Designing a House with Separate Portions for Family or Rental

In Karachi, a "portion" usually means a self-contained home on one floor of a house — the ground-floor portion, the first-floor portion — each with its own entrance, kitchen and living space. Designing a house as portions is one of the most common requests we hear, whether for married children, elderly parents, or rental income.

Done well, portions give each household independence while sharing the plot, the structure and the cost of construction. Done as an afterthought, they create awkward stairs, shared kitchens, noise problems and disputes over water and parking.

Why families build portions

• Joint families who want to live close together but independently
• Married children who need their own home within the family property
• Rental income from one portion to help fund the build or provide long-term income
• Flexibility — a house that can change as the family changes

Decide early, because portions shape almost every part of the design.

Independent entrances and stairs

The most important decision is how each portion is reached:

• An external stair gives an upper portion its own entrance without passing through the ground floor. It must be designed carefully so it does not dominate the facade or the front of the plot.
• A shared entrance lobby with its own stair can work well, with lockable doors to each portion.
• A corner plot can allow entrances on different frontages — see our guide to corner plot house design.

Avoid designs where one household must pass through another's living space.

A complete home on each floor

Each portion typically needs:

• Its own kitchen, with proper extraction
• A living area and bedrooms with attached bathrooms
• Storage and a laundry provision
• Outdoor space — a balcony, terrace or a defined part of the garden

Water, electricity and gas

Shared services are the most common source of friction between portions. Plan for:

• Separate water storage — individual tanks or clearly divided capacity — and separate pumping
• Separate electricity metering where the utility permits, or at least separate sub-meters
• Gas connections according to the utility's rules
• Separate drainage stacks where practical, so a blockage in one portion does not affect another

Utility requirements vary, so check them early with your architect and engineer.

Sound between floors

Footsteps, furniture and voices travel through concrete slabs. Reduce noise by planning similar rooms above each other (bedrooms over bedrooms), using floating floors or resilient underlays in key areas, and avoiding bathroom pipes running through bedroom walls.

Parking and the roof

Agree how parking is shared and design enough space for it. Clarify who uses the roof — it is often the top portion's terrace, but shared tanks and solar panels may need access.

Design the structure for the future

If you might add another portion later, have the structural engineer design the foundations and frame for the additional floor now, within what the regulations permit. Strengthening a structure after the fact is far more expensive.

Approvals and legal points

The house must stay within the floors and coverage your authority permits — see building approvals in Karachi. Renting a portion or dividing ownership between family members has legal and documentation implications, so take legal advice for those arrangements.

Plot size and portions

Portions work on most plot sizes, but the smaller the plot, the more carefully the stair and services must be planned. Our guides to 120 and 240 square-yard houses show how.

Planning a house with portions?

We design multi-portion family homes across Karachi, including Gulshan-e-Iqbal and North Nazimabad. Explore our residential architecture services, or contact the studio.