Realistic cost estimate: Single-family house with unfavorable development location

Hello everyone, today I have to complain a bit. We looked at some houses for reference. When I read 160 sqm for three people, it seems extremely large to me. Then I stand in real houses and it feels like no room is really spacious, some even rather borderline small. How can that be? What should one do/not do in the planning to make it feel somehow airier? Besides just enlarging the whole house, I mean, because I somehow don't understand why three to four people shouldn't be able to get by with 160 (148 or so according to the living space ordinance) :(

Well, then they are either poorly planned or your expectations are utopian^^. We live four people in 88m2 and sure, it could be a bit more here and there, but it works for us. No idea how one cannot manage with double that.

There are some things that consume a lot of square meters. Large hallways, straight staircases, square rooms, bay windows. And then there are things that make rooms appear larger. Lots of light, long sightlines, etc. You can only really judge the houses if you have the floor plan. A well-designed floor plan (and even a moderately good one) easily manages with ~130sqm for 4 people.

Show us an example (floor plans) with 160 m2 that feels cramped to you.

I see it the same way as It is often the desired straight staircase that swallows a lot of hallway space. On top of that, a closed wall or solid door that does not allow sight lines. The floor plan either allows for enclosure or openness. Enclosure does not have to be a negative thing; it also means you can close the door behind you and have your personal space, which is especially important with four people. But if you are more of the "open" type, then you should also ensure, for example through window placement or clever transitions, that even compact rooms appear spacious. Furnishing also plays a role: a massive wardrobe can overwhelm a large hallway, and a "living landscape" can make a large chill-out corner appear smaller. Name the model homes, then one can check what feels cramped and what is confining.

Hello everyone :) I totally agree with you – as I said, 160sqm seems like a lot to me overall and I don’t understand why it feels so small on site. We now live in under 90 like you and it doesn’t feel cramped to me either. However, we don’t have two floors, so naturally there is no staircase or hallway.

I also don’t understand what kind of mental block is restricting us.

and Unfortunately, the houses are not online, otherwise I would have liked to share them with you. A similar one to our hand sketch on page 23 was nice, for example, but then the children’s rooms were under 10sqm according to WoFl – we don’t want that. If somehow two bigger rooms could be made out of the three small ones, that would already be close to our ideal. By the way, we are not fixed on the position or turning of the stairs. It would only be important that you don’t stand right in front of the stairs from the front door because you’d always carry dirt up there otherwise. Regarding sightlines, we would like it if the view from the front door extends to the garden (double-wing glass door) to the open-plan room.

I found some quite interesting floor plans at "Buss Bauunternehmen" under Viergiebelhaus and at "die Planerei" (References/Viergibelhaus 151). If you’re interested, you can give your opinion on them.