code, in the neighborhood there is a mix of buildings (e.g., 1-3 stories, monopitch roof, flat roof, gabled roof)
Homeowners’ requirements:
Style, roof shape, building type: simple building form, clear structure, roof shape e.g. shallow gabled roof
Basement, floors: with or without basement (see question below), in any case 2 full stories
Number of occupants: 2 adults (28, 27), no children yet, 2 children’s rooms planned
Space requirements: optimized for family life, e.g., we particularly like this design from the forum: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-efh-140-qm-mit-keller.18255/
Office: 1 person home office
Overnight guests per year: few to none
Open or closed architecture: mix
Conservative or modern design: the house should ideally fit into the slope; otherwise, we are flexible
Number of dining seats: 6-8
Fireplace: not essential
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: wooden terrace in the garden (we like to be outside), possibly a roof terrace for the view
Garage, carport: 2 vehicle parking spaces, indoors or outdoors / carport
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no vegetable garden
Here are our questions:
1) Do you consider the plot generally suitable to build a single-family house roughly as described above?
What kind of budget would you estimate for this (“standard quality”)?
2) The slope and side access are somewhat challenging. Where would you place the building area and main house entrance?
3) Does the slope necessarily argue for a basement / partially underground basement, or would you recommend leveling the site and building on a slab foundation without a basement?
4) Friends of ours recently built a solid wood house, which we like very much.
Is it possible to build a solid wood house on a concrete basement? Are there construction materials or wall systems you would especially recommend for a sloping site?
5) What is the best approach to start this project? In our opinion, the result will only be really good if the house is ideally integrated into the relatively small plot and slope. Therefore, we would now look for an independent architect and have them design freely based on the rough framework given above.
The general contractor’s planner or prefabricated house manufacturer is, in our view, only partly suitable because they tend to adapt their house types to the customer or plot, which does not necessarily lead to an optimal result. What do you think?
Many thanks and regards!
Andy
AndyM92 schrieb:
Thank you for your clarification regarding the "preliminary design" phase. Above all, my point is that the preliminary design phase is not suitable for determining whether the "chemistry" with the architect is a good fit. And also, it’s not about discussing drawings: a house is not a company logo where the graphic designer offers three very different proposals ;-)
icandoit schrieb:
Phases 1-4 of the service catalog is not a bad idea. Then you can have a general contractor build. They will handle the construction drawings with a draftsman. Haha, a general contractor does not do detailed planning, a general contractor handles drywall ;-)
Bundling phases 1-4 as a package to avoid commissioning even smaller parts is fine — but please don’t plan from the start to end the architect’s involvement after phase 4 (or switch horses then). Neither to abandon yourself to the open sea of "more or less instead of detailed planning" by a general contractor, nor to let someone other than the designer take over site management. “After the permit drawings comes the flood” turns the architect’s additional cost compared to an all-in-one draftsman (for nonsense) into a wasted investment. Also, I wrote a few days ago that an architect who only offers services up to phase 4 is a little home painter who is useless as soon as the water boils. So: by no means plan only phases 1-4 from the start, but feel free to start the architect contract with the module "phases 1-4". It’s similar to the Bologna interfaces, which are often mistakenly understood as degrees (which is why I called bachelor degrees and similar academic titles “academic sub-grades”).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
Above all, my point is that a preliminary design phase is not suitable for determining whether the "chemistry" with the architect is right. And also that it’s not about discussing drawings: a house is not a company logo, where the graphic designer presents three very different options ;-)
Haha, a general contractor doesn’t do detailed planning, a general contractor does drywall ;-)My general contractor completed the shell construction, including all the necessary planning services. He even fixed my mistakes (botched spots).
I handled phases 1-3 myself, and a student drew the plans for phase 4.
But I admit I don’t want to do it myself again.
icandoit schrieb:
My general contractor completed the structural shell, including all necessary design work. He even corrected my mistakes (botched areas).Unfortunately, this is not "representative," or rather "extremely uncommon." Having that much luck with a general contractor’s planning is like hitting the jackpot. Where can we see your design here?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
Unfortunately, that is not "representative," to say the least "extremely unusual." Having that much planning success with a general contractor is like winning the lottery. Where can we see your design here? That wasn’t luck. He was a construction contractor (trained architect), and I gave him the contract even though he was somewhat more expensive. But during the negotiation, he actually became cheaper. He hired a new draftsman who was allowed to practice and prove his skills on my house.
You can see it here.
icandoit schrieb:
You can see it here.That's quite interesting. I was actually thinking of plans and had a "standard" house in mind. Now, with intersecting ridges at an angle, I'm even more curious to see more of that :-)https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics