We visited three construction companies, received partly good plans (but too large) and partly standard designs that did not fit at all. That’s why we engaged intensively with floor plans and tried to create a design that requires as few compromises as possible. Due to our wish to enter the house from the side and to have the living-dining-cooking area arranged in an L-shape on the southwest side of the house as well as the two children's rooms facing south without dormers and dwarf gables, we did not find any 1.5-story designs from, for example, prefabricated house providers. After many other drafts, we finally drew this one, which we basically like best and which is just about okay in size. The bay window for the staircase will surely cause additional costs, which we hope to reduce by foregoing a flat roof and extending the roof. The story height of the ground floor is only an assumption; the staircase is planned for a story height of 2.83 m, tread 26 cm, rise 18 cm.
In combination with ...
With the optimized design, we want to go to construction companies and inquire. All architects contacted have too long waiting times, and since we have to apply for funding in spring, that unfortunately would not work timewise.
... unfortunately this results in a problem that blocks itself against solutions. I won’t have time during the current quarter to say more about the design than what has already been said here regarding where and why it doesn’t work (and thus also no time to develop solution proposals). I think the scheduling situation among colleagues will not be significantly different. I am not even going to provide detailed criticism here because the design fundamentally fails in a key point (head clearance of the staircase) and cannot be economically fixed. Therefore, the design is basically dead. At least examples of the functional designs that “did not fit at all” as well as criticism of those could be beneficial for the discussion. I see a lack of talent for planning on your part and fear that companies you ask for suggestions will, as usual, present unsatisfactory designs. So please name model designations and your reasons for dislike.
If cost optimization is the goal, then find a solid construction or general contractor, take a suitable and solid standard design from them, adapt it if necessary in length or shortness, possibly by mirroring the house or rotating one half or a plan square, adjust some things, set a affordable highlight (e.g., a bay window, a large window, built-in closet, or whatever) and be happy with a reasonably built house.
Let’s summarize.
- You want to build a cheap house but have very special wishes. You need a good planner for this, because the smaller the house, the more difficult it is.
- There are a number of well-tested floor plans on the market, but you have to give up your special wishes there.
Personally, I would put the design aside as a nice attempt and choose one of the upper variants. Why are you under such pressure regarding the funding? Pressure during planning is a bad advisor, especially with probably the biggest investment in your life. Things forgotten during planning can often still be corrected in a second step, but that costs money and often more than if you had taken the time for it from the start.
I can only fully agree with both.
Again about the staircase – what exactly is the technical problem with the staircase? I would like to understand that. Just out of interest – would it work if you moved the entire staircase one or one and a half steps further into the bay window, i.e., enlarged the bay window and thus improved the "head clearance"? Or are there other fundamental difficulties I am overlooking?
No, that wouldn’t help; it would already require a Frankenstein-proportioned "captain’s bay window". But since you do not understand this detail despite your own drawing, it reinforces my fears that you won’t figure it out without an architect. It’s best to give up on the idea of an unprecedented staircase bay window for good reasons. Your enthusiasm for a house design will presumably not decisively fail due to a “usual” staircase location (?)
I’m reluctant to publish this exact design because its construction method is not that common.
Then name names (warning – without links!)
I will post the other design that we didn’t like so much tomorrow, maybe it has more potential than what we have seen so far.
Fine!
From my experience, enthusiasm for copying by a layperson is limited in this forum because we don’t know what matters.
Very well recognized!
Here’s the question: how do I find a good planner? To be honest, I worry about ending up with a design that doesn’t exhaust its full potential but costs a lot of money – I am also willing to spend money for it because a good design can of course save a lot of money and problems later on. But I have read enough threads here where planners’ designs were heavily criticized. How can I minimize this risk?
I’ll wait for your design tomorrow first. Otherwise, feel free to contact me – or where you can find "A house-building roadmap, also for you: the HOAI phase model!"
Slope: yes, slight. The total length of the plot is about 28 m with a rise from the street (south) of about 1.5 – 2 m
… does not sound to me like a necessity for a bespoke design, so you could also be accompanied by an independent building consultant for the selection and adaptation of a catalog house. The most heavily criticized plans from planners here are those from “draft slaves” (i.e., draftsmen or architects of general contractors), with criticism mainly based on the fact that laymen’s designs are only very incompletely improved this way. With tame adjustments to catalog houses, you will have good chances with a “normal family” (two adults, two children, no monkey or horse) (and to get things done quickly). With the upcoming federal election, time pressure is off anyway, since current funding programs probably won’t survive a government change essentially unchanged.