New single-family house - Join us on this journey!

Another proper preparation of our wishes with not too many specifications for the architect

Yes, many details/specifications (wishes), but no sketches!

On to the next round!

Just between us :D Even the biggest layperson in construction saw/sees that many things in the last/current plan were/are not consistent. You/you all didn't?:rolleyes:

Just between us :D That a lot was/is not consistent in the last/current plan was/is actually obvious even to the biggest layman. You/don't agree?:rolleyes:

What should I answer to that? After I have just revoked the planning contract and admitted to myself a certain naivety, it should actually be clear what we ultimately thought of the current drafts...

I can only agree with my predecessors and recommend finding an architect. Better a few square meters less and a well-designed house instead. The garden view here is great, but the rest looks rather like a somewhat charming prefab house and I can’t think of how to improve that with fine tuning. Much has also been said about the floor plans, keywords sight lines, (too) large rooms and poor planning of the granny flat. Maybe our experience will help you as a perspective: last June we looked at prefab houses and had plans made for our somewhat specially shaped plot. It looked terrible, there’s no other way to put it. So we turned to an architect, where the first draft took 3 months. 1 month fine tuning and then the decision: this is not it. So new plans again. That was finished in April. Initial tenders showed: unfortunately significantly more expensive than estimated – we all know what happened from December to April… Everyone took another vacation and planned again ourselves, discussed with many friends etc. – and now a third draft, implemented with the help of the architects, which we find almost perfect. 1 year planning time! There are things that are better in the 2nd draft – but it is also significantly bigger and it’s always a compromise of many variables. The waiting drove me crazy in between, now I have accepted it. The house of the most beautiful house blog I follow on IG had 2 years of planning time. Good things take time!

I can only agree with my predecessors and recommend finding an architect. Better a few sqm less and a well-designed house instead. The garden view here is great, the rest rather reminds me of a somewhat uncharming prefab house, and I can't think of how to improve that with fine tuning. Much has also been said about the floor plans: keyword sight lines, (too) large rooms, and poor planning of the granny flat. Maybe our experience can help you as a perspective: last June we looked at prefab houses and had plans made for our somewhat specially shaped plot. It looked terrible, can't describe it otherwise. So to the architect, there was a 3-month waiting time for the first draft. 1 month of fine tuning and then the decision: this is not it. So again new plans. That was finished in April. Initial tenders showed: unfortunately much more expensive than estimated – we all know the development from December to April … Everyone took another vacation and planned again themselves, discussed with many friends etc. – and now a third design, implemented with the help of the architects, which we find almost perfect. 1 year planning time! There are things that are better in the 2nd draft – but it is also significantly larger, and it is always a compromise of many variables. The waiting drove me crazy in between, now I have accepted it. The house of the most beautiful house blog I follow on IG had 2 years planning time. Good things take time!

Nice experience report! Now that we are going to the architect, it should also be PERFECT. Time no longer plays a big role now.

Sorry, I overlooked this morning’s development before my post. Good decision!
I think you can achieve something great with an architect.
A few more thoughts on this:
Even with a big budget, you are surprised at what compromises you have to make in the fittings – that’s why on the third attempt we now follow the motto: smaller but finer. With good equipment, it might not be significantly cheaper, but it at least means lower maintenance costs for the next decades.

We also had to realize: there is almost always some compromise, unless you perhaps have the perfectly shaped and oriented plot. You don’t want to admit it, especially with a flexible development plan – but that seems to be the case for us.
Another learning for us: some compromises are made between optimized floor plan vs. optimized exterior appearance. We once planned purely based on the floor plan, thought it was perfect – and from the outside it was nothing. Since then we always keep that in mind. We are still facing the final decision but will probably opt for the nicer exterior and accept a compromise in the living room.

I would be interested in how others see this here: what takes precedence, exterior or interior?

Good luck to you in any case!

I would be interested to know how others see this: which comes first, the outside or the inside?

Of course the inside. And if the inside is good, the outside cannot really be bad.