Single-family house – new construction project from day one - and the planning begins

The bathroom is still a nightmare for me. If the knee wall goes down to 1.60m, you won’t be able to use the toilet anymore anyway, and the bed would also have to be turned. The kids’ bathroom doesn’t work either – everything needs to be redesigned. Do you even have this on your radar?

b) to build a classic (and smaller) catalog production house in an upscale version for 150 TEUR less (=395 TEUR).

Hi, did you then budget the 395 TEUR only for the house and the additional construction costs would come on top? Then that would probably fit with upscale equipment. If those are the total costs including additional construction costs, I believe there isn’t much upscale equipment included.

We have now also checked with a solid builder and he was significantly more expensive than Büdenbender, although we don’t yet have exact prices from Büdenbender for our planning. However, it is supposed to be in the range of 2000 Euro /m2. The solid builder from the region was roughly at 340,000 for a 150m2 house (2300 Euro /m2) and additional construction costs would come on top. So you would end up at just under 400,000.

With knee wall heights between 140 and 160 cm, the upper floor will be dark without skylights. And the access to the children's bathroom and children's room will not work. You can only enter the parents' toilet with your head lowered, and when standing up you hit your head on the sloping roof. You also have to sneak around the right half of the parents' bed with your head lowered.

First of all, many thanks again for your honest unfiltered feedback!

The preliminary floor plan and site plan are initially intended to serve as a basis for our initial discussions. We are aware that it still contains several minor or major errors...

I find the arrangement on the property much better now

Green the garage for the kids?!
Mirror the upper floor including the stairs?!

Dormers from an optical point of view from the outside -> can be done, but in the hallway you don’t have any meaningful room gain for the costs, which would be much more relevant for the children's rooms or bathrooms -> and have you looked at this with a knee wall of 140-160cm? Perhaps rather a cross gable?

Roof windows in bedrooms/kids' rooms provide wonderful light (if sized accordingly), but also a certain noise level

We had already considered greening the garage

I had already tried mirroring a few times - both with and without stairs. If we mirror without stairs, the parents' area becomes too small and the children's rooms too large. If we mirror with stairs, we get problems on the ground floor: cloakroom, office, and kitchen become too small - technical room and living area become too large.

Yes, we are unfortunately aware of the problem, especially in rain. We want to get advice on that. Maybe there are now better sound-insulated windows? No idea...

On the topic "bigger is always better":

Please discuss with necessary fall data in the floor plan thread.

What do you mean by "bigger is always better"?
As described above, it is initially about developing a basis for the first discussions. In my opinion, we are not that far yet and I did not want to unnecessarily create a second topic. As soon as we have the first professional floor plans, I will open a corresponding thread

The bathroom is still a horror to me. If the knee wall is lowered to 1.60m, you won’t be able to use the toilet anyway and the bed would also have to be turned. Kids' bathroom is also not possible – everything needs to be replanned. Do you even have that on your radar?

We do. Hence the idea of the dormer. The question is how does such an elongated dormer, which is not exactly centered on the roof, look from the outside at all? We wanted to discuss this with the professionals...

Alternatively, the knee wall will be raised to 2.00m. Then the doors and passageways should work again in my opinion.

Hi,
did you then only budget the 395,000 EUR for the house and the additional construction incidental costs would come on top? Then that would probably fit with high-end equipment. If that is the total cost including incidental building costs, I don’t think there is much luxury equipment included.

We also visited a solid construction builder who was priced significantly above Büdenbender, although we do not yet have exact prices from Büdenbender for our plan. But it is supposed to be around 2000 EUR /m2. The regional solid builder was at about 340,000 for a 150 m2 house (2300 EUR /m2) plus incidental construction costs. That would bring you close to 400,000.

Ok, wow. Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected that now. The 395,000 EUR were actually calculated for a catalog house with high-end equipment and around 160 m² living space including incidental building costs on a slab...

With a knee wall of 140 to 160 cm, the upper floor will be dark without roof windows.
And the accesses to the kids' bathroom and kids' rooms will not work.

You can only get to the parents’ toilet with your head down and when standing up you hit bumps in the sloping roof.

You also have to sneak around the right half of the parents' bed with your head down.

See my comment on kaho’s post (Kathrin, right? I’m slowly learning the names )

Ok, wow. Honestly, I wouldn't have expected that. The 395,000 EUR were actually calculated for a catalog house with upscale features and about 160 m² of living space including ancillary construction costs on a concrete slab...

Keep in mind that with prefabricated houses, you always have to add a concrete slab separately, whereas with solid construction it's usually included. That quickly adds an extra 30,000 EUR. In my experience, solid houses are often a bit cheaper than prefabricated houses, although the comparison is always difficult. Otherwise, I think you won't get much upscale equipment for 395,000 EUR all-in—whatever that means. Back then, we paid about 15,000 EUR just for upgrading two bathrooms from the basic solid equipment, and I still don't get the impression that it moves in the luxury segment. Just as a reference point...

I would swap the utility room with the office and do without an additional entrance. The main entrance is not far away and you can save thousands of euros because of the extra door.
You also save on piping routes AND can install a laundry chute from the bathroom on the upper floor to the utility room. It costs nothing but brings a lot of quality of life.
Provided your washing machine and dryer are in the utility room.

I think you have relatively little storage space for such a large house. The wardrobe is very, very small for 4 people! You always have the shoes lying around in view. That would bother me...