Floor Plan Comparison Aura and Signum

The focus here is intentionally not on the plot and the possible positioning of the house, but of course, that will also play a role in the final decision if this provider is chosen. From a purely technical construction perspective, both variants would initially be possible on our desired plot.

We are interested in the Signum house from Kern (227,000 euros).

Then, closely selected, is the Aura house: (253,000 euros).

Both prices refer to the turnkey expansion stage.

If I look purely visually, I prefer Aura. This is also due to this red "inset," which of course is not a standard color plaster and which we would have to pay for separately. (What do you think, will this special plaster cost...?)

The living area of Signum would offer us 152 sqm, Aura 158. I find that rather insignificant at first... So purely in terms of living space, I don’t find 26,000 € more “justified” for us.

We are 2 adults, have 2 small children, a third child not yet decided, we definitely need an office, a guest room is nice to have, it would certainly be used more often as a playroom on the ground floor. Currently, we are not necessarily planning a basement. I want the kitchen to be closed off, which the provider says would be possible without problems in both houses.

Here is a comparison of the room sizes:

SIGNUM: AURA:
Living/Dining: 31.15 Living/Dining: 32.53
Guest: 12.15 Guest: 10.1
Kitchen: 10.81 Kitchen: 11.40
Hallway: 12.91 Hallway: 14.86 + 2.20 second hallway
Guest WC: 4.61 Guest WC: 4.98
Utility/Technical room: 9.18 Utility room: 10.41
Children’s room 1: 13.33 Child 1: 11.44
Children’s room 2: 14.11 Child 2: 11.44
Office: 10.25 Office: 11.01
Family bathroom: 12.69 Family bathroom: 11.05
Parents’ room: 11.29 Parents’ room: 11.98
Upstairs hallway: 7.19 Upstairs hallway: 8.38

House AURA has a dressing room in the parents’ room of 6 sqm.

Essentially, with my layman’s view, it’s about the same, isn’t it?
Considering the size of the children’s rooms, Signum is somewhat more generous; just under 11 sqm is not very much, right?

Regarding the dressing room, I don’t really know if we need something like that. Certainly nice to have if money and space are no object at all. But so far our normal wardrobe worked... our next bed will definitely have a bed box that can relieve the wardrobe. Questionable whether we might use the intended dressing room as a sauna? Or: Are 6 sqm enough for an office? As long as a desk + chair and a large shelf (preferably tall rather than wide) fit in, that’s enough for me. Only I need an office. Then the children might still be able to use the room planned as an office upstairs for themselves and play stuff?

Do you think the Aura house is significantly brighter than Signum because of this panorama dormer or whatever it’s called? Lots of light is obviously nice...

Or do you find the extra cost of Aura over Signum with the same basic equipment rather unjustified?

Or: Is 6 sqm enough for an office? As long as a desk + chair and a large shelf (preferably tall rather than wide) fit in, that's enough for me. Only I need the office.

Is the office intended to be used as a home office?
If yes, that won't work. The home office must meet certain requirements.
The next question is, how much time do you spend in it? An hour in the evening? The whole day? Imagine you had to sit and work in a small cramped space all day.

My (still) more amateur opinion: I personally find Aura much more appealing. Both visually and in terms of the floor plan. I like the "separate" area on the ground floor for guest, WC, and utility room. I think the walk-in closet is good; I would like to have one too. What bothers me upstairs: I don't want a children's room next to the bedroom. Our children are still small, but they will grow up and I would like some separation there. The extra cost is probably also (or mainly?) due to the bay window. I like it. With our provider, a bay window also costs €26,000; we are considering whether we want it. But our planning is basically not that advanced yet.

But that’s also due to this red "plaster," which of course is not standard in terms of color plaster and which we would have to pay for separately. (What do you estimate this special plaster will cost...?)

A little something about the "plaster." We are planning something similar as well, but for us it will only be painted. So normally plastered and then the dab will be added as paint on top.

Sorry about the links, I didn’t know.

It is my office in the sense that as a teacher I sometimes have to correct things at home... I also have a workspace at school and that’s why it doesn’t have to be a huge office, but somewhere I have to store the stuff and have my desk... But maybe we would really use the room as a sauna.

Aura definitely appeals to me more visually, but it also costs significantly more. Money that, purely functionally speaking, putting the appearance consciously aside, does not add much value in living space.

I am also a fan of the option to at least have the possibility to put the master bedroom on the ground floor. Basically, with both houses we would have this option. Of course, I miss a large bathroom downstairs, ideally behind the master bedroom, and then we would need an additional guest WC. But according to previous research, that would go beyond the possible floor plans of row houses and we would probably have to go into the area of custom planning...

Aura definitely appeals to me more visually as well, but it also costs significantly more. Money which, from a purely functional point of view, setting aside the looks consciously, doesn’t bring much added value in living space.
...

Yes, that's true!
But somehow the whole house-building project is also about aesthetics. At least to me. I want my house to please me and every time I arrive in the future, I want to think, wow, that’s great ;-)
There are things that are really important to me visually. And we will realize those, with an additional cost!
Of course, you have to weigh what is possible!
Our bay window would give us 16 sqm more living space for the money. That might be exactly the dining room. We’ll see!