First draft from the draftsman for our single-family house

Price estimate according to architect/planner: €391,000 (KFW 55, air-to-water heat pump, excluding groundwork - estimated by planner at €18,000 -, painting work, garage)
Personal price limit for the house: approx. €300,000
Preferred heating technology: geothermal (in our building area, each case is decided individually), otherwise air-to-water heat pump

Man, what's going on here.. Usually, the construction costs are doubted first of all.

If this is not a typo, you are already €100,000 over your budget. A few savings won't help much here.

This is really tricky – the jack of all trades probably won't be the answer in this case. More like weighing the best solution for you. I would rather give such things to a real architect and not the [BU].

Man, what's going on here.. Usually, the construction costs are doubted first of all.

If this is not a typo, you are already 100,000 euros over your budget. A few savings won't help.

strikingly true.

My thoughts:

[*]In my opinion, the slope and orientation practically scream for an architect. This should really be planned individually. Afterwards, it can still be implemented by the general contractor. But don’t let the general contractor plan it, most of them can’t do that (they don’t have the capacity for it).
[*]As far as I understand, you want a guest room, an office, and a granny flat. But you have limited funds (like most, or rather, everyone here). You need to set priorities. In my opinion, one room is either an office or a guest room. Or very large (but you only want 150 m²).

Conclusion: With the budget, a single-family house with two children’s rooms is possible. An additional room might work but doesn’t have to. Planning should be done by an architect specialized in this.

Wow, thank you so much for the lively participation so far

As a silent reader for quite some time, I have already been able to prepare myself for the direct feedback, which is also exactly the reason why I am writing here.



I was also somewhat surprised that the budget was only mentioned so late.

No, unfortunately that is not a typo… the offer is actually €100,000 over our budget limit.

However, the planner did not know what we had set as an upper limit.

We already suspected that not everything would work out financially, but the difference being this big did surprise us a bit. :-/



: I find the idea of putting part of the living space in the basement interesting, I’ll have to discuss that with my better half tonight.

That would mean the end for the granny flat.. But we will have to make cuts somewhere anyway.. That way the basement would at least still be used reasonably. hmm..



: Wow, very detailed feedback!!

We don’t really like our own floor plans either, especially since some of them are not practically feasible.. so we gave up on them and preferred to work with a professional.

Thanks a lot for the many suggestions regarding everyday practicality!

I also find the idea of the room for the mother-in-law interesting as an alternative to the granny flat, even if it takes some getting used to.. (don’t get me wrong, I have a very good relationship with my mother-in-law. But even if it were my own mother, I wouldn’t know if it wouldn’t bother me in the long run..)



: The office/guest room is primarily supposed to function as an office/workroom. In an emergency, it should be able to provide a sleeping option, but then it would no longer be used as an office.



When I read all your posts, I think I was right with my gut feeling that it makes little sense to tinker and draw on these floor plans (from the general contractor) and that we should start all over again.



Because of the location/slope, we deliberately chose a general contractor who does not do catalog/type houses, but maybe we really do have to deal with independent architects after all..

I would ignore the granny flat. The children's rooms in the basement with bathroom, utility room/HAR and office. On the ground floor living room, kitchen, parents' bedroom + bathroom. Then there might still be enough for the elaborate outdoor area, where I would treat myself to a beautiful staircase towards the garden. Or to add a tool shed to the garage. Or, or, or.