Hello everyone,
My partner and I have finally purchased a large plot of land measuring 437 sqm (4700 sq ft) in Munich-Eching, and we will soon be building our prefabricated single-family house with Streif Haus. The plan is for approximately 145 sqm (1560 sq ft) of living space with dimensions of 9.96 m x 8.71 m (32.7 ft x 28.6 ft). Increasing this is simply not possible within our budget—for example, adding 1 meter (3.3 ft) on one side would cost roughly an additional €30,000.
So far, I have created all the floor plans using a software tool. Last Friday, we had our first meeting with the architect. Unfortunately, he dismissed several of our wishes:
- The gallery/open space over the upper floor,
- The layout of rooms on the upper floor (both children’s rooms are planned to face south, while the bedroom and bathroom face north, although we would prefer the opposite),
- All terrace requests,
- The design of the bathroom (we wanted a T-shaped layout with the sink set slightly into the room, the toilet and shower behind it, and a freestanding bathtub in the room), etc.
I have attached my plans for the ground floor and upper floor. Since the plot is not rectangular but rather irregularly shaped, positioning the house alone is a challenge because we naturally want the garden and the largest windows in the living room and kitchen to face south. In the attached site plan, the house is still positioned quite centrally (12 x 9 m / 39.4 x 29.5 ft). We will move it as far as possible to the right, towards the east.
We also considered changing the type of staircase (for example, to a half-landing staircase), but according to the architect, the straight staircase belongs to the "Cityvilla" house type by STREIF. I would appreciate your opinions on this. If I change the type of staircase, the entire floor plan will be discarded and the design will have to start from scratch — which is fine, as this is a “major” adjustment.
The architect is planning the entrance not on the south side directly from Schlossberg street, but on the north side: you would approach the property via the street, the house would run sideways along the garage, and you enter after the bend on the north side. So, opposite to what is shown in the site plan. This is quite a long way around. What do you think about this?
You will find comments below with questions. Feedback on the floor plan is welcome!
Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 437 sqm
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio
Floor area ratio
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building line with house in the northwest (not yet accurately positioned on the site plan)
Edge development: As far northeast on the plot as possible, maintaining the legally required 6 m (20 ft) setback from neighbors.
Number of parking spaces: Planned 1 carport, 1 garage.
Number of floors: 2 (without basement)
Roof type: Hip roof or gable roof
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: southwest
Maximum heights/limits: n/a
Other requirements: n/a
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Prefabricated house by STREIF, type "Cityvilla," no bay windows, rectangular
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors (no roof slopes, with roof hatch to a small, non-habitable attic)
Number of residents, age: 2 persons, 36 and 30 years old.
Space requirements for ground floor/upstairs:
Ground floor: large living room, open kitchen and dining area, utility/technical/pantry room (connected to kitchen), guest bathroom, hallway, guest room/office/hobby room.
Upper floor: bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, large bathroom, possibly a gallery
Office: Family use or home office? Both — upstairs for office (sometimes music is played here), downstairs is planned as a hobby room with fitness equipment. This may change when children are around.
Number of guest overnight stays per year: 10 nights
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, preferably with kitchen island and access to utility/pantry room
Number of dining seats: 4-6
Fireplace: desired but still in planning—preliminarily included, to be built later due to priorities and budget.
Music/stereo wall: yes, with floor-standing speakers and external subwoofer.
Balcony, roof terrace: no. (Initially wanted, but considering the cost/benefit since we have a large garden.)
Garage, carport: First a garage, then a carport (2 parking spaces are mandatory).
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no.
Further wishes/particularities/daily routine, including reasons for preferences or exclusions:
The guest/fitness room is deliberately planned large to accommodate several exercise machines. Possibly a table tennis table will also be used in winter. The necessity of this is still being discussed. There is no basement. Later, a garden shed will be built in the yard.
Since we have limited space, any tips for storing items typically kept in a basement are very welcome!
A walk-in closet in the bedroom is desired.
House Design
Who designed the plan: Me, using a tool.
- Architect:
We already had a meeting with the architect. Several wishes were discouraged by him, such as a covered garage (east side), covered terrace in the garden (southwest), and the gallery on the first floor.
- The architect recommends having all sanitary facilities on one "level," meaning guest bathroom/technical room on the ground floor directly below the bathroom upstairs.
- He suggests placing the children’s rooms facing south rather than the bedroom or bathroom, as we initially wanted. (Children spend more time playing in their rooms with sunlight.) However, we would prefer sunlight in the bedroom and bathroom (bathroom planned with a frosted window) for a brighter and more relaxing atmosphere.
- Builder’s planner: Prefabricated house will be built with STREIF Haus. The architect is a STREIF architect.
- Do-it-yourself: We purchased the FastFertigPLUS product, meaning wall, floor, and garden work will be done by ourselves. Since I am very handy, wall and floor work should not be an issue. We are still considering whether to hire professionals for terrace construction and garden landscaping.
What do you particularly like?
Why? Large plot with a single-family house (for Munich standards).
The open spatial concept with a large living room, dining area, and open kitchen layout.
What do you dislike? Why?
The hallway takes up a lot of space, especially upstairs. If the hallway is restricted to the front side, the rooms can be made larger at the expense of openness (see attached test design). Not sure if this makes sense or if it just limits upstairs space too much.
The plot is large but irregular, making it challenging to position the house facing south while maintaining minimum setbacks.
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: €306,000 for the completed house excluding ancillary and planning costs.
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: About €15,000 can still be budgeted. We expect higher costs after material selection, especially for sanitary fittings, sliding windows, and electronic blinds on the ground floor (upper floor with "standard" design).
Photovoltaic system with battery storage (including subsidy via KfW 40+) and garage are still under consideration.
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-air heat pump. Underfloor heating in the bathroom.
Possibly adding a photovoltaic system with battery. We will gather more information regarding cost/benefit.
If you had to give up on, which details/extensions
- could you do without: Gallery on the upper floor to enlarge the bedroom and children’s rooms. However, this reduces the optics and the bright and open feeling.
- could you not do without: Photovoltaic system, carport (in addition to garage)
Why did the design turn out the way it is? For example:
Standard design from planner? Self-created.
Which wishes from the architect were implemented? All sanitary facilities aligned vertically. Waiver of covered terraces, balconies, or roof overhangs. Entrance on the north side, meaning not directly from the street but around the house at a 90-degree angle. Does this make sense?
A mix of many examples from various magazines? Partly inspired by the STREIF show house in Cologne, for example the gallery.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Since it is mostly my own plan, hard to say. The architect plans the exit through the large window in the dining area (which makes sense). However, this leads to the largest garden area but closer to the street.
You have to walk briefly around the house to reach the "main" garden (basically an exit through the living room). I am not yet fully satisfied with the layout and access to the garden.
My partner and I have finally purchased a large plot of land measuring 437 sqm (4700 sq ft) in Munich-Eching, and we will soon be building our prefabricated single-family house with Streif Haus. The plan is for approximately 145 sqm (1560 sq ft) of living space with dimensions of 9.96 m x 8.71 m (32.7 ft x 28.6 ft). Increasing this is simply not possible within our budget—for example, adding 1 meter (3.3 ft) on one side would cost roughly an additional €30,000.
So far, I have created all the floor plans using a software tool. Last Friday, we had our first meeting with the architect. Unfortunately, he dismissed several of our wishes:
- The gallery/open space over the upper floor,
- The layout of rooms on the upper floor (both children’s rooms are planned to face south, while the bedroom and bathroom face north, although we would prefer the opposite),
- All terrace requests,
- The design of the bathroom (we wanted a T-shaped layout with the sink set slightly into the room, the toilet and shower behind it, and a freestanding bathtub in the room), etc.
I have attached my plans for the ground floor and upper floor. Since the plot is not rectangular but rather irregularly shaped, positioning the house alone is a challenge because we naturally want the garden and the largest windows in the living room and kitchen to face south. In the attached site plan, the house is still positioned quite centrally (12 x 9 m / 39.4 x 29.5 ft). We will move it as far as possible to the right, towards the east.
We also considered changing the type of staircase (for example, to a half-landing staircase), but according to the architect, the straight staircase belongs to the "Cityvilla" house type by STREIF. I would appreciate your opinions on this. If I change the type of staircase, the entire floor plan will be discarded and the design will have to start from scratch — which is fine, as this is a “major” adjustment.
The architect is planning the entrance not on the south side directly from Schlossberg street, but on the north side: you would approach the property via the street, the house would run sideways along the garage, and you enter after the bend on the north side. So, opposite to what is shown in the site plan. This is quite a long way around. What do you think about this?
You will find comments below with questions. Feedback on the floor plan is welcome!
Building Regulations/Restrictions
Plot size: 437 sqm
Slope: none
Site coverage ratio
Floor area ratio
Building envelope, building line and boundary: Building line with house in the northwest (not yet accurately positioned on the site plan)
Edge development: As far northeast on the plot as possible, maintaining the legally required 6 m (20 ft) setback from neighbors.
Number of parking spaces: Planned 1 carport, 1 garage.
Number of floors: 2 (without basement)
Roof type: Hip roof or gable roof
Architectural style: modern
Orientation: southwest
Maximum heights/limits: n/a
Other requirements: n/a
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof type, building type: Prefabricated house by STREIF, type "Cityvilla," no bay windows, rectangular
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors (no roof slopes, with roof hatch to a small, non-habitable attic)
Number of residents, age: 2 persons, 36 and 30 years old.
Space requirements for ground floor/upstairs:
Ground floor: large living room, open kitchen and dining area, utility/technical/pantry room (connected to kitchen), guest bathroom, hallway, guest room/office/hobby room.
Upper floor: bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, large bathroom, possibly a gallery
Office: Family use or home office? Both — upstairs for office (sometimes music is played here), downstairs is planned as a hobby room with fitness equipment. This may change when children are around.
Number of guest overnight stays per year: 10 nights
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open, preferably with kitchen island and access to utility/pantry room
Number of dining seats: 4-6
Fireplace: desired but still in planning—preliminarily included, to be built later due to priorities and budget.
Music/stereo wall: yes, with floor-standing speakers and external subwoofer.
Balcony, roof terrace: no. (Initially wanted, but considering the cost/benefit since we have a large garden.)
Garage, carport: First a garage, then a carport (2 parking spaces are mandatory).
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: no.
Further wishes/particularities/daily routine, including reasons for preferences or exclusions:
The guest/fitness room is deliberately planned large to accommodate several exercise machines. Possibly a table tennis table will also be used in winter. The necessity of this is still being discussed. There is no basement. Later, a garden shed will be built in the yard.
Since we have limited space, any tips for storing items typically kept in a basement are very welcome!
A walk-in closet in the bedroom is desired.
House Design
Who designed the plan: Me, using a tool.
- Architect:
We already had a meeting with the architect. Several wishes were discouraged by him, such as a covered garage (east side), covered terrace in the garden (southwest), and the gallery on the first floor.
- The architect recommends having all sanitary facilities on one "level," meaning guest bathroom/technical room on the ground floor directly below the bathroom upstairs.
- He suggests placing the children’s rooms facing south rather than the bedroom or bathroom, as we initially wanted. (Children spend more time playing in their rooms with sunlight.) However, we would prefer sunlight in the bedroom and bathroom (bathroom planned with a frosted window) for a brighter and more relaxing atmosphere.
- Builder’s planner: Prefabricated house will be built with STREIF Haus. The architect is a STREIF architect.
- Do-it-yourself: We purchased the FastFertigPLUS product, meaning wall, floor, and garden work will be done by ourselves. Since I am very handy, wall and floor work should not be an issue. We are still considering whether to hire professionals for terrace construction and garden landscaping.
What do you particularly like?
Why? Large plot with a single-family house (for Munich standards).
The open spatial concept with a large living room, dining area, and open kitchen layout.
What do you dislike? Why?
The hallway takes up a lot of space, especially upstairs. If the hallway is restricted to the front side, the rooms can be made larger at the expense of openness (see attached test design). Not sure if this makes sense or if it just limits upstairs space too much.
The plot is large but irregular, making it challenging to position the house facing south while maintaining minimum setbacks.
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: €306,000 for the completed house excluding ancillary and planning costs.
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: About €15,000 can still be budgeted. We expect higher costs after material selection, especially for sanitary fittings, sliding windows, and electronic blinds on the ground floor (upper floor with "standard" design).
Photovoltaic system with battery storage (including subsidy via KfW 40+) and garage are still under consideration.
Preferred heating technology: Air-to-air heat pump. Underfloor heating in the bathroom.
Possibly adding a photovoltaic system with battery. We will gather more information regarding cost/benefit.
If you had to give up on, which details/extensions
- could you do without: Gallery on the upper floor to enlarge the bedroom and children’s rooms. However, this reduces the optics and the bright and open feeling.
- could you not do without: Photovoltaic system, carport (in addition to garage)
Why did the design turn out the way it is? For example:
Standard design from planner? Self-created.
Which wishes from the architect were implemented? All sanitary facilities aligned vertically. Waiver of covered terraces, balconies, or roof overhangs. Entrance on the north side, meaning not directly from the street but around the house at a 90-degree angle. Does this make sense?
A mix of many examples from various magazines? Partly inspired by the STREIF show house in Cologne, for example the gallery.
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad?
Since it is mostly my own plan, hard to say. The architect plans the exit through the large window in the dining area (which makes sense). However, this leads to the largest garden area but closer to the street.
You have to walk briefly around the house to reach the "main" garden (basically an exit through the living room). I am not yet fully satisfied with the layout and access to the garden.
jay2jay schrieb:
Hello everyone,
Thank you for the many suggestions, criticism, and recommendations!
I will need some time to process all of them!
First of all:
- The house has two stories, so there are no roof slopes like the Cityvilla type offered by Streif Haus. (I couldn’t make changes in the post due to the deadline)
- The floor plan and the position of the house on the plot are still completely changeable without additional costs
- We only had one meeting with the architect so far. He quickly sketched three versions based on my plan. There is no first draft yet.
- All additional costs for the plot are already considered and planned, such as demolition of existing buildings/trees, excavation for the foundation slab, etc. This was not up for discussion for me.
- The neighboring plot on the right has a slight slope, but ours does not. I will check this in more detail, thanks.
- We have to build with Streif Haus; otherwise, we would not have gotten the plot. Apart from the architect situation, we see no major objections.
- We plan to place the entrance on the east side, on the right. The entrance and the straight staircase are positioned on the shorter side, about 8 meters (26 feet) wide. This will need to be reviewed in the floor plan.
- Regarding the building line in the northwest: the site plan already shows the building boundary, taking into account the required setback distances, not the edge of the plot.
- We like RomeoZwo’s comments about mirroring the floor plan and such. We will probably adopt them!
@ Zaba12:
"You don’t want to say anything about the floor plan! So much nice large space on the ground floor and so much mess. Oh man, oh man!" – feel free to explain what you would change on the ground floor if you like the large area to begin with? I’m open to tips! jay2jay schrieb:
Hello everyone,
Thank you for the many suggestions, criticism, and recommendations!
I will need some time to process all of them!
First of all:
- The house has two stories, so there are no roof slopes like the Cityvilla type offered by Streif Haus. (I couldn’t make changes in the post due to the deadline)
- The floor plan and the position of the house on the plot are still completely changeable without additional costs
- We only had one meeting with the architect so far. He quickly sketched three versions based on my plan. There is no first draft yet.
- All additional costs for the plot are already considered and planned, such as demolition of existing buildings/trees, excavation for the foundation slab, etc. This was not up for discussion for me.
- The neighboring plot on the right has a slight slope, but ours does not. I will check this in more detail, thanks.
- We have to build with Streif Haus; otherwise, we would not have gotten the plot. Apart from the architect situation, we see no major objections.
- We plan to place the entrance on the east side, on the right. The entrance and the straight staircase are positioned on the shorter side, about 8 meters (26 feet) wide. This will need to be reviewed in the floor plan.
- Regarding the building line in the northwest: the site plan already shows the building boundary, taking into account the required setback distances, not the edge of the plot.
- We like RomeoZwo’s comments about mirroring the floor plan and such. We will probably adopt them!
@ Zaba12:
"You don’t want to say anything about the floor plan! So much nice large space on the ground floor and so much mess. Oh man, oh man!" – feel free to explain what you would change on the ground floor if you like the large area to begin with? I’m open to tips! Gladly,
- The path from the front door to the living room is too narrow
- Practically no cloakroom—too small for winter, spring, and autumn use
- The utility/technical room has a huge window and is too small, especially if it is also to be used as a pantry
- The kitchen lacks sufficient storage space
- The sofa is not only in the middle of the room but also blocks window space, if those are floor-to-ceiling windows
- If the sliding patio door is in the dining room, why does the dining table block access in and out?
- The guest room is too long, which also makes the corridor too narrow
At first glance, this sounds like "it’s just the furniture layout, that can be changed," but the floor plan doesn’t really allow for anything else.
In my opinion, it’s a good starting point for an architect, but I wouldn’t build it like this.
However, I really like the large window area—we have that too!
jay2jay schrieb:
An open issue is still the topic of garage and/or carport.
We need to fit 2 parking spaces on the property. Your recommendations and sketches always include only one garage for 1 car. Is it allowed for the garage and parking space to be arranged one behind the other? In that case, 5 meters (16 feet) of driveway in front of the garage would need to be kept clear. Since you only have one car, this is irrelevant for you, but it serves as proof for the authorities that 2 cars can be accommodated on the property.
jay2jay schrieb:
But if I enlarge the house, the jump is not justifiable.
...
But if an increase in the house size quickly adds 40,000 on top, that is, along with other additional costs, beyond the budget.
For heaven’s sake, who talked about enlarging the house? You misunderstood something there. By tightness, I meant the possibilities on the plot. It is somewhat irregularly shaped. It would be helpful to know the exact dimensions of the building area.
kaho674 schrieb:
That's a bit complicated.But only at a relevant spot if you absolutely want a south-facing garden. If the house builder’s website weren’t so user-unfriendly, I would have already looked for more suitable basic models.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
The question was whether it is a building boundary or a building line: a building boundary must not be crossed by the house, whereas a building line must be closely followed by it.
For checking the practicality of furnishing, realistic dimensions still make sense – whether a wall is a few centimeters (inches) larger or smaller doesn’t matter, but an external wall with the thickness of an internal wall does. The window axis dimensions are not relevant and were only an example of measurements that tend to confuse rather than inform, so it’s better to leave them out.
Absolutely not. It would act as a domineering factor, destroying everything on the property. Cars can be parked separately and don’t need a prominent spot – even pet owners can expect them to take whatever space is left. Due to the shape of the property, the house must have top priority here, and then whatever comes after.Yes, that makes sense.
We will then prioritize the garage location accordingly.
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