100m² Small House Floor Plan - Too Small?

Regarding standard versus customizations at Danwood: most changes are relatively reasonably priced at Danwood - as long as no deep interventions in the house statics are necessary. One consideration might be to increase your knee wall to 150 cm (from about €5k additional costs, also depending on the roof pitch) and to better use the gained space in the bathroom (especially to reduce the bulky boxing).

Otherwise, you can also build with a maximum ceiling height of 2.67 m on the ground floor at Danwood instead of 2.52 m (additional costs about €5k including window adjustments), but whether this is worth it just to cover an extra stair step is questionable.

As a somewhat more advanced Danwood builder, I can tell you that your budget for building with Danwood is realistic, but you will not have huge leeway.

Your sales representative can tell you everything quite precisely, but if you want a first impression (since we are building a similar Danwood house), you have to reckon with the following additional costs:

- Roof insulation package for KfW40 (about €3k)
- Underfloor heating (about €5k)
- Roller shutters / venetian blinds (about €7k)
- Air-to-water heat pump and central ventilation system (about €8k)
- Small stuff (photovoltaic empty conduit about €370, water connection €580, etc. -> about €1k)
- Depending on postal code, transportation costs (€1k+) or further adjustments for snow load and wind zone
- Architect (between €3k and €10k, depending on Danwood representation)
- Additional electrician services (about €3k to €5k)
- Foundation slab including perimeter insulation (about €15k to €20k)
- Earthworks (from about €10k)
- Construction site setup (toilet, construction power, container, roadblocks - about €1k to €3k)

Unless you consider them as incidental construction costs, obviously building permit, surveyor as well as utility connection costs are added. Earthworks can quickly escalate if you need a special foundation or soil replacement.

Also plan definitely for a price increase during the construction phase - the only relevant price lock at Danwood currently is 9 months, and you have to handle everything (from architectural planning to finished factory planning, sampling as well as signed financing confirmation) very quickly to manage this - usually the failure is not due to you but to the overwhelmed opposite party (architect, Danwood technical planning). Since otherwise lead times of about 18 to 24 months are required to set your house, you can firmly plan on having to absorb at least a 5% price increase.

That means you have to reckon more with about €225k to €240k house costs instead of the €157k base price - and this does not yet include a sampling buffer for electrical, sanitary and (especially important at Danwood) floors (if, for example, you are not satisfied with the standard carpet upstairs). It should still be feasible, but extravagant wishes are then out of the question.

The house can "hold" until Mrs. Right is met or until she has become a mother or even until the little one goes to school or longer. But as I said, I would cautiously expect that Mrs. Right – even if she does not follow any previous co-resident in the house – as a couple would not want to "mess up" the former bachelor nest, even if it still seemed big enough with child number 2. Therefore, I tend to find the basic idea of individualizing the house as little as possible from the basic model with a view to a soon resale generally good.

Ken can also drive to the bakery with Barbie’s car or vice versa. With a transposed letter on the license plate, swapping cars doesn’t stand out even in the company parking lot. But: you quickly have both pairs of the duplicate sunglasses in the other car and none with you, and then the caught parking space "avenges" itself and you do get used to constantly moving the cars around. With electric bikes, this might almost not matter, but the combustion engines actually need more on these short distances than you can compensate with any KfW double turbo and exclusively vegetarian feed to avoid cow farts for life.

And what I definitely would never do – because then truly the tail wags the dog and the main thing is no longer the main thing – is to make my house even one square meter smaller because of a parking space threshold. Not even if I would be satisfied with a whole dozen square meters less.

Let’s extend the singer’s courtesy regarding how I know that even corpulent people find a 90 cm shower comfortable enough. has illustrated the problem graphically: such "living spaces without love handles" house models feature stair landings and regularly no untapped potentials in similar places, so the special request would also likely be a technical problem here. An even more certainly valid argument against such construction-interfering special requests, which applies especially to such house models, is that they will painfully damage the friendly catalog price. Better to go for individual planning – even if that is a task for someone who has slain father and mother for a wishless builder.

What do you actually do for a living, especially what is supposed to be "stored" here (and where does it move to if a child comes)?

The original floor plan is significantly more usable on the ground floor. You could provide a sliding door to the kitchen (running inside the wall), and the same applies to the utility room.

You might be right. In my plan, the cloakroom also got lost. If the door from the utility room to the kitchen remains, then it doesn't really matter whether it's a normal door or a sliding door. The hole in the wall stays in the same place. My thought was simply that I might prefer to have kitchen workspace there.
The original floor plan is already quite good, which is why I chose it. The only thing that has to be is the kitchen and living room door. The remodeling of the utility room door is not a must, but just a consideration to get both the utility room and the kitchen workspace a bit larger. It will already get quite tight in the utility room.

The house can "hold" until Mrs. Right is met, or until she becomes a mom, or even until the little one goes to school, or even longer. However, as I said, I would prudently expect that Mrs. Right – even if she does not follow a previous female cohabitant in the house – as a couple would not want to “leave” the former bachelor’s nest as is, even if it still seems big enough with child number two. Therefore, I tend to like the basic idea of individualizing the house from the basic model as little as possible with a view to a soon resale.

Ken can also sometimes drive Barbie to the bakery or vice versa. With a letter mix-up on the license plate, it doesn’t get noticed on the company parking lot to swap the cars. But: you quickly have both copies of the double-paired sunglasses in the other car and none with you, then the trapped parking spot “pays you back”, and you get used to constantly having to move the cars. With e-bikes that may almost be irrelevant, but combustion engines really use more fuel on these short trips than you can recoup with any KfW double turbo and lifelong only veggie feed to prevent cow farts.

And what I would definitely never do – because then the tail really wags the dog, and the main thing is no longer the main thing – is to make my house even one square meter smaller just because of a parking space threshold. Even if I would be satisfied with a whole dozen fewer square meters.

Let us expand the singer’s courtesy about how I know that even corpulent people find a 90 cm shower comfortable enough. has illustrated the problem graphically: such “living spaces without love handles” house models have stair landings and similar spots that regularly have no unused potentials left, so here the special request might also be a technical problem. An even more certain and valid argument against such construction-interfering special requests, which applies especially to such house models, is that they will painfully harm the friendly catalog price. Better to go for an individual plan – even if that is a task for someone who has killed his father and mother for a wishless builder.

What do you actually do professionally, especially what is supposed to be “stored” here (and moved where? elsewhere if a child comes)?

In principle, of course, I want to find a floor plan that fits me. If that can be fulfilled with a standard floor plan, even better.
Especially with small houses, I see quite good chances in the long term to sell them again. Single households are increasing, many older people look for smaller apartments.
Nevertheless, I am not building my house with the intention to sell it as soon as possible, but to live in it as long as possible. If a woman joins me at some point, I’m sure there will be some remodeling anyway. That’s not the problem. And believe me, I don’t have a cliché, messy bachelor pad.

I quite like this floor plan, as well as the space miracle 100 from Town & Country. The only real changes I need are the two doors on the ground floor and the minimally larger shower.
I have my first consultation appointment next week, we’ll see where I end up and what is possible. Maybe the consultant will have a few ideas as well.

Since I’m building and financing the house on my own, I have to make sure to stay as close as possible to the standard and only customize and change things that are important to me. I’m realistic about that. I can’t just look in the VW Polo class and hope to end up with a Phaeton.

I do believe that the floor plan and design I have in mind quite well reflect how people who know me would describe me. It may be that some would describe the floor plan and design as too classic and old-fashioned.
I don’t like many houses in new housing areas either. (I have friends who built modern and new, it really looks fancy, but I always want to leave after 10 minutes because I feel uncomfortable in the “60 sqm living-dining-cooking hall”).

Oh yes, I am a mechanical engineer. Really, only a computer and a few private folders have to go into the office. And maybe a few documents for home office. There’s nothing special to store. Just the little stuff you accumulate at home.

Even if it looks like it, I don’t really know what I want, I can tell you almost immediately for any floor plan and house what I like about it, what I don’t like about it, and what would have to be changed for me to like it. But I find it very difficult to describe that on a blank sheet. Like probably almost everyone else, I have difficulty formulating area wishes (kitchen must be 12 sqm, bathroom min. 17 sqm, …). So I look at what the professionals have done and see if I like it, if it suits me or not. Sure, a house is a somewhat more emotional matter than a new pair of pants or a new cupboard, but with almost everything else in our daily lives we do it the same way. Nobody designs their car at home but looks at pictures and reports and then decides what to buy, possibly with small modifications (special features).

Especially with small houses, I see good chances in the long term that they can be sold again. Single households are increasing, many older people are looking for smaller apartments.

I believe, and this is also my own experience, that nowadays there are so many different lifestyles and living concepts and therefore correspondingly suitable buyers. I would rather place value on my house being built with attention to detail and decent quality; something like that always sells, even if then to a different clientele.
If you can actually assess yourself well and know your needs, then I would just make sure that it fits exactly for me and that I can definitely have my own fun with it.

really looks nice, but I always want to leave after 10 minutes because I feel uncomfortable in the "60 sqm living-dining-cooking hall").

I can totally relate to that – I often feel the same when I see the bare rooms where there is no sense of coziness.

Like probably almost everyone else, I find it difficult to formulate area wishes (kitchen must be 12 sqm, bathroom at least 17 sqm, ...) .

That is also discouraged, because 1m x 12m is the same as 2m x 6m and 3m x 4m :)

Especially with small houses, I definitely see good chances of selling them again in the long term. Single households are increasing, many older people are looking for smaller apartments. Nevertheless, I am not building my little house with the intention of selling it as soon as possible, but to live in it as long as possible.

The more your ideal successor is an older person or otherwise permanently childless resident, the more a bungalow is not an equal alternative to a one-and-a-half-storey house, but the preferred choice.

If a woman should join me after all, then some rearranging will certainly happen. That’s not the problem. And believe me, I don’t have one of those clichéd, messy bachelor pads.

I’m not thinking of a chip-bag-littered nerd den with a gaming cockpit and Playmate posters either. Rather potential brides who don’t really like joining an environment that was already complete without them. Then they only feel like guests there—or at least redecorate the nest until it’s unrecognizable :-)