First floor plan single-family house - Your ideas also regarding the property

Hello everyone,

we are still relatively at the beginning and hope to have listed everything important for you. We look forward to your ideas, especially on how best to place the house including garage or carport (currently still open due to cost reasons) on the property in order to use as little space as possible for driveway/yard. The house can be placed freely on the property with regard to the usual 3 meter limit. We have already been to a few general contractors and have so far received one proposal. This did not really convince us yet and has been adjusted by us. We have attached our rough idea as an image for you. We have not considered windows for now. So far, the general contractors have hardly made any proposals, also regarding the basic placement. We would like to go into further discussions with more precise ideas for the floor plan and hope for a few suggestions from you.

Development plan/Restrictions
Size of the property: 1040 sqm
Slope: 3 meters ascending over the entire property area
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.4
Gross floor area ratio (GFAR): 0.5
Building window, building line and boundary:
Edge development: Garage or carport
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 1.5
Roof shape: gable roof
Style: modern
Orientation
Maximum heights/limits
Other specifications

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: gable roof
Basement, storeys: with basement and 1.5 - 2 (depending on what makes sense)
Number of people, age: 2 adults, 1 baby
Space requirements: Ground floor: living-dining area, kitchen with pantry, study, guest bathroom, storage room under stairs
Upper floor: 2 children's rooms, bathroom, bedroom with dressing room
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Guests per year: not relevant
Open or closed architecture: rather open
Conservative or modern construction: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: cooking island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: preference: double garage with tool room – preferably with direct access to the house. But this will probably be difficult due to the shape of the property? For cost reasons, a carport with adjoining tool room is also conceivable.
Utility garden, greenhouse: both
Further wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be: Fireplace as a "separator" between dining and living area

House design
Who created the plan: ourselves and general contractors
What do you particularly like? Why?
Ground floor: kitchen area is not visible from the living room, separation of living/dining area by fireplace, relatively spacious living room, shower in guest bathroom not directly visible from the door. Bright study. Staircase as a platform staircase and not directly next to the front door.
Upper floor: children's rooms of equal size, T-layout in the bathroom, the dressing room is not directly visible from the door in the bedroom.
What do you not like? Why? The hallway is uninspired and with an open bedroom door you can see directly from the front door into the living area. Overall, the floor plan somehow still feels not quite right.

Price estimate according to architect/planner: -
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: 350,000
Preferred heating technology: air heat pump

If you have to forego, on which details/extensions
- can you do without: * basement (but then a corresponding technical room would have to be accommodated on the ground floor. The idea here is somehow to build the garage directly and place the technical room including windbreak between garage and house.
* double garage replaced by carport (each with tool room)
- can you not do without:

So, we hope we have now thought of everything and are already very excited.
Best regards from the Rhön

How high is the height difference in the building area? The 3 meters are definitely not linear.

On a slope, you either have to fill in expensively or build with a basement. The basement can be fully livable space. Then you basically build a bungalow on top of the "cellar." Depending on where the garden is, for example, cooking, eating, and living could be in the basement and the bedrooms upstairs. (That's how it is with us too)

How does the slope fall? Descending from the street or ascending? Where is the terrace planned?

Is your budget including incidental building costs?

It would be nice if your plan were dimensioned. Draw your desired furnishings to scale. Completely in all rooms.

Regarding the ground floor The pantry is so small that not even the freezer fits in. I would remove it and give the kitchen two more cabinets.

Wardrobe very small.

Regarding the upper floor The bathroom is too narrow for the T. Is the bathtub or the sinks missing?

Dressing room Actually too small. About a 4-meter closet fits in, preferably with sliding doors, as the depth is lacking.

Which general contractor are you with? When do you want to build? Is it roughly NES direction?

Our ground floor is almost identical. We have the technical room and guest bathroom where your guest bathroom is: stairs and hallway more central, dining area narrower.

Pantry: under a closed staircase opposite the kitchen there would be enough space for drinks and groceries.

Washing machine and dryer?

I notice the same points:
Wardrobe too tiny, the pantry makes no sense in this size.
The bathroom is too small for a T-configuration and I would definitely miss a bathtub here (also think about later, children also like to take baths).

I wouldn't do a captive dressing room in the bedroom like that. Try to get a separate access from the hallway. Even if you currently don't feel disturbed by it. That can change (getting up or sleeping times).

Thank you very much for the detailed response.

What is the height difference in the building window? The 3 meters are certainly not linear. On a slope, you either have to fill in expensively or build with a basement. The basement can be fully functional living space. Then you basically build a bungalow on top of the "cellar." Depending on where the garden is, for example, cooking, eating, living are in the basement and sleeping rooms upstairs. (That’s how it is with us, too) How does the slope descend? Falling or rising from the street? Where is the terrace planned?

The building area will not be developed until May, so unfortunately we do not yet have more detailed information.

The lowest point is on the bottom left directly at the roundabout, the highest on the top right (so rising from the street). Over the entire property area, the 3 meters do not look like an extreme slope.

Basically, our idea is to build a basement and not completely bury it at the front - that way, for example, the hobby room still gets daylight and excavation is saved. The excavation that occurs could then possibly be used to level out the remaining property area somewhat.

The terrace is planned facing south.

Is your budget including incidental construction costs?

Yes, including incidental construction costs, without the plot of land. With this budget and current astronomical prices, turnkey of course is not possible. We are considering possibly having a closed shell built and doing the rest ourselves partially (floors, painting, interior doors).

It would be nice if your plan was dimensioned. Draw your desired furniture to scale. Completely in all rooms.

We drew the "plan" ourselves, so it is more of a sketch. As soon as a final plan exists, we will gladly get back to you.

Regarding the ground floor The pantry is so small that not even the freezer fits in. I would remove it and give the kitchen two more cabinets.

The freezer is not intended for the pantry. The pantry is only to serve as storage space for food.

Wardrobe very small.

We were not yet quite sure about the hallway area because we do not know how much space the stairs will really require and how we can ideally distribute the space.

Regarding the upper floor Bathroom too narrow for the T. Is the bathtub or the sinks missing?

We decided against the bathtub and have thought over this decision well.

Dressing room Actually too small. A approx. 4-meter wardrobe fits in, preferably with sliding doors, since there is not enough depth.

Let’s see if we can still gain a bit of space here or there. It is important that the children’s rooms are large enough; if necessary, the dressing room must be completely replaced by a wardrobe.

With which general contractor are you? When do you want to build? Direction roughly NES, right?

After development of the building plot in May, as soon as possible. Yes, building very close to NES.

The main problem is still the search for a suitable general contractor. We have already had several consultations, especially with the big prefab house providers, none have so far been motivated to really respond exactly to our wishes (80% were only focused on finding out what our maximum feasible monthly rate would be and then planning our house accordingly).

With the good providers (in our case solid construction), there are now sometimes waiting times of a year or more.

Therefore, among other things, the idea that we give individual trades to different contractors ourselves - even if you are not from the construction industry, you have a lot of time in one year to plan on your own and keep the budget relatively tight on the side.

Without having looked at the floor plan exactly, I am more worried about your budget than about the floor plan.

How many square meters is it? 150?

150 square meters + basement, including additional construction costs and including fittings? So kitchen, etc.? In Bavaria for 350,000? Including things like a fireplace? Sloping plot?
I don’t see it going well... maybe has a comment on that. Maybe a different area in Bavaria but if I remember correctly smaller built, less slope, no big frills and well over your budget!