Floor plan planning for a single-family house in Oberbergischer Kreis

Turn the dining table by 90 degrees.

I would first rotate the house...

First of all, I find it unfortunate—and something to reconsider!—that out of the four Big Names and six regional ones, currently only two Big Names are being discussed. Their drafts differ significantly enough in comparison that you could explain in more detail whether and where the "truth" lies between them. Both drafts—by the way, avoid external links!—unfortunately make few useful statements about dimensions; for example, dimension chains for only the window openings and wall sections of the facade add very little nutritional value to the discussion. Both are currently too weakly detailed to be worth discussing in my view.

I had contacted four regional companies. One got back to me immediately. We exchanged our ideas by email and he developed a first plan from them. Unfortunately, the costs were 15,000 euros above our budget and we would have had to forego some details that were included with Kern-Haus and Heinz von Heiden. The second got back to me after a week and apologized, saying he had too much to do. I am still waiting for two responses to this day. They all seem to be very busy? Then I have a bad feeling that our project will be really well supported if even the first contact takes so long. How will availability be if there is an urgent need?

Where should the house and (what type of) parking spaces "stand"?—Interpolating height profiles from the boundaries is not only too much work for free for me, but also of little value. I find it considerably more useful to know specific height points in the terrain. It might be advisable to rotate the house axis parallel to contour lines accordingly. Incidentally, it can be said quite generally that the more slope there is, a near-square footprint is rather unfavorable. Such a footprint only does not disturb as long as the "slope" is limited to the feeling of slope of @Pinkiponk’s husband :)

We have drawn a possible positioning. Currently, for cost reasons, we are refraining from planning a garage. Carport or garage are desired for the future. Also preferably a storage room for equipment. We have concerns about positioning it in the east because the terrain there is significantly below street level and we are afraid of water from heavy rain or that water is pushed back into the house through the sewer. Generally, the terrain slopes down from the green and red intersection in all directions. So from green to blue, from red to yellow, from yellow to blue, and also diagonally across the line you would draw from the green-red and yellow-blue intersections.

If the terrain allows or even suggests a basement, I would possibly also cellar a non-bungalow there to have storage rooms "out of the feet" in the above-ground part of the house. I don't see a study in the mentioned models if both children are supposed to have their own rooms. With only planned children so far, I would definitely also consider a transition house.

All consultants told us with reference to our budget that a basement was not feasible. The consensus was also that additional ground work would be needed for the foundation slab to create a level surface. Am I understanding correctly? Transition house means we initially plan only 3 rooms + a bathroom on the upstairs floor and use one room as an office? Then later add or integrate a study upstairs?

That development plans are already being designed before the land readjustment is completed is no rarity. If the plan should indeed have already been changed by now, it would be interesting to know the changes and their justification. Also, I suspect you omitted the "Textual provisions," which may be a separate document from the drawing part. Tell me (not by link!) what the development plan is called.

I got my information here from the BPL_98_OriginalPlan_Saengertshoehe or Development Plan No. 98 Sängerthöhe on the municipality homepage.

The bay window/winter garden request (which are actually two quite different things) should be explained more closely by the wife—ideally, it’s always best to regularly invite the spouse to the local virtual discussion table—and: does she not also have a hobby (sewing room, model railway, second TV, gamer woman cave)?

She denied having a hobby. She knows bay windows or winter gardens from her parents’ house and has always found them "great." A winter garden would add additional living space. The bay window seems more like "luxury" to me and visually an eye-catcher from the outside.

... and why are you planning your house in the southwest corner of the plot if you have already established that the sun moves there? Apparently the yellow contour line shows a platform for building? From my experience, Heinz von Heiden should already be close to the budget limit with this house size.

As mentioned above, the property slopes inconveniently in many directions. See attached file "Plot + Position.png."

We have concerns about positioning it in the east because the terrain there is significantly below street level and we are afraid of water from heavy rain or that water is pushed back into the house through the sewer. Generally, the terrain slopes down from the green and red intersection in all directions. So from green to blue, from red to yellow, from yellow to blue, and also diagonally across the line you would draw from the green-red and yellow-blue intersections.

I agree with you that there is a plateau at the yellow marking. The concern about water played a major role in the positioning.

Heinz von Heiden is 35,000 below our budget.

I personally find the floor plan quite good. Unfortunately, the dimensions of the individual rooms are missing.
I would change a few things on the ground floor. I would leave out the pantry. It is so small that almost nothing fits in it. If you install tall kitchen cabinets where the door is, you can probably store as much in there as in the pantry.
Where the pantry is, I would maybe put the WC. It would then have to be widened somewhat. Door to the WC then from the hallway.
Where the WC is now, either make a storage room out of it or add the space to the utility room (HAR), where it could then also be used for storage. You don’t have much storage space otherwise.
I would make the door to the kitchen/living area on the straight wall opposite the house door and straighten the angled wall where the door is now. Then you can also extend the kitchen along the wall to the corner.
Turn the dining table 90 degrees.

In our current shared flat, we have a pantry cabinet in the kitchen. It is 2.50 m high, 1.00 m wide, and 70 cm deep. Everything needed currently fits in there. Compared to that, the pantry would almost be a luxury. But I agree that household items also need to be stored. I thought the utility room would be enough for that. Besides the technology, the washing machine goes in there and some more shelves? We use the attic for "seasonal items" anyway. The original floor plan didn’t have the angled wall at all. We wanted it that way ourselves. It loosens up the whole thing for us. Yes, I agree, it naturally takes away space for cabinets.

I would first rotate the house...

Could you please explain your sentence?


Thank you very much for the many feedbacks!

I wish everyone a nice 4th Advent

The door to the pantry I would then plan either opening outward towards the kitchen or as a sliding door. Otherwise, you have to go into the room and close the door again in order to get to the things behind the door.

The question about a hobby she denied me.

But you already know her?

Heinz von Heiden is 35,000 under our budget.

I have already said, the price is the final result: look at the services. Heinz von Heiden has cut back on many things. They have no container, few sockets, no painting work on the roof cladding, smaller hot water storage, etc. included or not included. Please read up in the forum before you start planning halfway through.

I would first rotate the house...

Can you please explain your sentence?

But yes: Ralle makes many suggestions. Before I even consider one of them, the position of the house should be fixed. So before I think about rotating the dining table (furnishing comes last), one should think about the basics.

I contacted four regional companies. One responded immediately. We sent our ideas by email and he developed a first plan from them. [...] The second got back to me after a week and apologized, saying he was too busy.

That sounds improvable – keep at it!

Unfortunately, the costs were 15,000 euros over our budget and we would have had to forgo some details that were included with Kern-Haus and Heinz von Heiden. [...] Then I get a bad feeling that our project will really be well looked after if the first contact already takes a long time. What will accessibility be like in urgent cases?

Use the forum search for Gabriele’s "favorite Heinz" if you want to recalibrate your "bad feeling" ;-)

For the positioning in the east, we are worried because the site there is significantly below street level and we are afraid of water from heavy rain [...] All consultants told us, referring to our budget, that there was no prospect of a basement. The consensus was also that additional groundwork would be necessary for the foundation slab to create a level surface.

Only one of the two can be true at the same time: either the slope is so relevant that you have to think about mound construction—be it for water drainage and/or leveling reasons—and you have to spend money on a basement anyway (whether built or unbuilt), or you can sacrifice the basement painlessly for budget comfort.

Do I understand correctly? Zwischenhaus means that we initially plan only 3 rooms + bathroom on the upper floor and use one room as an office? Then later add a study or integrate it on the upper floor?

No, a Zwischenhaus (Google should at least in combination with 11ant lead you there) means a house that you might replace again in ten years—e.g., because the children are not even present yet for an indefinite time and so you cannot yet qualify their contribution to the needs profile. For example, you then dare to have one room "too few." If child two comes, for example, one year after child one, a shared children’s room is sufficient at least until the older one starts school. If child two follows at more distance from child one, the desire for separate children’s rooms may arise earlier. If child two perhaps never comes, you have saved yourself the hassle with three children’s rooms (one of which as an office). For ten years until the next step on the property ladder, you can also postpone desires for a conservatory, whirlpool, fireplace, or gold-trimmed tiles and instead make the step into ownership more budget-viable sooner. Most builders stand in the way of their own happiness by trying to force the upgrade from rental apartment to dream house in one single step. Life is too short to waste it rushing hastily.