Single-family house + granny flat on a slope with flexible use

As I understand it, the financing only works if there is additional rental income as soon as less work is done because of child(ren). That doesn’t sound good, I think. How is the rental apartment situation with you? Are there any interested parties? Do you want strangers in your house and garden? What happens in case of vacancy/rent nomads?

So we are building on a hillside property with a similar slope and also do not want to live in the basement, but on the ground floor with a nice view from the balcony. We will sleep on the upper floor with exactly the consideration that the children can later use the living space in the basement. We could not imagine sleeping in the "cellar." But everyone has to answer that for themselves, and I believe the forum reflects a slightly distorted image of reality on this - as on many other topics. I do not think your thoughts are that far off.

440k house (without equipment) + 20 balcony, 62k garage (which was a proper garage, basemented and connected to the house in the basement) 30k earthworks (without excavation removal)

Can house costs, carport, and equipment like balcony be separated in this case? Wouldn't it be a unit?

My future wife dreams of being able to enjoy the view from the bathtub.

Where does she want to look?

This post I copied was in response to the earlier posts, later there was this "living room in the basement" discussion.

Let me take away the illusion that you consciously look outside in the tub. Either you want to relax, have your eyes closed, and/or it is dark outside and/or the blinds are down while bathing.
How is one supposed to imagine that? Lying or sitting in the tub and then tilting the head? And when stepping out of the tub, then cautiously covering up the shame?
And the balcony use: the illusion, like in advertisements, is that you open the balcony door, breathe in fresh air, and relax the rest of the day at the table with tea or coffee while the kids sit next to you with Nesquik?
No, you have to water the garden, almost every day. Then you pluck leaves here and there. Walk around the house, take care, pay attention. What you do with the children has been thoroughly commented on by .

Moreover, we don’t need such a house size at the beginning, when there are no or small children, nor in old age, when we are alone again.

I don’t believe that all of us home builders are stupid who haven’t built a granny flat, but actually just for themselves and the family. Later, you can sell and downsize.

Are our thoughts so exclusive and absurd? Isn’t it actually sensible to only satisfy those needs in different life phases which are really necessary?

I don’t find them exclusive, but naïve.

Are there people here who have built like this and say they would do it again? Do the supporters of living in the basement have hillside plots themselves and can speak from their own experience?

Here in the flat countryside there are also hills, even very hilly villages and municipalities. Mostly these are the more expensive spots. There, houses stand on slopes, great ones, all architect houses, which are mostly well thought out with garden access from their preferred living area, the living or dining room.
As I said before: I still find your whole thinking immature.

This basement thinking has probably become established in many, where more and more just standardize rebuilding the typical house with one or two floors from the general contractor instead of shelling out money and letting the architect do it, especially for this plot.
No one would speak of a basement in the great hillside houses I mentioned, only of "downstairs" and "upstairs."

A newer idea was a "dining kitchen" in the basement with garden access and a pure, smaller living room on the ground floor with a view and evening sun. I haven’t gotten beyond the idea yet – so there is no sketch.

Our neighbor has on a flat plot on the ground floor a kitchen-living area, utility room, bathroom and two children’s rooms. Upstairs is the living room and the parents’ area.

I am currently a bit short on time to look for more for you, but the threads of the forum members I mentioned (searching for their "own topics" in their profiles leads to the posts with their houses) are only about half of what I have come across here in the last two years in terms of comparable construction projects. By the way, a perennial topic has been and still is the discussion about the paths between the everyday living area and the terrace / garden access.

I can only agree with Yvonne there as well; with such properties, you have to move away from classic floor designations like "basement." There is street level, garden level, and so on.

Living concepts, granny flats, and hillside locations form a magical triangle

The answer to less space needed after the children leave the nest is, by the way, to build again near retirement - at least for builders where both spouses are under 40 or even younger at the start of construction, this is the trend more often taken.

Living preferences, granny flat, and hillside location are a magic triangle

...while of course one could consider placing a granny flat on the upper level, where a roof terrace makes sense. However, personally, I am against planning a granny flat at all if you cannot otherwise afford “such” a house.

P.s. I have now taken another look at the floor plan and don’t find it great either. Tiny pantry is annoying, corner in the bedroom too, only a convoluted arrangement possible in the dressing room, etc.

What are the disadvantages you mentioned regarding the living level in the basement?
One disadvantage might be that you have to carry all the groceries down a whole floor. I consider that negligible.
We have to carry all groceries up half a floor, which was an absolute no-go for us at the start of the planning. Eventually, I had to accept that you have to make compromises with a sloped plot.
After nearly 1.5 years in the house, it is so normal to me that I don’t even see it as a disadvantage.
Instead, I can go from the kitchen straight onto the terrace and into the garden.

- Exactly, the groceries (in our case, it’s a whole floor, not just half)
- The basement is partially embedded in the slope and right in front of the hill (less light for the basement)
- The plot next to us on the left is slightly lower than ours. The house there will most likely be built as close as possible to our plot for sun in the garden (more light in the upper floor than the basement)
- Every time the doorbell rings, you have to run upstairs (I know there are intercom systems with video function and electric door openers, but it’s also strangers, parcel delivery people, etc. ringing whom I still want to receive at the door)
- Every time you enter or leave the house (you spend most time in the living area), you have to go up/down a staircase (Sure, if you buy a sloped plot, you should be aware there will be stairs, but you can reduce it as much as possible)
- You buy an elevated plot just not to fully use it??? (doesn’t make sense to me)
- Eating outside, but the balcony is even higher (= nicer) situated than the garden.

- Direct garden access convinces us only partially. We have it via the stairs that should go to the balcony. (Of course, it’s not the same access, since you always have to take the stairs to the garden. Compromises have to be made.)
- The kids’ argument from as well. How often does that actually happen and for how long in life? 5 years and in our latitudes only about half of the year? How long would I live in the basement with at least felt less light, no street access and more stair climbing (40–50 years)? Does not seem proportionate to me.

However, we will definitely also look at houses with the two different configurations (the first ones in our development will be finished soon). Maybe live it will change our view. But currently, no.

We live on a slope in the basement.
My brother planned it like you, at parties or so, many run through the house to get to the garden, that would annoy me.

We have not regretted it so far, I was also "afraid" of groceries at first, but you also have your peace out front/upstairs.

Ok, but would it be different with reversed floor layout? When you enter the front door, you always have to go through the house downwards. The alternative for me is the external stairs, which we actually have.

A newer idea was a "eat-in kitchen" in the basement with garden access and a smaller pure living room on the ground floor with a view and evening sun.

Interesting approach, we will definitely discuss that.

Garage pushed under the house because you do that with slopes. Our plot has access from below. Opposite to yours.

With the two plot types uphill/downhill, in my opinion, apples and oranges are compared. We would definitely develop an uphill plot as you do. Here the arguments less light and not fully using the elevated position drop away. Also, as you say, with the garage connected directly to the street, that just makes sense. I would accept more stair climbing and carrying groceries. But the downhill plots in the development are just nicer because of the orientation, as you get sun basically all day especially long into the evening.

No, the garden needs watering, almost every day. Then you pull leaves here, there. Walk around the house, take care, look after it. What you do with the kids, has explained extensively.

No objections, but that does not prevent going from the living floor to the garden. You just have to take the stairs.

You have a large cellar under the carport (which should stay there) that could get daylight from the front.
If you use the cellar as living space, you cancel the granny flat and could save the top floor. And with that also the rainwater drainage planning mentioned by Matte.

Do you really want someone to live in your house? They would constantly run around your garden. And that for a frankly questionable effort/benefit ratio.

I don’t really have a problem with that. Especially since it would only be for 10 years. We would separate the garden. As said, we find the fact that rooms are unused for so long somewhat unsatisfactory. And if that offers the chance to save some money, I gladly accept that.

I get that someone wants 3 kids. We also built 2 kids’ rooms. But couldn’t have any. Do you think now we sell the house or let someone live inside? Absurd.

I’m sorry for you.
I could imagine that in the granny flat. But these are things you cannot really plan. I could also have a severe car accident shortly after building and end up in a wheelchair. In my opinion, these are things you have to deal with when they happen, not beforehand. And if you cannot have children and other ways don’t work either, that might be a reason to sell a house and downsize (according to this is even a trend when children leave the house, which in terms of space is equivalent to having none). But everyone is different and has to decide individually.

We are building on a slope with a similar gradient and also don’t want to live in the basement, but on the ground floor with a nice view from the balcony. We then sleep upstairs with exactly the consideration that the kids can later use the living space in the basement. We couldn’t imagine sleeping in the "cellar". But that must be answered individually and I think the forum, like many other topics, gives a somewhat distorted picture of reality. I don’t think your thought process is that far off.

Ok. That could be. The users who answer most often here because of their extensive expertise or moderator status are the same in almost all posts on this topic. Whether that is distorted, I cannot say. It is certainly their opinion, which they also integrated into their own building projects. I’m definitely glad they critically pointed this out again, as it made me think a lot more.

Can house costs, carport and features like balcony be separated in this case? It would be one unit, right?

The general contractor definitely did it. Maybe also to point out how expensive these things alone are and to make us reconsider.

Where does she want to look?...

Thanks for the support. There are nice solutions. But this is all play and doesn’t need to be discussed further here. I expressly wrote this is not about window arrangement and bathroom fittings yet.

How is the financing planned anyway? What happens when the first child comes? Do you handle it all alone? Or do you have cash under your pillow?

As I understood, financing only works if additional rental income is there as soon as you work less because of child(ren). That doesn’t sound good to me.
How is the rental apartment market with you? Are there interested tenants? What about vacancy/rent dodgers?

The housing market is currently good for landlords. Currently, only one apartment for rent according to the internet. Also, there is a huge commercial area nearby with demand for flats just during the week. Thanks for the hint about rent dodgers, which we really didn’t have in mind. But the financing doesn’t depend on rent income in any case, but it would be nice to have that additional relief on the loan payments.

I don’t think all home builders are dumb who didn’t build a granny flat but actually just build for themselves and the family. Later you can sell and downsize.

In my opinion, it’s not about dumbness (neither way ), but about whether you want that and can live with it temporarily, and if you are willing to accept it for financial benefit.
As already mentioned twice, in my opinion we could not build significantly smaller to make it financially much cheaper (but maybe I’m totally wrong).
I would also prefer to have half a million lying around somewhere and not have to think so much about financing. But since we are quite young building, the money is not so abundant yet and salaries are not as high as they will be in 10 years (even with reduced hours), this would currently be a nice and grateful relief in financing (both are civil servants, so that can be calculated quite well).

But we will definitely have the variant without a granny flat calculated as well. We had that on the radar beforehand, but personally don’t like it as much as the one presented in this thread. In the end, unfortunately, costs will surely be one of the most important decision factors.

P.S.
I looked at the floor plan again and don’t find it great. Mini pantry bothers me, corner in the bedroom too, only a segmented layout possible in the dressing room etc.

I agree with you. I’m also not happy with the pantry and would remove it at this size. I have reduced the corner in the bedroom at the expense of the hallway, which I don’t think is bad Thanks. We see the dressing room like that too.

Does anyone maybe have ideas for the room layout in the basement? Preferably only 3 rooms + bath + utility room.