Presentation of construction project, critique welcome, Mediterranean terrace.

Hello,

after having read along here a bit and as things are now becoming more concrete for us, I would like to introduce our building project here. Comments, suggestions, and ideas are of course very welcome.

We are currently waiting for the purchase contract for our plot of land in the Rhineland.
In total 475 sqm (18m wide... 28m or 23m deep... at the back the plot runs diagonally) at 110€/sqm.
Costs for the plot including incidental expenses are about 60,000€.

The construction is with an architect, who also takes over the complete construction management.
Some info about the house:
- 1 1/2 stories
- gable roof
- fully brick-clad
- 4x9m garage
- air heat pump including controlled residential ventilation (combined unit)
- underfloor heating
- electric roller shutters

Total costs including all incidental construction costs about 250,000€.

Additionally, a new kitchen is planned for about 9,000€-10,000€.

What has not yet been considered are the outdoor facilities.
These will be left aside for the time being.

However, a Mediterranean-style terrace is planned, paved extensively at the front, otherwise exclusively lawn area.

Attached are also the floor plan designs.

Hello,

Total costs including all incidental building costs about €250,000.

I wouldn't rely on that if I were you; the amount mentioned for the pure house construction in the Rhineland is - in my experience - set far too low.

Rhenish regards

I find your floor plan quite interesting – especially upstairs it’s something different – I would like it despite (or precisely because of) the many slanted walls. The entrance area could become very small because the staircase almost juts into the front door – but you can get used to that. Personally, I would do without the door in the utility room, it is too small for that and you need the space for storage/technical equipment. Better to walk the 4 meters around the house to the garage. In the kitchen, considering the small budget, I would skip the expensive "cooking island" option and rather put the cooking plates to the left on the garage wall. This way you have a nice storage/junk/counter space. I hope you manage with the 250€ including ancillary construction costs. That seems very tight, especially with architects, where you don’t get a fixed price,...

Thank you for the initial feedback.

As for the costs, I have to assume for now that we will manage with them. If it turns out during the construction that it won’t work after all, we will do some trades ourselves later to stay within the budget. The experiences of some acquaintances who also built with this architect so far show that the costs have always matched well, so I am relying on that for now.

Regarding the floor plan: The slanted walls were my wife's wish. She really wanted them because she finds only straight walls too boring :P
We also have some concerns about the utility room, but we actually don’t want to do without the door to the garage. The laundry chute in the utility room will be placed at the top right corner, with the washing machine and dryer next to it. There won’t be a shelf as shown on the plan. We hope that we can manage to fit everything reasonably well.
The kitchen island will definitely not be there. The architect just drew it in like that. The stove will go to the left and the counter will remain free.

I would consider swapping the dressing room and bedroom, then the lighting in this room will also work without expensive Velux (Velux roof windows), through which you can't see anything anyway. Besides, you would then have a sound buffer to the children's room.

The slanted walls are not my thing either... They always look like the architect didn't feel like planning it properly with 90-degree walls.

I find the entrance area somewhat unfortunate. You open the door and practically fall against a slanted wall, which is not inviting. And where is a wardrobe supposed to go here?
The study on the ground floor is surely meant to also function as a guest room. Where do they shower then, upstairs with you? Speaking of which, you are four people and only have one shower? Then it would be better to make the toilet on the ground floor a bit larger, at the expense of the "living" area.
I also find it inappropriate that you always have to go through the living room to get to the study. If one person has guests and the other wants to retreat, they have to pass by everyone every time.
The door from the garage to the utility room is certainly planned to store the groceries there (space in the kitchen might be tight). But that doesn’t make much sense, since the path from the kitchen to the utility room is always quite long. Therefore, you can also bring the items in through the front door.