First draft from the draftsman for our single-family house

Hello everyone,

with us, it is (finally) slowly getting serious with the house construction.

Provided the seller of the plot does not back out at short notice, we have the appointment at the notary in March to draw up the purchase contract.

A few weeks ago, we accepted an offer from a general contractor (GU) to look at the aforementioned plot and development plan together to see if our house wish could be realized there.
A draftsman looked at everything with us, listened to our wishes and ideas in a 2-hour conversation, and took notes.

Last week we then met in the office to review the first draft. Since then, we have planned to give a list with our wishes and ideas during further discussions with planners (we want to meet with 2-3 more companies to find the right one). Unfortunately, not everything that was really important to us was considered, and too much attention was paid to things that are merely "nice-to-have." >.<

The planner recommended that we calmly think through his draft at home, see what we like and what does not work at all.

Before we give him our feedback, I would also like to hear your opinion on this draft. Maybe you experienced builders will notice something we are not so aware of, or you dismantle our thoughts on it, which can also be very helpful.

Here follows first the completed questionnaire:

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 743m2, 20m x 37m
Slope: yes, sloping backward, the draftsman estimates the height difference at about 3m (if we own the plot, we were advised to obtain the soil survey with leveling to enable the best possible house planning. We will do that.)
Site coverage ratio: 0.3
Floor space index: 0.6
Building window, building line and boundary: see attachment
Perimeter development: 3m distance to neighbors, 7m to the street
Number of parking spaces: not specified; 2-3 desired
Number of stories: 2 full floors allowed
Roof shape: only pitched roofs
Style: open construction method
Maximum heights/limits: with downhill development, eaves height max. 4.50m above finished floor level
Other requirements: cistern is mandatory with 50l storage volume per m2 of sealed surface

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: solid house, rectangular house shape, no bay windows, etc., gable roof
Basement, stories: 1.5 stories + basement, possibly with a small apartment/secondary unit in the basement; ground and upper floor approx. 150m2 in total
Number of people, age: 2 adults (31 + 31), 1-2 children planned
Room requirements on ground and upper floor
Office: family use or home office?: both; should be integrated on the ground floor (as a sleeping option in case going up stairs is not possible due to illness. I am somewhat "preloaded" in this regard professionally as an occupational therapist)
Sleep guests per year: 1-2
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Conservative or modern design: rather conservative?
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no, closed, if possible a kitchen-living room
Number of dining seats: daily 2-4
Fireplace: chimney flue gladly included
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: if possible double garage, otherwise normal garage, my boyfriend would like a door from the garage into the house
Utility garden, greenhouse: maybe a small part for herbs etc.
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be:
Shower/WC on the ground floor (similar reason to the guest room, also a second shower practical if children are around);
It would be nice to have a small pantry or storage room near the kitchen;
"Dressing room" (rather walk-in closet) in the master bedroom is nice-to-have but not a must;

Because of the slope, we thought about planning a small apartment/secondary unit in the basement (e.g., if the mother-in-law living alone can no longer stay in the old house for health reasons; she actually does not want to leave there; or later for the child), and very importantly a separate entrance from outside preferably without stairs (in case of wheelchair/walker; and if rented out so the staircase does not have to be shared)

House draft
By whom was the plan created:
- Planner of a construction company
What do you particularly like? Why?: we really like the layout on the upper floor, also that the children’s rooms are the same size; on the ground floor we like the location of the kitchen and guest room better than in our self-drawn draft (which I will attach as well)
What do you not like? Why?
Basement: that we basically have no more cellar because the secondary unit occupies the whole floor (apart from the utility room); hardly any possibilities to place furniture in the living room of the secondary unit due to many doors; bathtub must go, shower would be difficult to access like this;

Ground floor: the large utility room (unfortunately necessary since no cellar room is available, and actually a good solution for the door into the house), we would prefer a kitchen-living room, but it is probably not feasible with this floor plan?;

For us, however, the biggest problem is the staircase. On the one hand, I am not sure whether the wardrobe will work for a family with children later. On the other hand, the idea that I might have to share the staircase with strangers (e.g., half asleep in the morning going down to the ground floor and meeting unknown visitors of the secondary unit resident? For me not an option!) is terrible!
Price estimate according to architect/planner: €391,000 (KFW 55, air-water heat pump, excluding earthworks - estimated by planner at €18,000 -, painting, garage)
Personal price limit for the house: approx. €300,000
Preferred heating technology: geothermal (individual decision in our building area) otherwise air-water heat pump

If you have to do without, which details/extensions
- you can do without: maybe some square meters, especially the upper floor seems quite generous; door from garage into the house not a must, same with pantry; fireplace; secondary unit
- you cannot do without: closed kitchen, very reluctantly without the work/guest room on the ground floor, separate entrance for the secondary unit

Why has the draft turned out the way it is now?
Draft by the draftsman
Corresponding/which wishes were implemented by the architect: door from garage to house, closed kitchen, dressing room, secondary unit in the basement (although differently than planned)

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?

Do you see other critical points? Do we see problems that do not exist?
I fear we want too much for our budget; where do you see potential savings?

I hope I have not forgotten any important points; otherwise, please feel free to ask.

Thank you very much for reading this long post. I look forward to constructive criticism and suggestions of any kind

PS: By the way, the slope is not as drastic as it looks in the external views; the draftsman could not depict it differently with his program.

Here come our own floor plan experiments (2 variants ground floor and one upper floor) and a picture of the plot taken from the street.

Just to ask for understanding:

The granny flat is supposed to house the mother-in-law downstairs, who may have difficulty walking and would then have to go through your stairwell, which would of course be inconvenient.

The plot is more north-facing, so there would hardly be any light in the granny flat if I read that correctly. Your terrace faces west to southwest, but there isn’t much space left up to the fence, right? Access to the garden would actually have to be reached from the granny flat.

The whole thing somehow seems to have only disadvantages for all parties involved to me. What does the mother-in-law even say about it? Does she really want to move out of her house? And do you want to take care of her then?

Just for understanding sake:

The granny flat is supposed to house the mother-in-law downstairs, who might have difficulty walking and would then have to go through your staircase, which would obviously be inconvenient.

The property is oriented more towards the north, so according to my reading, there would be hardly any light in the granny flat. Your terrace faces west to southwest, but there isn't much space left to the fence, right? The garden access can then actually be reached from the granny flat.

For me, this whole thing somehow only has disadvantages for all parties involved.
What does the mother-in-law actually say about it? Does she really want to leave her house? And do you want to care for her then?

The idea of the granny flat came to us because of the slope situation. A basement makes sense there, and we had the idea of possibly creating some living space.
In our opinion, it wouldn't have to be finished from the start, but the connections should be planned and installed from the beginning.

The mother-in-law is currently still quite fit but lives in a very old house without central heating. She herself wants to stay there. However, we could imagine that she might reconsider if she can no longer manage the stairs with the oil can for the stove.
Of course, caring for her ourselves would only be possible up to a certain extent, since my boyfriend and I both work full time.

Otherwise, we could also very well imagine renting it out.
Even then, the staircase would be impossible for us.

The orientation is indeed more towards the north.
For this reason, the planner put the terrace on the side, which we still can't quite picture. We have to stand on the property with a tape measure and look at it in relation to the neighboring plot.

We are also still puzzled about the garden access...

We feel even more confused after the first draft than before... **sigh**

I think the ground floor has absolutely no single-family house character, but rather resembles an apartment. The house itself also looks more like a rental building...

If there is a slope, I would always consider the possibility of moving the living or main room to the basement so that you can access the garden at ground level there. The front areas in the basement would then be cellar rooms. However, the street side is also the south side. Difficult. You could have the entrance on the east side near the garage, terrace on the southwest... the granny flat should have its own entrance. Difficult. I would give the design to the round shelf.

I would not do a BU based on a house design, but rather based on the construction specification and a good partner feeling.

The plans look as if the road is to the south or southeast. Of course, that's rather unfavorable for bright rooms given your hillside location. Additionally, you then have hallway, WC, utility room, and kitchen on the south side. Actually, the rooms where you don't necessarily need sun, or in rooms where you rather don't want people looking in.

I find the granny flat terrible. The staircase is quite narrow, the bedroom is a corridor (could cause problems with accessibility), the kitchen is far too narrow and there is no space in the living room for furniture. Also, no possibility to design the entrance directly from outside. I also don't know if you can make the bathroom suitable for seniors/disabled people there.

The ground floor wouldn't be my choice either. The utility room is too far from the kitchen and the kitchen would be too small for me to fit everything in. We have exactly the same size and I have many items stored in the dining hall because otherwise I couldn’t work in the kitchen anymore (baking accessories, microwave, cupboard for electrical appliances like fryer, supplies, etc.). The floor-to-ceiling window in the kitchen is nice for access to the terrace but takes up an extreme amount of space and the path across the dining area is actually only about half a meter longer. I would really think carefully whether it would be worth it to me. There is also little space for furniture in your living room and the seating distance to the TV would be far too large for me (4m maximum). Also, the table is actually in the way since it has to be somewhere in the area of the doors to the terrace, hallway, and kitchen. No idea if this is a criterion for you, but a slightly longer table for birthdays is hard to arrange in this floor plan. The recess towards the office/utility room is also wasted space and somehow an ugly corner in the central room. Using the utility room as a passage to the garage isn’t bad since groceries can then be put down there directly, but of course, that also takes up space. If it also has to serve as storage for vacuum cleaner, etc., and even as a storeroom, it will be tight. Also, you don’t always get out of the car with dry feet. If you don’t create space for shoes there, you will carry dirt into the utility room and even into the living room, since you don’t access the hallway directly.

Upper floor: For me, the room for the bedroom would be too big if an additional dressing room is added, which at 7m² is quite generous (larger than the guest bathroom). Why do you need wardrobe space in the bedroom? I would carefully plan the bathroom to see if it fits you this way. The shower will certainly be somewhat larger, but a double washbasin actually doesn’t fit in there. Storage space/cupboards will also be difficult. But you might need them because although you have many square meters of hallway, there is no possibility to put a cupboard or a chest of drawers there. The children’s rooms are good in size, but the doors prevent both rooms from fitting a 3m wardrobe. I would design the staircase so that the ascent comes up along the outside wall and not in the center. This way you have more space in the upper hallway, a shorter path from ground floor to upper floor (even if only a few steps), and in the basement the possibility to create a cupboard or even a storage room at this spot.

But I don’t like your drafts either. The upper hallway has an extreme amount of unused space. The entrances to the children’s rooms won’t work. On the ground floor, you have planned two terrible living rooms and somewhere inserted a fancy small wall including fireplace. Where does it actually connect upstairs? In one draft, the pantry is very far from the garage and you only reach the terrace through the kitchen (really bad for guests), plus living room in the northeast (never any sun) and lots of square meters for the hallway. In the other draft, the pantry is quite small because it has 3 doors and therefore hardly any space to place things. The hallway takes up an extreme amount of space. Also, the access to the guest bathroom goes through the shoe cupboard/wardrobe??? You’re not yet agreed on what you want your open-plan kitchen to look like and have therefore initially put a lot of square meters in there. You can plan 20m² very badly, but you can also make a decent open-plan kitchen from 13m². Think carefully here, just as with the bathroom, about how it should roughly look or what you consider important. A work/guest room with 9m² is far too small. You can make a workroom in 9m² if you don’t work there daily. You can somehow fit a guest room in there too, but not a room that should serve both purposes. Even a double air mattress needs 4m². If a desk and a small shelf are in there, there is neither remaining walking space nor can you open the door properly.

For your property, I would first consider the orientation, i.e.:
- In which rooms is south or west sunlight important to me, where do I not need sun
- Where will the terrace be, or will only the upper terrace be used or also the garden below, and how do I get there properly (also with equipment, food, table/chairs, etc.)
- How likely is it that the mother-in-law will really move in, and does she then need a whole apartment (including kitchen)?
If you take her in for care, she basically only needs a bedroom and a bathroom. I would implement this on the ground floor so that these two rooms have a small separated hallway. That makes a total of 30m² and not 60m². With two children, you can only get one downstairs and the second will miss out. Also a child doesn’t necessarily need a 15m² kitchen and 25m² living room. If they do need that, they should rent an apartment.

Also consider where your central rooms are. If you watch little TV and have no fireplace, what do you do together in the living room? Do you perhaps sit much more often in the kitchen and talk...? But of course, you can also see it the other way round and say that you want to have dining in the living room because you consciously spend that time there, and then the cozy living room is used and not 60% of leisure time in the open-plan kitchen, next to the dirty pots (sarcasm). Also little things like where to iron are sometimes really awkward to solve in practice. You should also consider beforehand what is important to you regarding the use of the study. Does it make sense to have it upstairs near the children’s rooms? Does it annoy you long term if the mother-in-law wanders around downstairs all the time when you need to work quietly, or is it even advantageous that the distance is so short?

These would be the first crucial questions for me; otherwise, the planner’s draft, apart from the granny flat, is very conservative. That means it is not specifically tailored to you, but otherwise very classic. I would omit the fireplace; I really see no space for a stove in any of your plans. Because of the hillside location, you have many compromises but also opportunities in return. See how you can use that to your advantage and don’t just try to compensate for the disadvantages somehow.