ᐅ Single-family house floor plan, 11.5 x 8.5 meters on a 475 sqm plot

I find the layout of the two bathrooms on the upper floor strange. To me, the shower bathroom is missing a washbasin, or do you not wash your hands after using the toilet? I would remove the shower from the ground floor. I would change the kitchen so that a small office can fit next to it. With the two tables and the desk, far too much space is simply wasted.

Does a double garage have to fit on the narrow plot? I think the house should come first.
Take a look at the model house Hanse Haus Variant 169 in Bad Vilbel.
A bit narrower, a bit longer.
I think the upper floor would be fine like that.
The ground floor needs to be adjusted. On the ground floor, a WC, a small study, an open kitchen-living area, separate living room, wardrobe, and less hallway. For this, I would place the entrance on the side.

First of all, thank you very much for the time you are putting into providing feedback here.
I’ll try to respond one by one to the most important questions or comments for us.

Budget: The 350,000 is planned as a loan solely for the house construction. The developed plot will be fully paid from equity (about 160,000 including notary fees, etc.).
The immediately available cash reserve is about 70,000 and is intended for outdoor landscaping, ancillary construction costs, and new furniture. The planned monthly payment of 1,200 has been comfortably saved in recent months (since my wife returned to work after parental leave), plus there is the "bonus" of rent saved on our current place.

Storage issue: Our current living situation is approximately 100 sqm plus about 30 sqm basement. And although we are very good at parting with unnecessary items, everything is still full there. We wanted to avoid discovering after moving in that winter shoes have to go into the children’s room and cases of water into the bathroom.

Two dining tables: We adopted what we have had in our current apartment, which we really liked over the last few years. We definitely want a closed kitchen including a dining area – shared meals are very important to us. The kitchen space of 2m x 2m (6.5 ft x 6.5 ft) was carefully measured in the current kitchen so that everyone can comfortably sit in every seat, without the person at the back being squeezed or walkways being blocked.
@pinky: the space to the right of the table – you’re right: if after moving in we find that there really is extra room, the table will be shifted half a meter (about 1.6 ft) to the right and the pantry cabinet (which we plan to buy new anyway) will be larger.
@Ysop: what is drawn is the existing kitchen run. Whether there will be enough room for another cabinet will only be clear once we know the exact measurements down to the centimeter (inch).

=> We will review the kitchen again to see whether too much space is planned “just in case,” or if, for example, the wall between kitchen and dining room can be shifted slightly toward the kitchen.

The dining table in the dining room has proven useful for us and we don’t want to do without it. It serves as a craft table that doesn’t need to be cleared after every dinner, for an “adults’ game night” that doesn’t have to happen in the kitchen, as a dining table for smaller family celebrations (when the kitchen table can easily be extended without me sitting on my mother-in-law’s lap), and as a hobby table (we both like puzzles, which are not enjoyable to do in the kitchen).

Home office: We thought about it extensively but repeatedly realized that we do not need one. Neither of us have jobs requiring regular preparation at home (e.g., teachers) or occasional evening work. This will remain the case even if we change jobs. During home office times, apart from a laptop, there was no need for extra space, and when the kids are at home, it doesn’t matter whether you have a dedicated office or sit in the dining room.
I think if we rename the dining room to “Mom+Dad room” (similar to the kids’ room) or “parents’ leisure room” with hobby and gaming table, it will more accurately reflect our reality.

@haydee: We are a family of four. We do not have and do not want a tumble dryer – therefore there is space for drying laundry in the utility room.

=> Cloakroom: In our current apartment we also have one only in a very long hallway with similar dimensions, which looks quite nice.
But yes, we are not completely happy with it in the current plan. As a spontaneous idea, I will try to find a useful corner either in the utility room or kitchen that can be set aside to improve this, without having the utility room or kitchen lose their windows. Or we will reconsider the necessity of a shower in the downstairs bathroom.

@matte: Yes, I obviously forgot to draw the sink in the upstairs toilet – I initially wanted to decide based on the window position, but to make sure we don’t forget, I added it to the sketch right away.

Upstairs bathrooms: Since the rooms are very narrow, we intentionally separated them because otherwise it would have looked very corridor-like in our opinion. The bathroom on the ground floor was already drawn.
=> Thanks to your feedback, as mentioned, we will consider whether the second shower on the ground floor is really needed.

@haydee: Double garage: Two parking spaces are mandatory (the driveway to the garage explicitly does NOT count according to the development plan, unfortunately).
If I am investing in a house, I definitely don’t want to scrape ice off the car windows in winter.
Therefore, the car will definitely be parked in the garage. That rules out a carport or gravel parking space as the second parking spot – I can’t store the usual garage contents there as well.
We will still ask the local authority if there is a minimum width for a parking space. Since we prefer a masonry garage, we would not be limited to standard dimensions and might gain some extra width for the house.
For the house size, we would prefer 9 x 11 m (29.5 ft x 36 ft) rather than 8.5 x 11.5 m (28 ft x 37.7 ft) because during planning, the lack of width was the main limitation. It is also possible that the plot is 18.6 m (61 ft) wide rather than 18.3 m (60 ft). For now, the plan is to make sure the house definitely fits.

Thanks again so far – it really makes sense to take another look at some points. Nevertheless, we are glad the plan has not been completely rejected.

Vali-Hausbau schrieb:

The general contractor will review our plans in 2 weeks

Definitely not!
They might still build it wrong for you.

Vali-Hausbau schrieb:

Whether there’s space for another wardrobe will only be clear once we know the dimensions down to the centimeter:

Wow, you’re already planning to the centimeter?

Vali-Hausbau schrieb:

And somehow we wanted to avoid realizing after moving in that winter shoes have to go in the kids' room and water crates in the bathroom.

That’s exactly how it will turn out.

Now, let’s be honest...
I don’t know HOW you live or WHAT your lifestyle is like, but you have to look at this realistically:
A 1-meter (3 ft 3 in) hallway can’t accommodate an adequate coat rack or a wardrobe cabinet that’s 60 cm (24 in) deep for four people.
The kitchen furniture may be there and just about fit, but such a large kitchen is wasted if it doesn’t result in a two-row arrangement in an L-shape.
There’s hardly any door with space behind it for a cabinet. Even the door to the living room has to open the “wrong” way; otherwise, it would be too tight.
You can’t extend your dining table with the kitchen table because with the sideboard and desk, there’s no room to sit.
If you look closely, your living area is only about 1.9 meters (6 ft 3 in) wide. That’s it, unless you want to sit in line with the exit.
The shower bathroom is cluttered but only has a basic shower. The utility room is small, as you say. It might be sufficient, but nothing more.
Thirty centimeters (12 in) on the right side of the bed is way too little. I’m slim and can stand there, but not move.
Two bathrooms might seem useful, but only if they’re fully equipped. Not everyone should just use the toilet anywhere.
There’s no storage space.
What’s good is that there’s room planned for a proper wardrobe.
I always say at least 3 meters (10 ft).
Where are your guests supposed to sleep, for example? In the room where the kids play? And what about quiet space for someone using the PC?
Where do you gather laundry? In the shower bathroom or utility room? Or sometimes there and sometimes there? And why wash downstairs when the laundry mostly comes from upstairs? Of course, you could just put the washing machine upstairs on the plan, but is THAT planning? Or just arbitrary?
Why should you walk back and forth in the kitchen when you should work ergonomically in a triangle?
And how do several teenagers watch TV if it’s around the corner?
I don’t even want to count the cubicles in the hallway. Doubled, that results in quite a lot of wasted hallway space without use.

The general contractor’s job is to create a plan.
It’s not a task for amateurs.
You say what you want. They either draw it or select a standard model house from the catalog, which can be modified.
They can immediately tell you the price of a standard single-family home without extras, based on the house type and size.

P.S. Keep in mind that several centimeters go for plaster off the drawn dimensions. Then there are the baseboards. Cabinets are often placed up to 8 cm (3 in) away from the wall. So include these buffers in your planning. In the bathroom, tiles add thickness too.

In one house, we also had an open-plan kitchen and dining area. However, the kitchen was an L-shape, and the dining table was placed in a corner with a built-in bench. As I said, a long run of cabinets can waste space that’s needed elsewhere. Also, the kitchen doesn’t feel very cozy to me. Having two dining tables right next to each other is something you need to be able and willing to afford. My priorities would lie elsewhere.

How many square meters do you have in total, and roughly where is the construction planned? I would definitely add a buffer to the 350k.