Planning of a single-family house (basement + ground floor + upper floor) on a 480m² plot

Fresh air is provided by the ventilation system 24 hours a day and not just 2-3 times.

that many have no desire for it.

... or no time.

Hello! In another thread, I was advised to present my project here.

Actually, you don’t have a project yet. At least just an idea. I hope this doesn’t turn into a Controlled Residential Ventilation/40/55-useless-or-not thread, we already have too many of those. Here’s a tip: be flexible and don’t plan, for example, at some point around this prefab garage-house connecting door. It hardly brings anything, is rarely used in connection with narrow garages, and is overrated... And the basement: that’s a matter of cost. It’s not free! I’m surprised by the thought of a sauna when not a brushstroke has been made, nor a site plan posted here.

A straight staircase with 80m2 of living space on the ground floor will be difficult and will probably ruin the layout. Ours is over 4m long - it takes up a lot of space and if it is desired as a design element, it needs even more space to make an impact.

Hardly less than 30 sqm is consumed by a single-flight straight staircase for the viewing distance of the impressed admirers and the walking path around it from the exit to the entrance of the next floor. The additional space requirements of the rooms reverently and inconveniently rearranged because of this are not included yet.

Currently, gas is being phased out so that one can switch to a heat pump. This is even subsidized.

I don't want to say directly that everything subsidized is rubbish - but, strangely enough ;-) two types of things are subsidized the most / most generously:
1. Things that users with brains would voluntarily never have considered better than other ways - almost like a Judas reward;
2. Things that rich people would have bought even without money gifts - so they can then spend the money as well, investing is only half the (economic) life.

Better photovoltaic than solar thermal. Gas can be done. It will soon be "green" anyway and electricity prices are rising too. Above all, you always have full power and efficiency at any temperature. In the garden, think of a large cistern, power for the pump, robotic mower, control line for irrigation, refilling cistern, LAN cable for Wi-Fi, etc. Plan sufficient feedthroughs for this. You will never get it as easy as with a new system.

Good morning and thank you all for the responses and the many great ideas! Just because of your posts, I have already changed my plan and discussed it with the architect friend yesterday evening. There are really many good tips included.

: Yes, actually 2 full floors are mandatory. But that’s okay and that’s what we want. No, the development plan does not specify an intermediate door between the garage and the house, only the two parking spaces. But my architect talked me out of the intermediate door anyway yesterday. She said I should rather plan a door to the garden at the back of the garage.

: you are right, the straight staircase might indeed be somewhat unfavorable. I might have to rethink that. The question about the ventilation system is a good one, why we want it – because we received recommendations for it from friends as well. However, some people here in the forum advised against it and our architect also said yesterday we should leave it and rely on good old ventilation. We will probably do that too. You are right about the sauna, we have already written off the basement. The sauna will probably come into the bathroom on the upper floor as you also suggested; we are planning a slightly larger “wellness” bathroom upstairs and since the living room will have a bay window anyway, we will make a balcony on it with direct access from the bathroom (according to the current plan).

: thanks for the hint. The gas thing is correct, the architect also talked me out of it yesterday. I really have to look into the passive house topic first. She recommended geothermal energy yesterday, but whether that even works at the location, I first have to find out. Because you mentioned photovoltaics: I have to recalculate that. I thought the ever decreasing feed-in tariff does NOT pay off the price of the system?

: it is 480 m², about 18.5 by 26, a slight slope that may be compensated, BY small town, 330 € / m². We want to proceed like this: architect, solid house, preferably turnkey (simply because we cannot be on site every day and want everything from one source), budget about 150k for the plot and 650k for the house (but with everything, including kitchen, sauna etc.). Thanks also to you for the hint about gas.

: thanks for the hint about the connecting door, that was just an extra I would have liked, but as I said, the architect has already talked me out of it. Why from your point of view am I not allowed to plan a sauna in my house? We have been searching for a plot for a long time and have already done MANY brushstrokes or drafts on the computer for us, so we really have spent many hours dealing with the subject. I just haven’t posted anything in the forum yet, but that will definitely follow when the project is a bit more “mature.” I am aware that a basement costs 60-90k nowadays, but I still want it for various reasons.

: you wrote again about the stairs, I really have to reconsider that. We can also make more use of the building envelope and make the house a bit bigger, maybe that would be better for the straight stairs (or it simply won’t be there, it’s not mandatory).

: Thanks to you too. We had already considered many things and according to the current plan it looks like this: septic tank definitely, robotic mower rather not, network is already more or less mentally planned since I know about it, irrigation: good point, haven’t thought about that at all.

Are you now planning for 2 or for a family?

Why does the architect advise against a ventilation system? Sure, it costs money to purchase, but it provides a lot of comfort and your house does not cool down in winter. Opening windows is still possible if you want to. You have to manually exchange the entire air and thus heat in the house at least 3 times a day.

I see the budget in Bavaria with a basement as tight. Not impossible, but not generous.

Consider whether you would prefer to plan the sauna above ground.