First draft from the draftsman for our single-family house

I love hillside properties because there are such brilliantly implemented house concepts. Of course, it shouldn't be too extreme, otherwise managing the property becomes difficult, but don't let that discourage you. From my point of view, the orientation of the property is the hardest part of the whole endeavor, since on the "nice" side you mainly have the entrance and the basement is completely underground there. However, you have the opportunity to walk out of the house on the lower level and have an unobstructed view of your property as well as hopefully not too much obstructed view of the valley.

The price of almost 400k€ does not seem so excessive at first glance either, after all, the design has about 250m² of living space. It is not a basement in the proper sense.

I would remove the granny flat. Your mother-in-law will probably live in her house until she absolutely cannot anymore, and then it won't work for you either – the care effort is too high.

Living spaces belong to the garden, especially with small children. Rain, snow, mud are no reason not to go outside. This way you can keep an eye on them and stay dry.

Maybe a split-level would be something for you. You would need an architect for that.

I do not like the Bauzeichnerhaus at all. Not by itself, because it looks very inhomogeneous: the ground floor looks like a small apartment, whereas the attic looks like the attic of a single-family house, and overall it probably was developed from a standard design for a flat plot. What I dislike most, however, is how, to put it mildly, extremely small the overlap between this design and your own floor plan ideas is. From my point of view, the Bauzeichnerhaus is therefore equally a house for a different plot and different people.

I can understand wanting to inhabit the half basement exposed by the slope. However, not with a granny flat. In my opinion, the family living room belongs on the garden side – and at garden level! I have a déjà vu with the thread from SupaCriz (post #15)

Maybe a split-level would be something for you. For that, you need an architect.

With granny flats for (parents-in-law), you’re usually on the wrong track anyway, because firstly things turn out differently, and secondly than you think: you expect your mother to become frail first, but it usually ends up being her father or vice versa. Sometimes a change of perspective helps: imagine yourself in the granny flat, widowed and with one of your children plus their partner living above you. Does the thought make you feel warm from the central heating, or would it rather be a different house now?

PS: By the way, the slope is not as steep as it looks in the exterior views, the drafter couldn’t represent it differently with his software.

If the slope is less steep, then either the front or garden side does not fit the terrain. Would one basically have to imagine a light well in front of the granny flat? The more a sloping site is neither fish nor fowl—that is, the elevation difference over the depth of the house is neither less than half a meter nor nearly a full story height—the more in-terrain-following floor plans are called for.

I do not like the draftsperson’s house at all. Not by itself, because it appears very inhomogeneous: the ground floor looks like a small apartment, whereas the attic looks like the attic of a single-family house, and overall it seems to have been developed from a standard design for a flat plot. What bothers me most, however, is, to put it mildly, the extremely small overlap between this design and your own floor plan ideas. From my point of view, the draftsperson’s house is therefore equally a house for a different plot and different people.

I can understand the wish to inhabit the half-basement exposed by the slope. However, not with a granny flat. In my opinion, the family living room belongs on the garden side—and at garden level! I have a déjà vu with the thread by SupaCriz (post #15)
Granny flats for (parents-in-law) are usually the wrong way to go anyway, because first, things turn out differently, and second, differently than you think: if you calculate that your mother will become frail first, it usually ends up being her father or vice versa. Sometimes a change of perspective helps: imagine yourself in the granny flat, widowed, with one of your children and their family living above you. Does the thought of central heating make you feel warm inside, or does it make you consider another house?

If the slope is less steep, either the entrance side or the garden side does not fit the terrain. Would you practically need to imagine a light well in front of the granny flat? The more a slope is neither fish nor fowl—that is, the height difference over the building depth is neither less than half a meter nor nearly a full story height—the more likely you need ground plans that truly follow the terrain.

Are there already elevation details of the plot, or how does it continue below the plot? Actually, 3m over 10m fits exactly one story height. However, the terrace would then have to be backfilled again. Besides, an estimated 3m is not really precise. Does the rest of the plot continue with the same gradient? That would then be more than 15m over the entire length.

Whoops, I overlooked the limit of 300000 on my phone today.

So then, it will be simpler: remove [Einliegerwohnung]. Plan 2 floors: ground floor and basement. Or however you want to call the floors. One floor for children and [„Dauergast“], the other with a common room and parents' area. Many wide windows with a parapet in the north, terrace in the west.
Garage in the east, behind it goes down towards the basement.
However, it may also be the case with the budget that you have to switch to a carport.

Phew, I think we really have to try to make a "tabula rasa" in our heads and distance ourselves from the idea of "basement (living) downstairs, regular single-family house on top."

At first, I found the suggestions with bedrooms or living rooms in the "basement" quite strange. By now, I'm even starting to find it quite appealing. Some new ideas are swirling around in my head, unfortunately also connected with many new questions. ;-D
Above all, the idea of the master bedroom on the same floor as the "common room" has really caught my attention, since the study/office would no longer have to function as an "emergency bedroom." You could have thought of that yourself... Good thing you are here!

Split-level, however, would probably not be an option for us. We know people who have one, it’s too open and loud/thin-walled for my taste, and they wouldn’t do it the same way again either.

Now my boyfriend just has to catch the "new start" fever. He is still very attached to our "old" idea, but fortunately, when it comes to finances, he is the more sensible/strict part and will not insist on the granny flat at "whatever the cost."

We will definitely arrange further discussions independent of the notary appointment, as the planning or search for the right planner takes a bit more time than we expected and we are just too curious to see what others would make of our (newly reconsidered) ideas. This time, actually more directly with architects.

: Regarding the question about the slope: there are an estimated 3m height difference over the entire depth of the property (37m), which according to my boyfriend (he is a geographer) could work. I have to pass on that, I lack the eye for it...

As soon as the property belongs to us, a soil survey and leveling will be commissioned so we know for sure.

The sentence about "not so drastic" actually referred to a picture of the exterior view, which I ultimately didn’t attach because the limit of 10 pictures was already reached. Unfortunately, I overlooked that, so I attach it here. It means the steep drop of the green area behind the terrace.