Collaboration with developers: experiences

Using the example IS24

I'm not sure what you mean by that. But otherwise, the renderings of the exterior views look completely fine to us so far. If I remember correctly, the development plan requires light walls and dark roofs anyway, so we probably won't be surprised by toxic green with purple dots ;)

In the best case they wouldn't bother you, in the worst case the living room has the vibe of an average furniture showroom.

My husband thinks the same, I believe it's just not really high on my priority list. My parents partly have wood-look tiles (with regular grout, nothing extra narrow or anything). When you look at them, you can obviously see it, but personally I just don't really care :oops: Some acquaintances have terracotta (or something similar) tiles on the ground floor, I didn't find that bad either. My aunt has something like that too (I’m out of color names here, not terracotta but something warm just less dark), that also works for me... White wouldn't really be my thing now, nor a very dark floor, unless you know how to warm it up in some other way. But yeah, upgrading to parquet on the ground floor is being discussed ;)

I would change some/small things in the floor plan, but later :)

Now I'm curious :D
Here are the floor plans:
[ATTACH alt="ug-eg.png" type="full"]73147[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH alt="og-dg.png" type="full"]73148[/ATTACH]
Basically, with the ideas I've had so far, I wasn't sure if we'd be making things worse or better. Kind of like the "Build a typical house – small changes, unintended side effects" thread we have here in the forum. If I understood correctly during the first meeting, the walls that are not filled in (like on the upper floor) are quite easily moved. But how it works, for example, with the niche wall on the ground floor (which I think is above the basement wall, so maybe a load-bearing support?), or the wall in the attic, I'm not sure. We’ll definitely take that up as a question as well.

Corners we are thinking about:
- Kitchen and entrance area don't really seem quite right to me. So the niche is better than no wardrobe (as we've seen in some other floor plans), but somehow both the niche and the kitchen seem a bit blocked to me because of that. Maybe the kitchen rather as a U-shape around it? The island as it is doesn’t seem very practical? Or (just another idea) swap the wardrobe niche and kitchen niche (so the hallway at the entrance gets wider and then narrows down, and somehow put the fridge in the wider kitchen part? or something like that? But then the wardrobe would be behind the door, hmm)? None of this really excites me 100%, and then I end up back at “or just leave it as is,” hmph! By the way, we really don't care about a dark hallway.
- We actually like the upper floor. Currently, we would use one of the children's rooms as an office, long-term depending on how family planning goes ;) I also stare a bit at the storage room, which only has one really usable wall, and wonder how useful it really is. We also considered taking a bit from the children’s rooms to make that room a little bigger and use it as a mini second office for me. In our current rental, we have a bigger office and I also have a small workspace in the living room (and that would be the replacement for that). But again, in the area of “or just leave it as it is?” Feels somewhat like making things worse rather than better.
- For the attic, the question was whether to make the bedroom smaller and turn the studio into its own room. But we're not sure if that's possible (if my wall info is correct), and at first there is no real need for it. (As said, currently a kids’ room would be an office... but long-term it might still be needed as a children’s room?) Again kind of a “or just leave it as is?” The first few years it really doesn’t matter, and by then maybe home office will be out anyway, who knows ;)

But so far it's just brainstorming. We feel the current floor plan is quite livable for us, and whenever I consider changes, I always think “didn't I just make it much worse?” :p I probably need to draw furniture and look closer.

That wasn’t really the point of the thread either, but since you’re all so nice here anyway ;)

Thanks for the reading tips and also the hints about possible hidden costs! I hadn’t really thought much about the road especially. I need to check again whether we already know more about that or should ask.

Niche wall on the ground floor (I think it lies above the basement wall, so maybe a load-bearing support after all?)

Looked again, maybe not after all :D Confusion remains. I’m also currently doubting whether I remembered the wall information correctly at all, oops.

My aunt somehow has something like that too (here I run out of color names, not terracotta but also something warm just less dark),

Travertine (natural stone) or cheaper tiles in the style of travertine or similar are, for example, quite warm in appearance. With children and garden access through the living room, I would choose tiles and live with a nice carpet under the seating area.

So the niche is better than no wardrobe (as we had seen in some other floor plans) but somehow both the niche and the kitchen seem a bit blocked to me because of that.

On second thought, I would leave the niche there and, if anything, make a U-shaped kitchen. On third thought, the stairs upstairs (basement and ground floor) would be quarter-turned so that the basement access is from the dining area, then the kitchen at the top left of the plan, and the living room corner where the kitchen is now. A window facing southwest would be nice. What I like is the visual axis from the entrance towards the stairs/living area.

On the third idea, the staircase to the upper floor (basement and ground floor) is turned 1/4 so that the basement access is from the dining area, then the kitchen at the top left of the plan, and the living room corner where the kitchen is now.

To be honest, I’m not sure how much we can change there. (Especially without incurring massive additional costs), but we will consider it. It’s not a complete custom design, and I don’t yet know exactly in which areas the developer will say “we follow the standard plan” and that’s final. Although I’m not entirely sure about the staircase either, whether we actually want that (I think I need to find the picture with the floor plan measurements for stairs in the forum and mark it up). The advantage of having the kitchen by the terrace would certainly be the shorter way from the terrace, but with an open space I don’t find it dramatic the other way around. Otherwise, I probably need to sketch because I can’t imagine how to arrange the kitchen reasonably. (But I’ll wait on that until I know what’s possible. Most likely I’ll know more sometime this or next week).

“Window facing SW” I’m not sure what you mean, because there is the garage? Or facing west, at the north corner, where the kitchen is currently marked? (Or did you mean the upper floor, not the ground floor?) Again, not sure to what extent that is changeable. I assume new windows would usually require a new structural calculation? Basically there are probably no windows on the ground/upper floor, because that is not allowed for the mirrored end house on the other side (noise protection towards the railway). We do agree though that having windows on the west side would be nice (that’s actually the advantage of an end house), so we will take that on board as well :)

"Window facing SW" I'm not sure what you mean, because the garage is there?

Yes, window facing the courtyard. Daylight would be nice there, even if it's just the driveway.