Additional costs (this is off to a good start)

We have calculated a buffer of about €50,000 and hope that it will ultimately be enough

However, very few people can plan for a €50,000 buffer, otherwise they wouldn't even need to start building the house. We have also included buffers here and there and were already laughed at during the financing inquiry. But in the end, we managed with our previously planned budget. The biggest buffer was still our double garage, which we would have postponed if necessary.

just google "checklist for builders" once. In the beginning, we talked to 5 companies, then 3, then 2, and then we decided on one provider. You quickly get a feeling for what is missing in the construction service description or what is included with the 1st provider but not with the 2nd provider.


When we signed in January 2015, we still had a buffer of €20,000 in equity after paying for the land in cash. Since then, that has grown back to €50,000. That was also the goal by the end of construction / or when our loan is paid out. Well, currently only the groundworks are completed, but the shell builder is starting this week. So we reached our self-set goal a bit earlier. We simply feel better with what we consider an appropriate buffer. If we didn’t need it, I wouldn’t be upset either.

Hello,

we are certainly marching quickly towards OT ... but in my humble opinion, the topic of a buffer is too important to be treated as secondary!

... just try googling a checklist for builders ... You quickly get a feeling of what is missing in the construction service description, or what is included with one provider and the other.

I have already completed this checklist a long time ago and am happy to hand it over to interested parties if they ask for it. However, I have to state that for a certain clientele, at the end of the day and increasingly, it is not the data in the checklist or a presented overall concept along with references that trigger the purchase incentive, but exclusively the amount at the bottom right. Few potential builders – at least that’s my impression this year – are looking for value in the sense of a good, medium standard – regardless of prefab or solid construction – but are driven by the desire to call a single-family house their own at all costs.

When we signed in January 2015, we still had a buffer of €20,000 in equity after paying for the plot in cash. In the meantime, this amount has grown again to €50,000.

You are approaching your construction project with an atypical and therefore rather rare attitude; aside from the fact that not every builder has a buffer of the mentioned size, nor can save it up during the construction project.

I "try" to convince our builders in their own interest that a buffer is an "existential" must have and serves less the purpose of being stretched here and there; there is time for that when the biggest unknown, the land + soil, has been clarified and monetarily quantified in its effects. For the builders who use the support of our financing broker, I know that it works; he knows his job. For all others, I can only hope that they have internalized the explained possible risks of building a house and have taken them into account in their financing.

How large a buffer ultimately has to be depends on the size of the construction project and mainly on the plot conditions (reasonable construction specifications + serious clarification assumed); so it can only be applied to all construction projects to a limited extent. However, I fully agree with you that a kitchen can only be considered as usage of the buffer when it is certain that no more surprises are to be expected.

Rhenish greetings

Building expert, may I ask you how high, in your opinion, the buffer should be in % based on the total amount (house construction + additional construction costs excluding land) when a reasonable BB + serious clarification + known land conditions are assumed? I just want to make sure that we are on the right track.

Thank you very much

Hello,

Construction expert, may I ask you how high, in your opinion, the buffer should be in % depending on the total amount (house construction + incidental building costs without land), assuming a reasonable BB + serious clarification + known land conditions?

That cannot be answered universally; if it could, it would make the calculation of a BV easier for all builders.

I do not assume percentages but generally advise considering the amount on our list of incidental building costs for every BV in NRW; EUR 40,000 add up quickly. If the amount is not needed, the down payment for the new kitchen is already secured.

What can make a BV really expensive – I generally advise setting aside EUR 8,000 for additional foundation costs (hardly any land is really flat) – are the found soil conditions. If a soil survey shows that the soil conditions are not great, anything above EUR 8,000 for a small single-family house is possible; often structural improvements must also be made. If the property is sloping, an (initially unplanned) basement may be a good choice, since the alternative – due to required earthworks – rarely brings savings of more than EUR 15,000. If the basement is partially exposed due to the slope, expansion to additional living space comes into play, exposed basement walls must be plastered, living space windows etc. This can add up to amounts as high as EUR 90,000.

Every builder should therefore carefully consider whether a sloping property is financially manageable – with all possible risks – before deciding to purchase it!

Excluding the incidental building costs, I recommend EUR 10,000 as a buffer for unplanned upgrades. It should also be taken into account that when moving in all the “small” bills for lamps & co. come in. Financing should therefore be structured so that these upcoming nice-to-haves can be covered from ongoing income and still a broken washing machine does not put the house-building adventure at risk.

I just want to make sure that we are on the right track.

That is a rhetorical question, right?

Rhenish greetings

Our buffer of 10,000 for the sampling already got stuck in the early stages of the house with reinforced foundation slab and earthworks
That comes from "Kalkulation mit spitzem Bleistift"