Building plot acquired for the construction of a single-family house, further planning steps

I’m happy to share this with you, although the dimensions are missing here and there are probably countless planning errors in it.

I’m amazed at how little your re-planning* smells like errors, even though you set off a small avalanche of changes by relocating the entrance. The quality of the draft looks maintained in this respect, but the changes are overall so far-reaching that the similarity to the original – "process-technically" for the construction, even with the same construction method – is merely visual. Statics hardly leave any beam (or stone) on another here, so technically you have created a completely different model and could just as well have planned radically new from the start. The matching external dimensions only help with fitting onto the plot and beyond that have no benefit or value.

How I consider the proposed knee wall heights is still not quite clear to me. Ultimately, it rather confirmed our decision to go to the architect.

Yes, go to an architect (one without quotation marks, obviously). The word "knee wall" woke me up; at first glance, I might have also considered a two-story building possible. Now I understand the "Eibenallee" design: it is obviously intended for development plans restricting to only one full floor. That’s why the ground floor is "puffed up" with the "bay window," and in the three-quarter states of Germany, the knee wall can be ordered higher than in the two-thirds states. Your shower would need a dormer here, and the children's rooms wouldn’t be above knee wall 160 anymore. Also, the closet closer to the eaves in the dressing room would just be a chest of drawers with the "original" knee wall 110.

We have meanwhile contacted two architects and arranged initial consultations, who appeal to us well based on their references.

Write to me – preferably also via a comment on "Bauen jetzt" – which architects you found there. References (on the Internet) are something that suitable single-family house architects almost never have, so the mere existence of such makes me attentive to skeptical. The best architects for this field of activity are regularly "solo chefs" with a draftsman and a part-time secretary or, apart from themselves, at most one employed architect or civil engineer, two draftsmen, and a full-time secretary. References (on the Internet, possibly even with stars like doctor ratings) are more commonly found at large architectural firms that are commercially organized. They tend to be strong in commercial construction, municipal buildings, or multi-family residential construction – or build designer architect houses, sometimes bordering on the Gerddieter blacklist ;-)

Thanks also to you for your comments, which have encouraged us to take the path to the architect first. Your advice and your blog are really great and especially helpful for us as beginners.

I’m glad; following visitor requests, more and more services are now also available there. Unfortunately, the dialogue option via the comment function is still very weakly used. Nevertheless, my newer posts are becoming shorter, which is not really my strength ;-)

P.S.: I apologize, but I need to take another look at the quoting function at my leisure.

I think you solved it very clearly here. Many newbies find the way quite quickly but often then quote fully. In principle, it’s quite simple: you highlight the relevant passage in the text and then choose the "Quote" option. Unfortunately, due to ad content here, it sometimes takes quite a while for the option to appear (from a gamer’s perspective, it must feel like forever).
*) a small tip for this (specifically less suitable in this case because relocating the entrance side inevitably mixes up the Rubik’s Cube considerably): some self-planning programs offer the possibility to use the floor plan template as a background image and thus "trace over" it. Such transparent overlays should be shown here (additionally) in the discussion to illustrate the extent of the changes.

How I take into account the estimated knee wall heights is not yet entirely clear to me.

I have marked here for you the zones in which the roof pitch (in both cases 38°), starting from a knee wall of 110 or a knee wall of 140, rises to a headroom of 1.6 or 2.0 meters:

technically, you have thus created a completely different model and could have just as well planned radically new from the start.

I noticed that when creating the plan as well. The design limitation of the building volume to the format of the model house floor plan gave me, as a layperson, a feeling of planning security. So I didn’t have to think much further outside my box ;).

The word "Kniestock" woke me up; at first glance, I would have also thought a two-story house possible. Now I understand the design of the "Eibenallee": it is obviously meant for development plans restricted to only one full story.

Exactly. We selected the model floor plan, specifically the "Eibenallee," based on its compatibility with the development plan and our space/place requirements.

a shower here would need a dormer and the children's rooms from kneewall height 160 no longer. Also, the closet closer to the eaves in the dressing room would only be a chest of drawers with the "original" kneewall height 110.

I had imagined the ridge direction planned in an east-west direction. But thank you nonetheless for the illustration in #8; that gives a fundamentally good impression of the roof slope zones.

References (on the internet) are something that suitable single-family house architects almost never have, so the mere existence of such makes me rather alert to skeptical.

The references are personal in nature from analog life. In fact, I also struggled a lot with the internet research, especially in times of search engine marketing à la BigTech.

That pleases me; following visitor requests, more and more services have recently been added there. Unfortunately, the possibility to dialogue via the comment function is still very weakly used. Nevertheless, my newer posts are becoming shorter, which is not my strength ;-).

Thank you for the offer to get in touch; I gladly accept!

P.S.: Quoting works, thank you!

I had planned the ridge direction (in my imagination) to be east-west. Nevertheless, thanks for the illustration in #8, which gives a very good basic idea of the zones of roof pitch.

Oh - misinterpretation on my part. Then my babbling is, of course, null and void: the children’s room, dressing room, and bathroom are then "out of the danger zone," a dormer might need the study more than the bathroom, and the last one bitten by the dogs is then the utility room. The dimensions are the same because of the square attic.