Start with your needs
Think about how many bedrooms and bathrooms you will need, and whether the house should have a home office, a separate laundry room, a pantry, a dressing room, a utility room or extra space for guests. Also consider how the house may be used in a few or a dozen years.
Plan daily functions
Analyse the relationship between the day zone and the private zone. The living room, dining room and kitchen should suit the way household members spend their time, while bedrooms should offer adequate privacy. Pay attention to circulation: long corridors and unnecessary passages take up area but do not always improve functionality.
Remember the auxiliary rooms
Storage, a laundry room, a boiler or utility room, space for sports equipment and an entrance lobby are often overlooked at the start of planning. Their absence can later reduce the comfort of living in the house.
Area also means cost
A larger house usually means higher costs of construction, finishing and later maintenance. However, it is not only the square metres that matter, but also the shape of the building, the structure, the number of storeys, the glazing, the standard of materials and the installations. It is worth setting priorities and consciously deciding what matters most to you.
Do not forget the plot
The size and shape of the plot, the distances from boundaries and planning requirements may limit the possible building footprint. That is why it is worth comparing your family's needs with what the property can realistically accommodate before you settle on the final programme of the house.
What to do next
Prepare a list of rooms, set their priorities and consider which functions are essential and which are optional. Then discuss them with an architect.