I get the feeling that there is a lack of understanding that other people have different ideas of "living and dwelling" and could be satisfied and happy in a way different from oneself.
The opposite is the case. I rather feel that you (but not only you, many other "first-time builders" here as well) bring rigid, problem-causing must-haves (especially stairs, bay windows, floor-to-ceiling windows, sliding doors, etc.) that rather stand in the way of a comfortable floor plan and sensible cost usage, and then defend them to exhaustion as if the interlocutor did not want to grant this to you. This runs like a thread through the forum! However, the self-experienced trend pitfalls are rather hinted at, which is exactly the essential purpose of such a forum. Unfortunately, I increasingly read here (and by this I really don’t mean you) not even mediocrely planned building projects where I feel a strong compulsion on the OP to applaud. If this does not happen, the thread often dries up and disappears forever... It is actually a lot of fun to think along on a stranger’s project, and then maybe later one feels as if one were a small part of it or has helped someone. I find it great when people live individually, but implementing thoughtless stuff just because, for example, €5,000 supposedly don't matter to me, is not individuality but just nonsense. For example, those 5 sqm more hallway do NOT make you happier but rather maybe the nice family vacation or a technical facilitation you could give to the family with that otherwise wasted money. At the latest, if you hear such things from several directions, you could check for yourself whether all these people driving against traffic are the ones coming at you. The discussion here is neither mean nor aggressive, so for me everything is in the green zone, but I do read a tendency toward resistance to advice, which in a forum with experienced builders then leads to "problems." You can simply break it down. The 200 sqm living area you have in mind so far do not generate a living comfort that can be expected for this high price.
It’s probably true, especially the straight staircase really seems only efficient to fit in if you plan around it from the beginning and don’t have a dozen other requirements for the hallway. A Harry Potter closet would at least create storage space, but we don’t want that either.
My beloved staircase builder offers a, in my opinion, dreamily beautiful, very special, even price-equivalent hanging staircase that I would have loved to have, and we tried everything with the floor plan for it. At some point, it also became clear to me that this wish (almost greed) created many other problems; today I find my former thoughts on this rather funny, also that I had become a victim of my own dreaming and I enjoy our actually realized staircase that fits so wonderfully into the house and floor plan.
But we also have many "more experienced in living" people around us, with whom we talk about the planning and in such questions we prefer to trust their advice.
You can do that, but my question would be why do you do it that way? What makes the private acquaintance per se a better adviser for me as a stranger interested in my project? If I ask my BMW all-wheel drive-driving neighbor for advice before buying a car, with what probability will he advise me against a BMW all-wheel drive even if he himself might have problems with it? Very few would do that; in house building, the same lying/flattering happens as in fishing, hunting, and sex—especially most within acquaintances, because that is exactly the comparison group. Envy is strongest in the personal close circle; the closer, the greater the risk.
Whether the straight staircase is more important to me than saving space amounting to 10, 20 or even 30 thousand euros, whether I prefer to clean two washbasin faucets instead of one, or whether I want to put my dirty kids down or upstairs in the shower, in the end only we can judge that.
Sorry, you surely will not have 10/20/30 thousand euros lying around to throw it away without added value. Especially people who even have 100/200/300 left certainly don’t do that but rather invest sensibly and precisely in living quality and not in accidentally slipped in unnecessary living space where you could, if needed, place a Christmas tree.
And that is based on how we intend to live in the house.
The famous "Form follows function" does not come from nowhere, and that your current floor plan still has considerable function potential is beyond doubt for me at least. So far I rather read: Main thing isthatstemfrommyhead-follows function. The building authority will probably approve it, the company will build it, you will live in it and always be able to say: That's exactly how I always wanted it and thankfully I stood my ground against those half-stupid, entrenched house-building discussants. That was also said by my former neighbor who planned a fully darkened hallway himself out of full conviction.
I don’t entertain any illusions (well, maybe a little). The first plan was not perfect. The last plan I posted is better but still far from perfect. Perfection would mean all our current and future needs are met. Even for the next 5 years, it’s difficult to separate what is really a “need” and what is just a “wish without deeper benefit.”
… so your own first drafts were in fact already quite perfect, right?
Because someone who happily and satisfiedly lives in their amateurishly first house (see my parents and parents-in-law) does not necessarily build again and (as ypg aptly observed) later write anything about the outcome.
People live happily in tents or unhappily in pool villas; that has absolutely nothing to do with a house. Another mistaken belief derived from this would be to see those as happier who never change or leave their eventually once built house because they are always happy; on the contrary, I tend to see a more satisfied life in the person willing to make changes.
Why also? After building a house there is enough to do… do students tell their teachers what became of them?
Apples and oranges: The teacher is paid and has a teaching mandate. Here, people meet voluntarily (unlike through compulsory schooling) and help like-minded people with their own experiences or to avoid similar mistakes. Looking for a reason to avoid giving me a "thank you" in the form of feedback on the outcome of the project for help received here would never occur to me. I see it as healthy give and take and would consider it rude for myself since you also gladly used others’ time before for yourself. But I recognize that this expectation, which I consider polite, is increasingly losing significance, which is also reflected in the declining quality of this forum. Older participants here remember the many open and exciting discussions including respective final results. At the topping-out ceremony, one invites the involved people out of appreciation; you always find the time for that if you want or understand its meaning.