Floor plans of a single-family house with a granny flat, 280 m2 on a pleasantly small 320 m2 plot

Where on earth do I have a maximum distance between the bedroom and the bathroom? I also can't explain what a common room (living room) has to do with the path to the bathroom or bedroom. I also don't see the granny flat negatively. What do you call it in a multi-family house? Every second apartment in Germany is located in a multi-family house with x apartments and a shared staircase. x people share a staircase and a basement and don't complain about their rabbit hutch where everyone can stare inside. It is definitely clear and also desired that the multifunctionality suffers. You can't have everything at the same time.

Where exactly do I have a maximum distance between bedroom and bathroom? I also cannot understand what a common room (living room) has to do with the way to the bathroom or bedroom. I also don’t see the granny flat negatively. What do you say about an apartment building? Every second apartment in Germany is located in an apartment building with x apartments and a shared staircase. x people share a staircase and basement and don’t complain about their rabbit hutch where everyone can gawk in. It is definitely clear that the multifunctionality suffers and that this is also desired.

Oh dear, these are questions and statements that make a planner cringe. Fundamental knowledge regarding living and dwelling is missing here, which has already been mentioned several times and repeatedly questioned by you. For example: With a separation of ground floor and upper floor, you have to walk from the bedroom through the living room to the bathroom, and repeatedly, probably half naked. It doesn’t change anything that you don’t plan a separation yet. If it is planned, it should be taken into account, or the separation is nonsense and can be omitted.

You can’t have everything at the same time.

That comes from the right person. Honestly, I somehow feel sorry for you. You want to squeeze everything into this tiny building plot and invest a lot of money in the project. Unfortunately, in my opinion, you are completely messing it up because you can’t decide how you want to live. The house is supposed to offer all options and in the end delivers none of them. Everything is a single compromise. But please – as is well known, there are 3 ways of learning. Experience is the bitterest.

Moreover:
- Ground floor and upper floor as one residential unit
- Ground floor and upper floor with 2 residential units
- respective suitable outdoor facilities

Combining these requirements inevitably leads to a collection of compromises. At that point, it has little or actually nothing to do with a dream house anymore. Presumably, that’s why it will be sold as a 3-family house or fully rented within a few years.

Yes, that’s right. I don’t expect anything else. I never intended to build a dream house that combines everything. I really can’t understand why people are tearing each other apart here because of the granny flat. Sure, it’s not optimally planned, but in general, a granny flat is a great thing. Whether it’s double KFW subsidies, tax relief, sale, or saving inheritance and gift tax (note the exemption amount of max. 400,000) and much more. Here on this street, every second house has a similarly dark and even smaller granny flat in the basement that is often rented out, and that’s perfectly normal — whereas in Saarland, you’re considered pitiful if you don’t have 2 cars, 4 visitor parking spaces, at least 1 garage, and a 1000m2 plot. (But all that costs hardly anything there). Using the basement ourselves would be an unnecessary luxury since we simply don’t have enough stuff to put in there. Of course, you can have a garage, bar, sauna, gym, etc. as many plan here and thus complete the “dream house,” but we don’t need any of that.

We are optimizing the granny flat and possibly the ground floor. The general contractor said that architects always do things the way they learned and what is optimal for them. But if the customer wants a large room that is architecturally nonsensical and the builder is happy with it, why should anyone convince them to do otherwise as long as there are no structural or other important reasons against it? It’s important to us to have 3 residential units, and we don’t care at all if that affects living quality. Of course, a staircase from the living room to the upper floor would be cozier and more harmonious than going through the hallway/exit, but then you can’t use the units separately later. That’s an example of a compromise we’re happy to make, but no one here understands it. Our project is simply not an off-the-rack one :-)

I also don’t see the basement apartment negatively. What do you say about an apartment building? Every 2nd apartment in Germany is located in an apartment building with x apartments and a shared stairwell.
x people share a stairwell and basement and don’t complain about their rabbit hutch where everyone can peek in.

Correct. That’s how it is in an apartment building. But the apartment building is planned as an apartment building. And each apartment as a well-functioning apartment. You only have a single-family house that has a cramped apartment in the basement and the idea to make a mix of “now a house” and later “now two apartments” out of the two floors above.

This is, for example, a compromise we are happy to make, but no one here understands. Our project is simply not an off-the-shelf one :)

These are the statements that show you have understood little to nothing. We have already discussed many very good projects here that also planned a granny flat and a later separation. That is nothing out of the ordinary.
But it’s getting annoying to explain the basics of life to you. Just build then.

Of course it is not optimally planned, but in general an accessory apartment is a super great thing.

In general, an accessory apartment – and especially a poorly planned one – is not a super great thing.
Why?
- Cost-benefit ratio usually doesn’t add up
- Involvement of a third party in your daily life
- You build a single-family house because you want to live without roommates like in a multi-family house

Whether double KfW funding, tax relief, sale or saving inheritance-gift tax (note exemption amount of max. 400,000) and much more.

KfW funding: So you build deliberately more expensive than 40NH? In the past, when more was funded, the funding was not an add-on but a mandatory requirement to make the accessory apartment affordable.
Tax relief: Actually, you have to pay taxes on rental income, not save taxes this way.
Inheritance/gifting: Then you officially have to make it a condominium. And that brings me to
Sale: Poorly planned accessory apartments in the basement, often without garden access, are practically unsellable. Especially because as a buyer you are dependent on the owner of the apartment (absolute majority in the owners’ meeting so that the above decides what happens below).

Every 2nd house in this street has a similarly dark and even smaller accessory apartment in the basement that is often rented out, and that is quite normal.

OK, if everyone near you crosses the street on red and drives drunk, is that normal for you too? Do you do that just to keep up with your neighbors?

For us it is important to have 3 residential units and we don’t care at all if that affects the quality of living.

I only know people who build a house to have quality of living. Houses aren’t planned to have three residential units but to not really feel comfortable in them. You can have such a wish, but then don’t be surprised if you only earn head shaking at the planning and attitude.

Our project just isn’t a standard one.

Absolutely. But with a non-standard project, I expect special quality. You only want quantity, but no quality.