ᐅ Single-family house with a granny flat/apartment, 120 sqm plus a finished basement on a hillside

Hello everyone,

We have already gone through several designs, but there was always something unsatisfactory. Now we have completely revised everything and actually find it quite well suited to our needs. However, we’ve become a bit blind to it by now, so we would appreciate constructive criticism and opinions on the design. It is important to us to have a square floor plan (due to energy efficiency and the ratio of space to walls). We consider 9x9 m (30x30 ft) to be realistic.

Development plan / Restrictions
Plot size: 616 m² (6,630 sq ft)
Slope: yes, about 15% gradient
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.8
Building zone, neighboring buildings: 3 meters (10 ft) distance to neighbors and to the street, 1.5 meters (5 ft) to the street on the east side
Boundary development: Garage/carport must fit within the building zone
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 1.5 floors, basement allowed as full floor
Roof type: gable roof or hip roof
Architectural style: rather modern
Orientation: see floor plan
Maximum height / limits: knee wall height 75 cm (30 inches), eaves height toward street max. 6.50 m (21 ft 4 in)
No further requirements

[B]Owners’ requirements
Style, roof type, building type: gable roof
Basement, floors: basement + 1.5 floors
Number of persons: currently 2 adults (37+30 years old) and 1 child, future additional child
Space demand ground floor and upper floor: total 120 m² (1,290 sq ft)
Office: family use or home office: one office for home office
Overnight guests per year: few
Open or closed architecture: closed
Conservative or modern construction: doesn’t matter, preferably a KFW energy-efficient house
Open kitchen, cooking island: closed kitchen
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: not essential but would be nice
Music / stereo wall: yes
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: yes, double carport
Utility garden, greenhouse: no

[B]House design
By whom is the design created: by us
What do you particularly like? Why? Sauna included. Apartment for additional KFW subsidy fits in. Office as well. Front door on the upper level is very important due to earthworks. Bathrooms are large enough.
What do you not like? Kitchen not easily accessible, upstairs hallway too large, a lot of earthworks needed for basement door.

Price estimate according to architect/planner: not yet available
Personal price limit for house including equipment: without additional costs and land: 330,000 EUR
Preferred heating technology: geothermal with photovoltaic preparation

If you have to do without, which details/features
- can you do without: reduce size
- cannot do without: sauna, office and front door side

Why is the design the way it is now: as efficient use of space as possible and as little frills such as bay windows or recesses as possible. We want to build cost-effectively.
Which corresponding wishes were implemented by the architect? Architect not involved yet
What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? Good: efficient use of space, earthworks kept at a manageable level. Not good: kitchen access, window arrangement and window sizes

[B]What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?

Is the layout and size good? How can windows be arranged effectively? What have we missed? What works well and should definitely stay?
[/B]

DJOchen schrieb:

Is the layout and size good? How can the windows be arranged sensibly? What have we forgotten? What works well and should definitely be kept?

I would advise against this layout because I don’t like the path from the kitchen to the entrance. Instead, the sauna can also be located in the basement since it isn’t planned with a view window anyway.
The plumbing for the “water-bearing areas” will be somewhat more expensive than with a different design.
The office seems too remote to me—or it would need its own entrance door.

The basement apartment is not very attractive. Finding long-term tenants will be challenging, which means the effort for renting and the risk of vacancy are relatively high. Therefore, factor in at most 50% of the expected rent in your calculations.
Calculate whether the benefit isn’t greater in forgoing the KfW subsidy and instead well accommodating the office and sauna downstairs.
If the house isn’t feasible without the subsidy for the basement apartment, then you are building too large.

The budget and the house do not match. Remove the granny flat / accessory apartment.

The granny flat is highly unattractive; the sauna is in completely the wrong place; the utility rooms are pointlessly small...

For example, I would plan so that the upper floor can later be used for children's bedrooms, a kids' bathroom, and an office, while the parents' bedroom, parents' bathroom, sauna, and dressing room would be in the basement. Initially, you can use the office upstairs as a bedroom until the children are old enough.

Only include furniture to scale and do not forget circulation areas.

@JohannFugger take a look. When Jochen’s all-in is finished, he will have spent approximately €400,000. Use that as an example!