A house for 220,000 euros?!

Hello everyone,
I am writing here because I am quite downhearted.
My husband and I want to build a house. We already have a plot of land in sight. It is 400 sqm and located in a new development area.
Unfortunately, our financial scope only allows for a house costing 220,000 Euro.
So far, we have already visited solid house and prefabricated house companies. Also an architectural office and a regional construction company. None are able to build us a house for this price.
We think our wishes are still within reason?!

Here are our specifications:
1 1/2 stories
about 120-140 sqm
1 bathroom
1 guest WC with shower
3 bedrooms
air heat pump with underfloor heating
and either an office
or a cellar, but this must be built as a [Weiße Wanne].

We would take care of painting and flooring ourselves.
Additional construction costs are not included, just like the building plot.

What do you think about it?
Regards Malo

What is supposed to be included in the 220,000 €? If I interpret it correctly, not the ancillary building costs, not the outdoor facilities, not the costs for floor and wall coverings, and not the costs of a new kitchen. If that is the case, and you do not want to build Kfw55, and do not want a fireplace, and have no other major special requests, that should be possible.

We are paying 225,000 just for the house without floor and wall coverings (bathrooms excluded). But we also have almost 150 sqm of living space, a ventilation system, a water softener, a bay window, a room-air-independent fireplace. If I calculate all the extras out, and had taken the house as specified in the contract, we wouldn't even be at 200,000 € for 140 sqm Kfw 70 (gas condensing boiler + solar).

what exactly is supposed to cost 220,000 euros? just the house or the entire construction project? (so house, land, additional costs, etc.)

just the house should be easily feasible, but then rather without a basement (depending on the soil report, a "Weisse Wanne" can quickly cost around 50,000 euros). possibly with a basement, but then with a lot of own work inside and without outdoor facilities.

give more details! what equity do you have? what does the land cost? what exactly should 220,000 euros cover?

Hello Der Da and heltino, the plot costs 70,000, for the incidental construction costs we have something on the page. The 220,000 is what we want to finance from the bank! There should be no more than that. So the entire house construction, but without wall and floor coverings... as described above. No fireplace or anything else. *Actually* quite simple (except for the underfloor heating/ heat pump)!

Hello Malo,

I am writing here because I am quite discouraged. ... Unfortunately, our financial scope only allows for a house costing 220,000 euros ... We think that our wishes are still within reason?!

Here are our specifications:
1 1/2 stories
approximately 120-140 sqm
1 bathroom
1 guest WC with shower
3 bedrooms
air heat pump with underfloor heating
and either an office
or a basement, but this must be created as a "Weiße Wanne" (waterproof concrete shell).

We would take care of painting and flooring ourselves.
Additional construction costs are also not included, nor is the building plot.

At 120 sqm, the floor plan for ground floor/upper floor does not allow for a [AZ], and even at 140 sqm it will be tight; just to start with.

I will now take the middle ground with 130 sqm on a slab foundation:

House as a KfW 70 efficiency house with the desired equipment including air-water heat pump TEUR 210; an [AZ] will hardly be feasible and if so, it will rather be a storage room. In Baden-Württemberg it can also be 5% more; so approximately TEUR 220. If you invest another TEUR 6, you can prepare the attic (provided the roof pitch allows it); continue a normal staircase into the attic and "close off" with a living space door. All lines are usually run into the attic - so you could later create an [AZ] from it.

You can forget the usable basement, it would cost TEUR 38 plus the costs of sealing as a "Weiße Wanne" – depending on the DIN requirements between TEUR 6 and 10.

Only - now there are further, not insignificant costs and you do not make any statements about whether you have these funds via equity:

Additional construction costs: TEUR 35-40
Painting/flooring in self-performance (SP): TEUR 10
Outdoor facilities/access paths in SP: TEUR 10
Reserve for extras: TEUR 10
Finished garage: between TEUR 6 and 11 depending on size and equipment

If you can cover the above costs from equity – not forgetting the plot of land – I would recommend starting with a small house with max. 120 sqm living area (LA) with attic prepared for finishing and making sure that the knee wall is sufficiently high and the roof pitch not too flat. This way, you can have the ground floor and upper floor completely – except for painting and flooring – built by one source and finish the attic later by self-performance.

And one more word to finish, if you allow me. TEUR 220 for the pure house is a lot of money, but unfortunately often too little to realize a construction project. That should not “discourage” you, not everyone has to build a house! And if it should be something of your own after all, take the money and buy a condominium. Later, if it is permanently maintained, you can use it again as equity and plan another attempt for your own house.

Kind regards

Ever tried to contact/commission companies from outside the EU? There are certainly many bad apples in the industry, but there are also qualified craftsmen in Eastern Europe who are definitely much cheaper than their German colleagues. I doubt that a German company would build you a house for €220,000.