Newly built single-family house approx. 170m² city villa

Hello everyone,

we would like to realize our dream of owning a home next year. We have now visited 5 general contractors and have obtained relatively comparable initial offers from them. Currently, only two remain in the race considering quality, reputation, price, and feeling.

The rough floor plan has been set from the very first minute, but we have repeatedly changed/optimized it and have not yet arrived at a final version because we also want to keep an eye on the construction costs. The attached floor plans include the architect's initial design and an optimized version by me concerning the windows and the position of the staircase.

Therefore, I would appreciate feedback. What critical points are we overlooking? What can be solved smarter? Perhaps something "unusual" that can be quickly integrated without significant financial effort.

I am very much looking forward to your feedback!

Thank you very much!

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 1086 m2; approx. 31m wide street side, 29m deep. End of a dead-end street, free view of field/forest
Slope: Terrain currently drops about 2.80m from south/north. However, this will be leveled through earthworks done by ourselves and raised about 1m above street level
Floor area ratio: 0.4
Plot ratio: 0.8
Building line: 3 meters to the street
Border development: none
Number of parking spaces: 2 per residential unit
Number of floors: max. 2
Roof shape: all 25-45°
Style: classic-modern?
Orientation: free
Maximum height/limitations:
Further specifications: roof color (although no one has stuck to this)

Requirements of the builders
Style, roof shape, building type: classic modern, city villa accordingly tent or hipped roof
Basement, floors: 2 full floors + large double garage with flat roof
Number of persons, age: 2 adults early 30s
Space requirements on ground floor: cloakroom, guest WC, utility room, kitchen, living-dining room
Space requirements on upper floor: 2 children's rooms, parents, dressing room, bathroom, office
Office: family use + minimal home office
Overnight guests per year: hardly any
Open or closed architecture: open, but living-dining room separated from hallway
Conservative or modern construction: we see ourselves as modern but not exaggerated.
Open kitchen, cooking island: kitchen open, with work island and ideally side-by-side refrigerator
Number of dining seats: usually 4-6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: media wall for TV
Balcony, roof terrace: adjoining double garage should be accessible from the parents' room (planned for the future, but probably will never be implemented. Option should be available.
Garage, carport: double garage with space as cellar substitute room
Utility garden, greenhouse: possibly later
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why this or that should or should not be included:
- utility room connected to the kitchen on the ground floor and accessible from the garage
- generous open living and dining area
- smart home is, as everywhere, a topic, but here we have decided that KNX is only feasible as a maximum in self-performed work.
- no ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system)

House design
Who created the plan:
- architect, drawn by myself.

What do you particularly like?
Open and spacious, all our wishes could be considered. We wanted to keep the basic shape as simple as possible and avoid dormers, bay windows, and setbacks. Many large windows at the back as the view is really good and unobstructable.

What do you not like? Why?
Price calculation according to general contractor: approx. €395,000 including ancillary construction costs
Preferred heating technology: air-water heat pump with photovoltaic. But the photovoltaic system is not included in the price.
Only the point that you actually don't get anything special for the relatively high sum. I would like to have 1-2 gimmicks here.

If you had to waive something, on which details/expansions?
Already kept minimalistic from our point of view. We reduced from 190 to these 175 m².

Why is the design the way it is now? For example:
We have spent a long time thinking about floor plans, looked at many houses online and of friends/family. Everything we liked was noted down, as well as what we didn’t want. From a budget perspective, it was also quickly clear that in this price range you have to do without optical or technical highlights. We would still like to optimize the window trade, as we are supposedly €10,000 above the average for such a house.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?
Are there any optimizations in the floor plan that we have overlooked? The existing furniture, except for the kitchen, is drawn to scale.
Enough windows/light in general?

The terrain currently drops about 2.80m from south to north.

And where is north and south? (Or did I miss a small arrow on my phone?)
And where is the slope taken into account in the planning?

The rough floor plan was already set from the first minute, but we have kept changing/optimizing it and have not yet arrived at a final version.

I find the "fixed" measurements somewhat odd, because the design is actually no more than a sketch and you yourself say that it still has a long way to go in development.
For example, there is the very tiny cloakroom, the large utility room, the slender, long office, and the space-consuming dressing corner...

Why are you filling up the property? Even with your own labor, not cheap. Budget more than tight. especially all in. Why are you setting the house so far back? Would plan a different staircase. The upper floor completely new. Office bigger than the children's room. Bedroom becomes small because of the partition wall. Cloakroom quite small. Utility room skip one door. Kitchen normal patio door and turn the island into a peninsula.

And where is north and south? (Or did I miss a small arrow on the phone?)
And where is the slope taken into account in the planning?

Sorry, I cut out the north arrow as well. The cadastral map and the draft plan are oriented to north.

Why are you filling up the property?
Even as your own work, not cheap.

We would like to have everything around the house leveled and definitely build higher than the street level. An excavator is available and the soil masses obtained from the excavation area are usable and can be installed in the fill area.

Why do you position the house so far back?

We want to make the height difference to the street as modest as possible in the driveway and the garden area is still more than ample. In addition, a later carport or parking space in front of the house is still feasible.

Would plan a different staircase.
The upper floor completely new. Office bigger than the children's room. Bedroom becomes small because of the partition wall.
Wardrobe quite small.
Utility room, omit one door.
Kitchen with a normal patio door and turn the island into a peninsula.

Regarding the staircase, we were at one point considering a half-turned staircase. But that partly did not improve the geometry of the hallway or the layout upstairs.
We can simply swap the office and children's room if needed. For the utility room, it was important for us to have a door to the kitchen. I agree with you that the second door leading to the hallway is dispensable.

Do you have contour lines?

You can also create a property with terraces.
If you use your own excavation material, you dig yourself in somewhere.
And delivery, retention costs money. Just the compaction alone.

I don’t like the positioning. I’m not convinced by the filling. Does everything have to be even? The property simply has a slope or is just not level.

Do you always want to go through the kitchen with your dirty laundry?
I would have painted the door to the garage. You won’t fit much in besides laundry and building services.

Different stairs, different location, and the rooms will be better.

The bedroom is relatively large, but the unnecessary partition wall makes it look tiny and it won’t become a dressing room.
The office is only for family use and is bigger than the children's rooms. Which are small in relation to the size of the house. In addition, the layout and location of the office show that it doesn’t fit.

Downstairs in the open plan room, the windows don’t fit. The wardrobe is small.
The entrance to the open plan room looks anything but generous, open, and modern.

Do you have contour lines?

I can gladly create a plan with contour lines tomorrow. In the current draft, the planned embankments are already entered. 1m in the fill area, 1.80m in the cut area with a 1:1.5 slope.

You can also design a property in terraces.
If you use your own excavation, you end up digging yourself in somewhere.
And delivery, shoring costs money. Just the compaction alone.

That’s then kind of a large terrace. Since I come from earthworks, I can also estimate the effort quite well.

Do you always want to go through the kitchen with your dirty laundry?
I would have painted the door to the garage. You won’t get much in there besides laundry and house technology.

OK, good argument. The door to the garage is to remain because the utility room is planned to be a bit larger to also serve as a pantry. This should be accessible from the garage.