DIY floor plan design for 2 people

An architect did not develop the design, right?

No. The OP says DIY in the title.
But you can see that anyway.

No. DIY is what the OP says in the title. But you can see that anyway.

That's why I'm asking! This is now the second approach, you can eventually forget the headline. But I'll read here more carefully again:

We will get architect plans at the earliest in 4-5 months, from 3 inquiries we unfortunately got 2 immediate rejections and architect No. 3 currently has a lead time of about 4 months. At the same time, we have revised our DIY planning and considered your suggestions.

And yes, exactly! You can see the clueless amateur in the draft, that's why I asked!

Hello everyone,
Thank you for your feedback, we want to try to answer your questions.


The parapet height is given as raw construction dimensions, but you are right, we should end up with a parapet height of 1.125.
Regarding your suggestion for the 3-part division of the basement, are we interpreting that wrong or have we basically already solved it that way except for the garage in the middle? The garage was moved to the middle in the second draft because we set the building deeper into the terrain.
We can’t really imagine everything on one level right now; how would you integrate all the cellar rooms into the ground floor?
The guest apartment is currently intended to offer our overnight guests a retreat, for example, those who come to visit for an extended weekend or a week (children, parents, friends). But the idea of potentially hiring a permanent caregiver or household help later also plays a role here, i.e. the single kitchen is only at the planning stage for now – connections to be provided.


Yes, the footprint of the house has increased again due to the redesign; we still need to save a few square meters here and there. Originally, we planned a maximum of 160 m² footprint – also in the cost calculation (160 m² on the ground floor x €2,500 + 40 m² granny flat in the basement x €2,500 + 120 m² cellar x €1,800 + €50k outdoor facilities = €782k). Due to the exploding prices, we have to recalculate here as well.
Barrier-free accessibility is not necessarily related to the footprint; we know that we are currently too large, but wide doors, properly wide circulation routes, and sufficient movement space are necessary.

Believe us, we have unfortunately already had to experience the issue of barrier-free access and caregivers within our closest family circle. Person X becomes dependent on help overnight; due to the existing building fabric, going to the toilet or shower is suddenly no longer possible, the entire life takes place in just one room, and a mobile nursing service with constantly changing staff takes care of the rest. We definitely want to avoid that.


True, our budget is slowly worrying us too; we had still planned with about €2,500 per m², which is probably unrealistic at the moment.
Our plan is to have everything on one level to avoid problems later.
Resale is a topic as well; at first, it’s all about family, and with later conversions, it could become a beautiful house with a kids’ room and office.
Which child does not dream of their own apartment in the basement? The wellness area does not have to remain; it could also become a spacious living room...
The garage is indeed still an issue; although today there are already well-insulated doors, maybe we will really redesign and make the garage a workshop with a normal door in the outer wall permanently.


Please excuse us as laymen for allowing ourselves a second draft.
Not everyone is born to be an architect, and not every architect can plan good houses.
We already wrote that we are working on two tracks and at the end of the day, the better design for us will be implemented, but we are still very far from that.

Surely, this is an important topic. But which caregiver moves in with the person being cared for and is available 24/7? That works on RTL in "Magda macht das schon," but in reality?

It certainly can't hurt to optimize the house for a wheelchair, no question. But you are forgetting a much more realistic issue, namely the size of the house, that's what I'm concerned about. You will become old and frail in any case. And then 150m² simply can no longer be maintained.

... and what exactly are you planning in the workshop? And somehow a floor plan with some height information, contour lines might be quite useful. And yes, you have a kind of three-part division, but somehow way too convoluted. And 150 parapet height as a raw construction measure and the final goal 112, isn’t the floor buildup planned a bit too thick?

If one plans one level, one could, for example, design the bathroom from the guest area so that it also serves as a guest WC for daytime visits, and with clever planning, the guest shower area could also form the wellness shower area. This would reduce the entire wet cell requirement. Also, the elevator option is eliminated.

and at the end of the day the better design for us will be implemented, but we are still a long way from that.

That's right. However, in my opinion, it makes no sense to waste unrealistic 50-80 sqm more in the self-planning, which a professional simply would not do, because otherwise they would miss the point. I assume that you or you are very convinced of your skills. But then you will no longer recognize the positive in a realistic plan when you compare small and technically good with amateurishly large. But I already said that with the first draft. Besides, I think that good and reasonable planning outweighs exaggerated fear. An architect can compensate for a lot with good designs: illness, a surprise child, permanent guests and other plannable things.. but this will very likely not be feasible with a sauna on the ground floor and a granny flat in the basement. Possible, yes, the permanent guest. But a child as a family member certainly doesn’t dream for 16 years of a separate basement unit. For your worst case, any standard dimensions for a wheelchair are missing. already said that. And the retreat for the healthy resident part is missing. The second bedroom or child’s room or office. When the apartment is occupied, you have to sleep in the sauna or on the living room couch, where the elevator exit would be. Think about that instead of “blindly” planning an apartment that probably will never be inhabited except by sleeping guests, as the healthy partner will not move down to the basement later but stays as first care on the ground floor. And before the worst case comes, you want to live a bit more, right?