Own floor plan design city villa 180 sqm with double garage feedback

We have received our preliminary draft. Basically, we like it.

Of course you like the draft in this form: the staircase has been moved to the other side of the hallway, bathroom and office have been swapped, otherwise the draftsman just obediently copied your draft. On top of that, "symmetryh", which is always popular.

Except for the sofa corner, which is probably a bit too tight - but the kitchen area is huge. That’s why we will swap the kitchen with the living area.

This is a typical "we don’t care what you build for us" floor plan. A coincidence into which some furniture has been drawn. The unsystematic approach of simply swapping kitchen and living can’t fix this as it is nonsense itself. A kitchen is too expensive and too central to be left without proper planning. I assume this is now supposed to be a "city villa" without a basement. What does the lighter gray of the wall between the children’s rooms mean? My overall verdict is: "loveless to the core." In the so-called planning, the general contractors are "quick**kers," as you can clearly see here once again. Do yourselves two big favors: go to an architect and be willing not to "pre-work" for them. I see here two major popular misconceptions: first, that waiving an architect is equivalent to saving their entire fee; and second, that symmetry is the recipe for a result that surely looks neat. Both are 90% disappointed hopes each. The necessary "safety margin" on room sizes alone, to make even an unprofessional draft furnishable, more than compensates for the supposed saving of the fee. However, the extra size then also gives the freedom to leave window positions to symmetry.

I think the hallway area on the upper floor is way too large (but that's always the case when you build the staircase like that), but otherwise you can build the floor plan like this and feel comfortable in it. It's just a standard floor plan. But not everyone has to build with the architect. And sometimes floor plans come out of that which are really catastrophic.

I should add a third popular misconception among builders: since the draftsman is often even authorized to provide templates himself and the general contractor (GC) has already built many houses, the layperson’s planning after the supposed filter level "quote-architect" is no longer such, but somewhat "reviewed and cleaned up." The small true core is that the draftsman does indeed have a brain and experience and also processes the layperson’s planning in a cleaning manner insofar as details that would hinder approval are changed based on his experience. On the other hand, he has the order from the GC, á la "when in doubt, for the accused," to overlook all non-approval-hindering clumsiness of the self-planning builder. He should avoid unnecessary rounds in the building application and thus watch out for approval obstacles, but not create obstacles to the customer’s signature under the contract for work. This results in: "shut up if you see that the builder is a rather weak architect, don’t scare him off with criticism." And of course the experts know the value of symmetry for the "Wife Acceptance" factor and like to fine-tune it. And so a layperson’s draft remains a layperson’s draft, and the builder as maître de raviolibüchse feels patted on the shoulder because the "professionals" have left so much of his original draft, since "then it must be good."

I find the hallway area on the upper floor much too large (but that is always the case when the stairs are built like this), but otherwise, the floor plan can be built like this and one can feel comfortable in it. It is just a standard floor plan. But not everyone has to build with an architect. And there are sometimes floor plans that really turn out catastrophic.

Of course, you can build this floor plan like this. If you have the money for it, the surplus spaces don’t bother you. On the contrary: through the unprofessional planning, they are even "skillfully disguised" and not noticed at all. That the straight single-flight staircase is a space waster is something I say here often (and almost always to deaf ears), but for me here it would not be a major point of criticism. Its contribution to the potential waste of the overall design is too insignificant for that. That even freelance architects can be careless and/or weak in planning is (to me) known. But I don’t find this sufficient to serve as an excuse against the involvement of a transparently self-paying architect. After all, there is the possibility to involve a forum community in the discussion of phase 2 of services. @ all lay planners: phase 2 of services is the one which does not exist at all in the GC all-inclusive planning. Phase 3 of services does at least exist there as a worm attachment to phase 4.

In principle, it will work. And I also find it cozy* with appropriate furnishing, because with 180 sqm there are hardly any bottlenecks. However, in my opinion, it does not fit the plot. Because: The north arrow is not correct as it stands. It would have to be rotated 45 degrees according to the site plan. West would be the lower left corner of the house on the plan. There, from SW to NW, is the beautiful evening sun in summer. This benefits the guest WC as well as the bathroom upstairs, and incidentally the guest room or office, not the main living areas. An office/home office simply does not need intensive sunlight. Children's rooms are well oriented, as is the utility room. ... you have to know what you want. This would not be mine.

Then you are probably planning to move the house further forward. In that case, I would distance the family bathroom from the street side. If the kitchen/living area is swapped, the bathroom would also be above the living room... that’s possible, but I would prefer to have the waste pipe in a more concealed position. Possibly also with a laundry chute directly to the utility room, but with a staircase that is not absolutely necessary.

Was the topic actually discussed why you want to move the house forward? I would create a nice SW garden and move the kitchen/dining area into this area, and the living area into the more intimate zone in the north.

*Furnishing: a proper wardrobe is missing. Yes, you can fill the hallway with cabinets, but it is nicer to create space for cabinets right away, so you don’t bump into them in the hallway. When swapping kitchen/living area, keep in mind that a completely different kitchen will be installed there: not as spacious as drawn here. On the upper floor, I would not plan the bedroom as a walkthrough room but, out of respect for the partner’s peace (if needed), always place the dressing room first. I would swap the toilet and shower so that you don’t exit the shower naked in front of the window. In addition, the toilet is used more often and can make good use of natural light.

The staircase has a tripping edge when leaving the guest/office.

However, in my view, it does not fit on the property. Because: The north arrow is initially incorrect. It would have to be rotated 45 degrees according to the site plan.

Correct. However, whether the right side of the plan is south or southeast only slightly changes that the "uncomplicated idea" of the OP of swapping the kitchen and sofa corner is equivalent to a shift by a noticeable amount of sunshine hours. Also a point that does not bother every freelance architect, but never a draftsman's apprentice.

180 m2 are hardly feasible with the budget.