City villa with office - Feedback & smart optimization ideas requested

Who wants to walk through slushy snow puddles in socks?

No one. That’s why the plan includes a so-called mudroom. But I believe that the staircase should be relocated right away (as suggests) so that the mudroom, which is not included in the budget, can be omitted. If you use that space for the parent's bathroom and guest WC close to the garage, you save even more. Replace the round shelf with a rectangle and, with the concession of a bay window, redesign, omit expensive arcades and balconies, and limit yourself to a roof with straight lines. Anyone who has already dealt with Viebrockhaus knows that a standard house does not have to look standard, nor is it negative if you outfit it with stylish brickwork and one or two highlights, but it also has its price based on the living area.

The mudroom is only for the family. I would also cancel it.

We also spoke with an architect four years ago before we ultimately decided on a condominium. He built us a similar castle in the air with the statements, "We can do that for X EUR per sqm..."

You should keep in mind that architects can easily deviate from the cost estimate in the end. I think 20% is not uncommon. That would be an extra 110,000 EUR for you. Can and do you want to afford that?

No one here in the forum wants to badmouth or talk down your planning. But as Yvonne already said, you should really start from scratch again and think about what is really important to you and how much you want to spend at most.

It gets bitter in the end if it turns out that your wishes are not feasible for 2,000 €/sqm and you have to spend rather 2,800 €/sqm.

I don’t know where everyone always gets the 2,000 €/sqm as a rough guideline from. That’s really outdated and absolutely no longer accurate. I claim that you can’t get a normal execution for less than 2,100–2,200 €/sqm at the moment. And that would be far from the standard you want.

Even if your father-in-law builds the shell for free or at material cost, you should consider that the shell only accounts for about 30% of the total costs.

Exactly, I also estimated the 100K... I unfortunately have to say again: not feasible for that price... For 650K you can adapt this design here, but with a 550K budget you need a completely new design! Tell me, when did your architect last build something? Has she noticed the price increases? I’m not in the mood to disclose my prices now but that will never work... and we did a lot ourselves... more than we liked... Here There are 100 price discussions in the forum about that You can see for yourself that it won’t work... I think the house is great, but unfortunately it doesn’t make sense to continue discussing here... we’re basically downsizing a Ferrari for you instead of putting together a reasonable Skoda... it needs to be new... It won’t work... put your architect on the spot, she has the responsibility to keep the budget... It is irresponsible to suggest to you that you can get the Ferrari for 80,000... it simply isn’t true... Who will come up with the problem afterwards if you have to increase your loan by 100,000? You. Or you live in a half-finished house.

The right car is important too. A German “premium brand” is a must!

Exactly, a proper swab belongs in a Daimler, otherwise people think he hasn’t shaved well enough yet.
By the way, I’m fascinated by the little man leaning out of the closed window with those opinions.

Thanks to everyone for the additional information!

So in general, because of the budget I have to clarify and look into it including some changes. I want to avoid a complete new start for now because a lot of it really matched our ideas. If it later doesn’t work out at all, we can always start from scratch again. But I don’t want to leave it untried that a good solution can also be found with this.

regarding the toilet and the utility room, just to explain why we had these thoughts, not to justify that it should remain as is. For celebrations the living room is not enough, we have a large family and circle of friends. So more than just 20-30 guests come together. We are quite hospitable. Food and drinks would be in the utility room, so nothing should happen inside the house but rather on site or at most still in the utility room. That was the idea behind it. Due to cost savings we will probably have to forget about that. But cool idea again with the guest WC, I’ll try something out there.

Your ideas are otherwise good, also regarding the kitchen, let’s see what I can implement. Except for the walk-in closet, do you really think it should be completely removed? I also find the corridor annoying, but where to get it from if not steal it?

I had already made X thoughts beforehand with the desired rooms and arrangements, also with X different options. In the end I had over 40 versions. No joke. It’s really hard when you don’t just do everything in the most pragmatic way, but also how you want it here and there.

I would really first like to optimize it, if it then doesn’t work out, I of course have to see. But I don’t want to leave anything untried. Regarding the roof at the right balcony, we had already thought beforehand whether to leave it out. It will probably be like that.

don’t worry, I don’t see it that way either, of course I would have liked to hear something different, but I don’t ask for opinions and criticism and only want to hear fair-weather comments. So, all good!

very good point about the snow slush puddles! Thanks! I just don’t know yet where I can put the stairs to make it more ergonomic, can someone maybe show me an example how to solve it better? Sorry, I’m still stuck on this.

Regarding recess and projection, I understand, but as in my example in my previous comment, what is probably more expensive, 2 corners or over 40m² more? I can’t imagine that the corners are then equally or even more expensive. If it’s about smaller ones like at the shed, because it looks better, such small changes can certainly be adjusted and I agree with you there! I had already flirted with the storage room by the kitchen back then, I will try it, then the technical room can definitely be smaller. I need such info. Thanks!

we don’t need to discuss prices here anymore, I think I have already gotten enough info on that.

the Swabian in ala Ehra, but the little man is standing on the balcony and the windows are actually balcony doors, just half visible because of the balcony railing.

A bay window, projection, or recess costs about as much as increasing the entire enclosed building envelope by the same depth. In your case, it could be more because some changes are made to the roof.
If you switch to a rectangle with 260 sqm of living space, the enclosed building envelope is cheaper than in your plan.
Logically, the rooms inside have to be arranged differently.

A rectangle does not work with your plan. The whole appearance would be lost, which would be a pity. I would try it with a clear U shape without any further frills.