Floor plan discussion: Single-family house, 11.3m x 9.4m, 5 people, hillside location

I think when it comes to the requirements, an architect should be given free rein to develop a design that meets your budget and needs. For a project that surely nears a million, I wouldn’t consider my amateur sketch as the ultimate wisdom and have it drafted neatly.

I can only agree with that. For our first house build, we had a good general contractor’s floor plan as a basis. Those are usually quite efficiently devised and are often built exactly like that. We tinkered with it somewhat (back then we still thought: optimized for us), and after living there for 2 years, we noticed a flaw in every one of our “optimizations.” The house was still a great house, of course. But what I mean is: We are not architects; we shouldn’t try to do their job. For this house build, we went straight to a professional with our written list of requirements and had them design it for us. And this time it feels completely different. We go to professionals with every other issue. For a health problem to the doctor, for legal disputes to a lawyer, and for inspections to the car workshop. Only when it comes to designs for our houses, where it usually involves a large part of our net income for the next 30 years, we always seem to think, “ah, never mind whether that’s a field of study, I can do that myself.” ;)

Show us the excerpt from the development plan. Photos of the property and surroundings are also quite nice. I would, for example, place the CP next to the house. Otherwise, no windows in the basement? Which federal state? Why do you want to reinvent the wheel here? You can find quite successful floor plans online. The house is somehow too big for the budget.

Well, there were many more posts here before. :oops: After the note in the green forum, I have now added the windows in the basement here. Many of the comments and suggestions are going through my mind intensively. Thank you very much for your previous input. I will get back to you when we are further along in the planning and the budget has been checked.

With any other topic, we go to professionals. With a stomachache to the doctor, with a legal dispute to the lawyer, and with the inspection to the car repair shop. Only with the drafts for our houses, where most of the time it concerns a large part of our net salary for the next 30 years, we always seem to think "ah, it doesn’t matter if it’s an academic subject, I can do that myself." ;)

If you have the money, you go to an architect, yes... if not, you take a ready-made floor plan from the developer.
Above all, though, you should deal with your budget before starting, even if you pick up pencil and paper yourself. Because you quickly get away from the architect again ;)

I therefore don’t find the comparison with the car inspection correct. Rather, you would have to take the purchase of a new car here. Only very few afford a completely individual design, including adapting the bodywork, etc.

PS:
But even with a standard floor plan of one of the most sold/built houses in Germany, the Flair 152 RE, I have already found some "faults" before starting the interior work that I wouldn’t do the same way next time ;)

If you have the money, you go to the architect, yes... if not, you take a ready-made floor plan from the developer.
But above all, you should deal with your budget before starting, even if you are sketching yourself with pen and paper. Because you quickly move away from the architect again ;)

I therefore find the comparison with the car inspection incorrect. Rather, you would have to take the purchase of a new car here. Only very few indulge in a completely individual design up to the adaptation of the bodywork, etc.

We did not commission our own architect. That was already handled by a construction company, but they have architects who work with them. We concluded a separate contract for the individual planning for 1500€.
If we had decided on the construction company, the amount would have been offset against our building price. We then chose another construction company and accordingly paid the 1500€ for the design.
I found that completely reasonable in terms of price. During fittings for a new build, you quickly spend ten times that amount; I would not save on something essential like the design.

However, I do not know how common such offers are. Maybe we were just lucky.

But there was already a draft, which was "only" adjusted, right? 1,500 EUR, for that the architect can work about 10 hours, 2-3 hours are already spent on the first meeting? Don't you usually calculate around 10% of the construction costs for the architect, for a real architect-designed house?