Single-family house floor plan / Feedback, criticism and suggestions

Dear House Building Forum,

after much back and forth, we have decided to take on the house building project in the Hanover region. After for us disillusioning conversations with some developers/general contractors, we have tried to put our desired ideas down on paper.

Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: approx. 1,800 m² not divisible or similar
Slope: no, flat
There is no development plan available; after prior consultation with the approval authority, §34 applies. Due to the surrounding development, the approval capability of 2 full floors was prospectively granted. However, the building must be oriented at the front area towards the street.
Edge development: multi-family house
Number of parking spaces: 2 + trailer space
Number of storeys: 2 full floors plus option for later attic expansion
Roof shape: gable roof
Style direction: modern
Orientation: north-facing

Client requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: simple, timeless, modern gable roof house
Basement, floors: no basement due to costs, 2 full floors
Number of persons, age: 2 adults, 2 children
Space requirement: 180 m² - 200 m²
Office: home office rarely + family use as guest room
Overnight guests per year: at least 10 - 15 nights
Open or closed architecture: ?
Conservative or modern construction method: modern
Open kitchen, cooking island: closed kitchen preferred but with sliding door and small cooking island
Number of dining seats: 6 seats
Fireplace: maybe, yes, as room divider to the dining area
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: garage contrary to the design also as prefabricated garage or carport, implementation possible for savings later on
Utility garden, greenhouse: utility garden for the family, rather problematic later to maintain due to size

House design
Who designed it:
Do-it-Yourself
What do you particularly like? Why?
Large utility room, direct access to garage, L-shape in living-dining area, 2 large children’s rooms, straight staircase
What don’t you like? Why?
Much wasted movement space on ground floor, wish to optimize total area to approx. 180 m²
Price estimate according to developer: 470 TEUR without garage, painting and floor coverings
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: approx. 500 TEUR without garage incl. ancillary building costs, plot available!
Preferred heating technology: air heat pump

If you have to do without, which details/extensions
can you do without:
smaller living-dining area, staircase form, reduction of children’s rooms to 16 m²
can you not do without:
large utility room, large living, dining area incl. closed kitchen, partial clinker

Why has the design turned out as it is now?
Arrangement, orientation of the house are based on the existing plot entrance, points we do not like in our rental house (city villa 155 m²)
What makes it particularly good or bad in your eyes?
It fulfills our wishes on paper, but the experience is missing whether this house can be built economically, possibly better ideas for arrangement of utility room incl. cloakroom and garage

What is the most important/basic question summed up in 130 characters about the floor plan?
How can I best optimize the living area regarding cost savings, is the floor plan in line with our price limit? What next, architect or developer/GC?

I hope the information is sufficient, please feel free to ask me for further details.

Thank you very much for your support and honest constructive feedback. And don’t be afraid to be straightforward.

The site plan is still missing. Please upload it. I’m also missing the orientation… where is north, which way do the window surfaces face?

Space requirement 180 m² - 200 m²

But the drawings show a good 225 sqm with the option to expand the attic?
What rooms are supposed to be added in the attic?

Number of floors: 2 full stories plus option for later attic expansion

the floor plan needs to be aligned with our budget limit.

No, I don’t think so.

How do I optimize the living area in the best possible way in terms of cost savings,

Build smaller. Build more efficiently.

Price estimate according to the developer: 470 TEUR without garage, painter and flooring
Personal price limit for the house, incl. equipment: approx. 500 TEUR without garage incl. ancillary building costs, plot available!

The question is: does the general contractor know about your design? Has he included all the details in the calculation or has he only given you a rough estimate based on square meters?
470,000 is a bargain price even in Lower Saxony, especially if partial brickwork and an expandable roof structure have to be considered. Also, no ancillary building costs are included.
You will exceed your limit with this plan! You can see that yourselves.

Regarding the floor plan: making everything slightly larger might solve bottlenecks, but you have to be able to afford it.
I don’t see a cloakroom.
To get to the living room or kitchen, you first have to walk to the end of the house and then turn again. That is not practical.
You could discuss building about 40 sqm smaller if you budget accordingly. Then the bottlenecks come that restrict the function of the house.

As already written, the calculation will not fit. Therefore, it would have to become smaller; however, you cannot just shrink everything a bit, but you have to basically start "new." But that doesn't matter, it is supposed to develop calmly. Currently, I see a lot of hallway space as well as "useless space between kitchen/living, a hallway without a wardrobe, generous living space, a relatively large bathroom upstairs, a very small master bedroom and on the other hand huge children's rooms as well as again huge hallway space. As said, building large makes room planning easier but expensive. Maybe you will take a few ideas from us here and redesign or do it differently, it will be fine.....or tomorrow is Saturday and Saturday is lottery day :D

470 TEUR without garage,

Where in the plan is the boundary between the house and the garage seen in this sense?

First of all, thank you for the quick responses. @pagoni 2020 Saturday lottery was already planned in advance, the question for you would be how to reduce the hallway area most effectively. Of course, you can start from scratch again, but we would like to adjust our existing floor plan based on ideas.

Thank you for your detailed feedback.
I just quickly uploaded the site plan from my phone. I hope you can see something. Here are my answers to your questions.
But the drawing shows a good 225 sqm with the option for attic expansion?
What rooms are still supposed to be added in the attic?
225 needs to be optimized! The background of our considerations is that we currently live in a single-family house with 150 sqm and it feels completely full. With things I couldn't imagine before we had children. The attic is also full; regarding the attic expansion, I would first like to create a proper staircase to the attic. I am considering self-employment and am thinking about creating a separated work area here independently of storage.

Build smaller. Build more efficiently.
Where or in which areas would you build more efficiently?

The question is: does the general contractor know about your construction? Does he have all the details included in the calculation or did he just give you a rough estimate of the sqm?
470,000 is also a bargain price in Lower Saxony if partial brick cladding and an expandable roof structure have to be considered.
This statement is based on two concrete conversations, as costs as described above are beyond our limit, I asked the general contractors for suggestions on how we could get into a price range of 400,000 euros. The counter proposals, however, no longer correspond with our ideas.
To get to the living room or kitchen, you first have to go to the end of the house and then turn again.
Would you arrange an additional door from the hallway?

I don't see a cloakroom
The utility room as a passage room to the hallway is intended to be used as a cloakroom.