Single-family house (2 floors + residential basement + developed attic) approximately 200 sqm - changes

I am not a fan of building a house for "maybe later it should be like that." Why limit yourself now for something that is not even certain to happen. And you seriously want to live in the basement later?

I think with your 4 developed floors and 400K you should first inquire in the F i n a n c e forum about what something like this costs. I consider both the floor plan and the budget unrealistic. An architect definitely did not design this.

So the house with a knee wall of 150 and a basement is our idea as planned by the architect. It is currently being calculated and, without ancillary construction costs, a price in the region of 300k (based on other plans) was shown to us. But we are also curious! Going up to the knee wall then has to be recalculated. Knee wall construction is cheaper than stiffening the 150cm knee wall with concrete columns. It won’t be a lift but could give us about 10-20 sqm and cost less than 1000€ per sqm.
Since according to the soil report we have to excavate deeply or lay deep strip foundations anyway, it will be the basement. That costs about 70k and provides about 55 sqm of living space. That also lowers the price. Apart from the basement and the higher knee wall, it is a SMALL standard house that costs about 220k with the equipment (geothermal, ...) at the prefab builders under 200k. Then the basement is added. So the price is pretty exactly the one you can get from other house providers too, just optimized based on practical (price/living space) considerations.

I’m not a fan of building a house for “maybe it’ll be like that later.” Why limit yourself now for something that may never happen? And you seriously want to live in the basement later?

I see it the same way. But with children, major changes can happen within the next 5-13 years. So we want to rather stay flexible. A granny flat makes sense here. We initially considered basement+ground floor and upper floor+attic. But that was hard to separate. This is not ideal currently but the option to offer a child their own apartment in the basement during training or university is nice (a living basement with real windows and 240cm ceiling height). Whether we will really move down there one day in 55 sqm is open. But the access could surely be converted to be wheelchair accessible and also used in times of limited mobility.

I consider both the floor plan and the budget unrealistic. An architect definitely didn't draw that.

What is unrealistic about the floor plan? And is the assumption that the plan wasn't made by an architect based only on the financial aspect or also on concerns regarding the floor plan? As I said, I tried to recreate the floor plan 1 to 1 with Sweet Home 3D. I was VERY precise in doing so. Of course, mistakes might still have happened. I would be very interested to know how you justify your assumption, because it is (in doubt, provably) wrong!

Well, maybe it’s also a kind of confusion game where no one keeps up. I read 2x knee wall 150cm. Then they talk about a “full” knee wall (what is that supposed to be?).

It would be nice to know the exterior dimensions and to know at all which floor you are currently on.

Just briefly touched on the individual floors, which a (real) architect normally wouldn’t do, without any claim to completeness and hoping that I was able to assign the floors correctly at all: UG: - Access to utility room through bathroom - Stair exit too narrow - you walk into the wall - Narrow room at the top of the plan EG: - Front door opens outwards - Stairs oriented towards chill room - Stairs undersized (80 to 90 cm tread width = chicken ladder) OG: - Stair exit again too narrow (see UG) - Bedroom - dimensions too small - hard to tell since no dimensions are given. - Access to bedroom through office already very unusual (2x walkthrough rooms) - Access to dressing room under the slope would in my opinion not be possible at all since under 2m. DG: - Third stair exit. - Would like to see the floor heights for that.

What seems almost naive to me, however, is the assumption that the “bait prices” have anything to do with reality. The whole thing with the extra requests and earthworks - the building site would have to be in Romania already.

Well, maybe it’s also a kind of confusion game that no one can follow.
I read "knee wall 150cm" twice. Then they talk about a "full" knee wall (what exactly is that supposed to mean?).

It would be nice to know the external dimensions and at least which floor we are currently talking about.

Just briefly touched on the individual floors, which a (real) architect would normally not do, without claiming completeness and hoping that I assigned the floors correctly at all:
Basement:
- Utility room access through the bathroom
- Stair exit too narrow – you run into the wall
- Narrow room at the top of the plan
Ground floor:
- Front door opens outward
- Stairs oriented towards the chill room
- Stairs undersized (80 to 90 cm tread width = chicken ladder)
Upper floor:
- Stair exit again too narrow (see basement)
- Bedroom – dimensions too small – hard to tell because no dimensions are indicated.
- Bedroom access via study room already very unusual (2x walk-through rooms)
- Access to the dressing room under the slope would, in my opinion, not be possible since it’s under 2m.
Attic:
- Third stair exit
- Would like to see the ceiling heights for that.

What already seems almost naive to me, however, is the assumption that the “bait prices” have anything to do with reality. Especially with extra wishes and earthworks – the construction site would have to be in Romania for that.

Knee wall/knee wall: Currently the planning includes a 150cm knee wall on the upper floor. Once the cost calculation is finished, we might possibly go for a full knee wall above the upper floor.
External dimensions are noted on the basement – 899cm
The pictures are sorted from bottom to top. For the 150cm knee wall variant, the basement and ground floor are not included because they are identical, with heights (construction height/after floor + insulation approximately): So basement with outside access (250/230) – ground floor with entrance and large chill room (275/265) – upper floor with bathroom and 2 bedrooms (250/240) – roof (knee wall 235/225 – 150cm knee wall 210/200) – attic (rest)

Regarding the notes – many thanks for them:
Basement:
- Access to utility room through the bathroom – but it saves a corridor. Price/performance – currently the building services will be there and laundry will be washed and dried. That doesn’t spoil the bathroom in front. Later maybe a small work nook will be added. With a 55sqm granny flat, this is a compromise. We are open to suggestions.
- Stair exit too narrow – you run into the wall – compromise price/performance – the door will be a glass door.
- Narrow room at the top of the plan – see previous point
Ground floor:
- Front door opens outward – I changed that without consulting the architect. Is that not allowed?
- Stairs oriented towards the chill room – what’s wrong with that?
- Stairs undersized (80 to 90 cm tread width = chicken ladder) – The stairs are the big problem anyway due to the small footprint. I am open to any practical alternative that does not only result in hallways.
Upper floor:
- Stair exit again too narrow (see basement) – see above
- Bedroom – dimensions too small – hard to tell because no dimensions indicated.
- Bedroom access via study room already very unusual (2x walk-through rooms) – see walk-through bathroom in the basement. For us, this is practical as a separate parents’ area (so both rooms together but separated from each other)
- Access to the dressing room under the slope would, in my opinion, not be possible as it’s under 2m – that is just my idea so far
Attic:
- Third stair exit – see other remarks (the architect planned a somewhat larger corridor as wide as the stairs here)
- Would like to see the ceiling heights for that – I described that above

EDIT on the price: I have described quite a bit. Currently, it is a small house measured by size but with a basement anyway, because the soil has to be removed and the roof is instead of standard about 1m knee wall at 1.50m or directly a full knee wall raised. 300k WITHOUT additional building costs is very little for us but we hope it stays in that range. The comparison offer was somewhat larger, also with a basement, many tiling works included in the price and also with geothermal heating. We want smaller but to go higher with the roof and heating.

The price is nonsense. Or do you want to build everything yourselves?

Why should the basement only cost 70k? That would probably be the case for a pure utility basement. But you want to use it as living space (or at least prepare it) so room height, windows, underfloor heating, fittings etc. like a normal living square meter above ground. Thus, your 55sqm of living space in the basement alone should cost about 110EUR.

Calculate at least 2000 EUR per sqm of living space + all other costs (ancillary building costs + earthworks + garage/carport + outdoor facilities + kitchen + other furniture + small items like lamps etc.)

This is a common calculation and you will end up far beyond the mentioned 300k and even 400k will never be enough.