Floor plan of a city villa with approximately 160 m² without basement

We should definitely be slightly above street level because the property slopes up slightly away from the street. Or did you mean something else here? Maybe that is also the reason both thought it would work without a pedestal.

We should definitely exceed street level slightly because the property slopes gently away from the street. Or did you mean something else here? Maybe that's also the reason why both said it works without a podium.

Without a podium means with a small podium according to BU. Without stairs [emoji6] And the podium is then one meter deep. That means the entire driveway unit on the left side of the house disappears – whether with a garage or carport. And just between us: an entrance area is very important. The entrance! The entryway! There belongs a step. You have pots, flowers... an entryway is designed and should welcome visitors.

By "in front of the living room" I naturally mean between the driveway and the living room window.. there is enough space there.

Ok, I thought so. There really would be enough space there. And the entrance area is definitely right. It should be inviting. Hmm, we'll definitely think about that again. Maybe the space to the left towards the neighbor is enough if we leave 1-1.2m between the garage and the house. That would be 5m to the boundary. Probably a bit tight with the terrace. But possibly worth considering.

Hm, I'm definitely better with words than with a pen. Just to roughly visualize how I would prefer it.

Additionally, the windows in the living/dining area still need work, but that's another topic.

Overall, I compressed the design to the left of the entrance door and stretched it to the right, because I consider that more practical when furnishing later and I also like the cloakroom area better that way.

Everything about the hallway to the garden has been said: it should take priority over car parking. My personal opinion.

Chand, I believe your suggestion has already been understood, but it was rejected due to lack of space for the terrace.

Overall, hardly anything has changed from the original draft. The disadvantages of this straight staircase, such as the long narrow hallway, unused space underneath, long walk to the kitchen with the shopping bags, maximum space waste for the staircase, and thus losses in living space, have all remained. But apparently, all of these are unimportant.

Compact square floor plan and straight staircase – an almost boring disaster. To me, it always feels like trying to push a square through a hole that is too small. It will never fit because, in my opinion, they simply don’t belong together.

But everyone has their priorities. The house won’t fall down because of it.

Well. But if I had replaced the staircase with one that is quarter-turned at one end, it would have changed the entire floor plan in more ways than just stretching something here and compressing there.

I don't see how that can be charged to the builder. So try to fix it within the system rather than the system itself. Otherwise, in the end, you have invested a lot and achieved nothing.

I think my idea is better than the one last shown by the OP. You can make space for that by shifting a few priorities. Of course, not by doing nothing.

I wouldn’t build like that myself. Especially staircases are overrated. Those who have plenty of space can, those who don’t should consider it very carefully.

To be fair, I have to say that I have also seen significantly worse designs that were defended by OPs against all odds.