Honest opinion about the bungalow floor plan - approximately 175 sqm

For EL practically useful if you live next door. No question. But it actually makes the thing with the "helpers" even worse: you walk past the house every day, for weeks.... and wait for person X or Y and nothing moves forward. You have no leverage to put any pressure on.

Then the billing with bg Bau gets funny too: €15,000? Already budgeted?

PS. on the actual question: I don't find the house as bad as it was sometimes made out to be here. The potential for making things worse with a new plan seems quite high to me. I think a few cautious changes to the current floor plan are enough.

Here I should maybe differentiate once again. My statement about the circle of friends' help was not meant to imply that the majority of the work is done by them (preferably only in exchange for goods). Rather, it is that there are people from the professional field in our circle of friends who can occasionally support me with advice and assistance. So if I commission an electrical trade, and friend xy tells me; Ok, you want to cut the grooves yourself, then you do it like this and that, etc. Not that anything here is interpreted wrongly.

Ok, then on the other hand, the project volume and dream house no longer match.

The cable ducts and the insulation of the floor ceiling are always the prime examples... yes, you do save something there. But the target/actual difference does not fully explain that yet.

It is important in this respect because it would be annoying to plan a floor plan significantly over budget now and then have to replan again. Most people find it much harder to save and downsize later than to upgrade the equipment afterwards and go all out there.

The potential for making things worse with a new design seems quite high to me. I think a few careful changes to the current floor plan are sufficient.

I (gladly) agree with that, however

that it would be annoying to now plan a floor plan significantly over budget and then have to redesign it again. Afterwards, cutting costs and downsizing is much harder for most than upgrading the fittings later and going all out there.

I also agree with that.

I do not see any major errors in the floor plan – at least none that wouldn’t be resolved by mirroring it E/W – although, as often happens, I notice that the dimensions, here strangely mostly only slightly, deviate from the standard measurements. What seems to be largely missing to me is a basement replacement room.

The price question is important insofar as you can save a lot of energy here if a new design is needed anyway, which might then be affordable. It is not the first time that many good tips and improvements have been made, even some drawn here (several hours as well), only to find out that the QM do not fit the budget.

Garage is unheated yes, but the building should be double-shell including the garage. This has not yet been implemented in the drawing.

Does the technology not have to be heated, i.e. within the thermal envelope? Hm...

What does the architect say about the ridge direction?

I (gladly) agree with that, however

I also join in there.

I don’t see any major mistakes in the floor plan – at least none that couldn’t be corrected by a west/east mirror – although, as so often, I notice that the dimensions here, strangely mostly only slightly, deviate from the standard measure. What seems to be missing to a greater extent is a basement replacement room.

A basement replacement room is a tricky thing.. the question or rather the challenge is still open..

1) the consideration is that a ceiling is built above a children’s room – for storage space
2) possibly creating space with a shelving system in the utility room
3) the garage gaining an extra meter to create more space in the workshop.
4) alternatively a "tool shed" in the garden

However, we are rather Spartan in attitude; anything that has no use is disposed of or allocated elsewhere.

The price question is important insofar as you can save a lot of energy here if a new design has to be made anyway, which then might be affordable. It's not the first time that many good tips and improvements were made, even some were drawn here (also several hours), only to find out that the QM don't fit into the budget.

Does the technology not have to be heated, i.e. within the thermal envelope? Hm...

What does the architect say about the ridge direction?

I still don't get to the point with the new design... why should there be a new design? I have now gone through all the posts again and found not a single word about a budget ceiling... only that we are planning for the house including garage (and just these two buildings) with about 300k to 350k. The architect threw in about 300k without the garage... I initially took it like that.

Replacing the sanitary fixtures in the bathroom is a good idea, I just don't know if it would "look good" if I enter the bathroom and the first thing I see is a shower.

Whether the technology needs to be heated, I (still) cannot judge... in our current house, the oil heating is kept separately in a building, and it is also not heated. At the moment, I can feel comfortable in that room wearing just a T-shirt.

Regarding the orientation, I will talk to my architect either today or tomorrow evening. The fact is, there are already several houses in the area that do not comply with the directional specification. Therefore, I cannot give any information on that at the moment.

Thanks to all of you anyway