Possibilities of not exceeding 2/3 of the floor area on the upper floor

That when you come down the stairs, you walk through the dirt that you bring into the house after gardening, for example...

The main entrance will hardly be used by us. The entrance for gardening or the "daily coming home" will be through the utility room. The area in front of the main entrance will be completely paved. Access to the terrace is through the kitchen and living room.

You can ask VW how to manipulate values. Maybe the government will also help with tips on how to raise limits.

Yes, they know their way around that. No, seriously. We don’t want to fake anything but maybe exploit existing gray areas. What doesn’t work, simply doesn’t work.

Seems like a real expert.

Seriously, how much are you over? Have you ever calculated it? Not that we are talking about 5 cm at the knee wall and therefore everything has to be completely re-planned. Otherwise, I also see the earliest option as expanding the utility room behind the garage. That wouldn’t even be visible optically.
What’s supposed to be that weird corner at the garage anyway?

We planned with a 1.01 meter knee wall and have now ended up at 75 cm after calculations. We then enlarged the house to 9*12 to disproportionately increase the ground floor area compared to the upper floor. But that didn’t help. The side bay windows also grew proportionally for optical reasons.
Regarding an expansion of the utility room, our developer said that no flat roof may be put on top because otherwise it wouldn’t count as living space? We only talked about this briefly. So I may have misunderstood something.
We made the corner at the garage to still have good access to the house. The garage is on the boundary. With 9 meters we already reach the maximum and still had to keep 3 meters distance from the boundary with the small piece.

Federal state?

Lower Saxony.

Why? Is there a development plan? The more input, the more output.

Yes, there is a development plan.
It requires single-story construction with a max eaves height of 4.50 meters.
The developer is concerned because the room—if it’s built in the garage and possibly walled off—doesn’t really count towards the house’s floor area. The room is located in an outbuilding.
If the utility room is pushed out directly and enlarged, of course it looks different, I think.

Regarding an extension of the utility room, our developer said that no flat roof may be installed there either, as it would otherwise not count as living space?

That sounds ominous. I've never heard that before. I would doubt that.

That sounds ominous. I've never heard of that. I would doubt that.

I will follow up on that. As I said, we only talked about it superficially and also in connection with the garage. Maybe I misunderstood something there. Can someone tell me whether the stairs are included in the calculation of the living area on the upper floor? We are not allowed to exceed 2/3 of the ground floor here. The height above the stairs, of course, is over 2.20 meters. Our builder currently includes the area. With the stair dimensions of 3.75*1.2 meters, that would be 4.5 sqm that would be deducted upstairs. Unless I also have to subtract it downstairs again. Since we have to maintain a distance of 3 meters from the neighbor's property with the house, I couldn't create much more floor space on the ground floor in the utility room either. Although we could still shift the house a bit to the left.

We planned with a knee wall height of 1.01 meters and have now ended up at 75cm according to the calculations. We then enlarged the house to 9*12 to disproportionately increase the floor area compared to the upper floor. However, this brought no success. The side bay windows also grew accordingly (for aesthetic reasons).

If you enlarge the house on the ground floor, you can either let the upper floor grow along or box the upper floor so that the knee wall is not 75 but 1 meter or according to calculation. So that two-thirds are created at the top. Everything below that is not needed anyway. Box this off on the plan with timber frame construction at 1.30 (or according to calculation), then you can place a bed with a headboard in the bedroom. The children's rooms then get built-in wardrobes in the boxed area, which can be decided on short notice during the interior finishing.

That sounds ominous. I've never heard of that. I would doubt it.

I would too. We or rather our general contractor fulfilled the regulation with an extension that enlarges the living room around the corner. On top of that is a flat roof with a terrace, also in Lower Saxony.

Niedersachsen.

OK, it is basically like in NRW, only that the values cause a full floor to appear significantly earlier.

The room is located in an outbuilding.

How it is classified depends on the stipulations of the development plan and its integration into the main building structure.

Maybe I misunderstood something there.

Yeah, clarify that before we tear the developer apart here.

Can someone tell me if the staircase is included in the calculation of the living area on the upper floor?

I don't know. But I can tell you that the living area does not play a role in determining a full floor, rather the gross floor area of the respective floors, i.e., the area according to the external dimensions of the building. Stairs are considered such that their floor plan is projected onto the floor level of the floor they lead to – so it's as if the stairwell is closed off with the stairs.

Our developer has currently included the area.

So he acted correctly.

Unless I have to deduct it again downstairs.

No, the area counts fully in both floors, since the dormer is located above the stairs.

Since we have to maintain a distance of 3 meters to the neighboring property with the house, I couldn’t really create much more floor area in the utility room on the ground floor either.

I see the following options: 1. Simple, quick to implement, and cost-saving: omit dormer over the entrance 2. Simple, quick to implement, and expensive, provided the building boundary does not interfere: conservatory within the thermal envelope 3. Possibly complicated: redesign of the utility room, provided the building boundary or other stipulations, which we don’t know (hint: please post the development plan here), do not interfere 4. Time-consuming and expensive: see : larger house: knee wall remains unchanged, dwarf wall at the knee wall height from the original plan 5. Dream house farewell: leave it to the developer; lower knee wall and low roof pitch