Floor plan single-family saddle roof house with basement, approx. 200 sqm

Number of people, age: 2 adults, 2 children: 34, 33, 8, 6

Number of people, age: 4 (38,37,7,5)

Apart from a few details, the project reminds me very much of
;-) [n.d.V.]

I like houses without roof overhangs and everything kept a bit sober. But here window sizes do not fit the house width. It creates a disproportion. Also the rear facade: the main house, that is the upper floor, looks on the far too wide base building (I can hardly describe it differently, because it only looks like a base and not like a great living room). Maybe means that by ugly, because it naturally looks a bit "strange". Well, for a friend I would use a different word so that he gets it. My opinion on the facade: partly very stubborn design: something calls for symmetry _or_ exciting window choice (e.g. gable side front), but neither is implemented. Instead identical windows, but shifted and staggered. The upper floor in the west calls for symmetry or tension, but unfortunately also failed. It has a DIY character, yes. The exterior cellar entrance belongs, if you already cover plenty of surfaces, also covered. The main entrance is dark, you basically have to search for it, it is not inviting and therefore misses its purpose. The panoramic window to the dining area in the west should not be covered at all: the room behind gets no light; however, a panoramic window or large terrace door is meant to look left, right, and up to the sky. From inside, you only see ceiling and floor above and below, walls of the overhang and terrace left and right. This massively restricts the view into the garden or nature. And that in a room where one wants light and a view. Expensive implementation for negative effect. By the way, the placement of the cellar windows will be interesting here! About the balcony: what for, please? Do you want child visits in the bedroom? If you absolutely want a balcony because you want to see each other on it in the morning or evening, because you are a smoker, or because you have a sauna upstairs or an office, so any reason why you would visit a balcony daily or once a week for one or ten minutes, then a small balcony is enough. Size does not mean beautiful! Again: it does not get better if you make it bigger. Picking up the wide eastern overhang (garage/carport) on the left side into the west and the other mentioned faux pas (windows) take away the house’s design quality. Again, DIY character. Inside: you don’t need a kitchen door here. Sliding doors are not easier to handle. One could expect somewhat more planning than hose rooms. Cellar access in the living area would be a no-go for me and a reason to recognize that planning has to start anew. Now you can of course excuse everything with “it couldn’t be helped”, but what do you want to tell us with that? That you could not plan? That you gladly live with the mistakes because your wife planned it? Because you gladly spend a million on a house that looks rather quirky than nice from outside? Inside nothing special is planned that gives this house a personal touch: except of course the unit parents. It takes some art to implement it badly. Most house designs have bottlenecks because they have to manage with square meters. Adding 20, 30 sqm is not an art, you just have to pay for it. Overall, in my eyes the basic approach is worse than the approach from a year ago. Yes, and then the price expectation. I really wonder where your learning curves are regarding pricing and designing. Even if there is supposedly a bit more budget now, the design grows way beyond your head. With the static refinements and the questionable openings of the thermal envelope wherever possible, the living sqm probably come to at least 3500€. Added are the cellar and the garage. I should not be surprised if posts come immediately suggesting doing it yourself for price reduction... practically the running gag in this housewives’ forum. There is not much level left here. Therefore: good luck to everyone going forward. Enjoy your home, whether apartment or house!

: My husband and I would first like to thank you for your detailed feedback. Many thanks! Here is something fundamental: We have quite precise ideas on how we want to realize our house. That’s why we tried, in a DIY manner, to visualize our ideas in a draft, which of course is not set in stone (otherwise we wouldn’t be active in this forum). What we have often experienced among acquaintances: an endless ping-pong with the architect, until he gives up and just “throws something together,” as long as the client shuts up. It is exactly this endless loop we want to avoid and at least do some preliminary work so that the architect can make modifications and does not have to completely redesign the entire plan. And that is the main question for us: Could the architect start from this plan and work with it?

Thanks to many useful hints here, at least it seems to us that we have made no major mistakes regarding distances or inefficiently used spaces. For some, the currently typical window seat might be a highlight or the laundry chute... For us, it is other aspects such as the short route from the kitchen to the basement, an extensive and always tidy cloakroom, the short trip from the car into the home with dry feet, or the fact that you can park 2 cars side by side under the carport. To name just a few highlights of our draft... This may seem boring or a no-go aspect to some, but every planner has their own ideas, wishes, or priorities, so every plan should be seen as individual and not immediately labeled a fail...

Now to the concrete draft:

- Window widths and layouts: Yes, they look extremely unfortunate. But we hope for the architect’s expertise here.
- Basement access from the living room: Not a no-go for us, since we store lots of supplies in the basement and will mainly use it to bring up provisions. For garden tools, car tires, tools, etc., there is an external basement entrance.
- Terrace roofing: A terrace roof is important to us because we often use the outdoor kitchen, even in winter. And we know all too well from our parents the constant hassle of covering garden furniture. The view is rather secondary for us. What has made us think, however, is whether it will actually become too dark!? We have actually planned 2 double-leaf balcony doors facing south. Shouldn’t that be enough?
- Balcony: To be honest: We probably really need it. It just made sense. Originally, we wanted it for hanging laundry. However, we could presumably also do this on the garage roof.
- Carport: Planning a corner lot with driveway, parking options, a garage and a decent house entrance including everything else is not easy. For us, the presented solution is actually quite good: 2 dry parking spaces for the cars + garage. If this whole thing then costs an additional +30k due to statics, we will reconsider.
- Exterior view from the north side: Yes, we were also unsure here whether it looks shabby. Therefore, there is consideration to shorten the bay window on the north and make the entire north wall (ground floor + upper floor) uniform. Then we would also have the necessary width in the bedroom (that would be a total of 7-8 sqm more, and not 20-30 ;))

Maybe we will get some constructive criticism based on our approach and receive feedback on whether the floor plan is livable or where we still made major mistakes.

Thank you very much.

It may be that there have been negative experiences with architects in your circle of acquaintances. But you don't have to assume that. Otherwise, you might as well not get up in the morning anymore,-) It has been described here in the forum often enough why you shouldn't bring your own plans to the architect. And no, there is no reason to make an exception. He takes money (not less if you bring bad plans) AND he has studied for 3-plus years. Just let him do it (with clear instructions on the room program)... I don't have to be polite here either; nice words won't make the design better. Are you seriously willing to sink 1 million in an amateur design? Please don't do that to yourselves...

You seriously want to sink 1 million into an amateur draft? Please don’t do that to yourselves…

We have at least sunk a little over 0.5 million into an "amateur draft" and have been happy with it for 5 years. However, we had from the old house a floor plan of a living floor that worked for us, which was improved in spots and complemented with common catalog floor plans for the basement and upper floor. With a usable, nationwide general contractor, it could then be implemented, albeit with considerable additional costs. But here, with the basement stairs in the living room, I would also strongly advise demolition. Also, no one should get the idea to build a balcony for drying laundry. If you already want or have to save on the dryer, you shouldn’t start building a house at all....

Gladly something fundamental below:

I have now been here in the forum for 10 years. Honestly? I can no longer read these justifications why people prefer to have it rather badly than well. It’s always the same or similar naive arguments. “I want it individual, I am different, I am special, no (architect) will understand me or you don’t understand me.”
The house has the same room program as almost every family house for 4 people. You are not special in that. That can be explained to the architect in three sentences. And a covered terrace, a bedroom, a bathroom, or a basement access is also possible in “good.”
And also the distorted view that drying laundry needs over 30 sqm, then please properly with access from the utility room and without the neighbors’ views.
How do you imagine that? You give the architect the design, and when he starts to straighten out the structural challenges and improve everything with capable eyes, you get shading in your eyes and say to yourself: see, he doesn’t understand our design.
And in case you still haven’t understood: outstanding architecture is not possible with the budget.
By the way, you yourselves have been playing this ping pong game very well for over a year now even without an architect.