Assessment "Fixed Price" Detached Single-Family House (Solid)

Hello everyone,

also for the last comments: Thank you very much!

Regarding planning: It started with an existing plan, which was basically the entry into the whole project. We were missing a few m² there. Especially a guest room. I consider a second bathroom – regardless of whether it's for guests or not – to be sensible in a household of four. And with that, we then went through several rounds with the architect. The straight staircase was mentioned upstairs -> Bingo ;) That is currently included in our plan as well. Without wanting to upload the plans: The children's rooms are each about 14 m². Just for orientation, because 20 m² was mentioned upstairs once. Bathroom 11 m².

We will be seven-figure all-in. No question. We can reduce (see discussions here) and will reduce. The cost question eventually becomes a question of “willingness to pay” rather than “ability to pay” -> price-performance ratio. Specifically, my concern: If we managed to get below 1 million by cutting things out, then I don’t want 120 m² of standard semi-detached house planning for that.

Are there recommendations on how we proceed together here with the architect and especially the developer? Where they know our pain threshold and understand that we are willing to make compromises in the planning? I want to avoid that we only partially feel the cost savings from the reduced planning in the final price.

We are planning a similar house size (180m2), built solidly with a basement, and last week we walked through the shell of the building for the first time. It didn’t seem as huge as we had feared, but we have often said after the planning phase: "we could have built smaller." It was important to my boyfriend to have a separate parents' floor, but that is definitely the number one cost driver (besides the dormers, which were important to me :). Böblingen cannot be directly compared to Munich, but I do think the surrounding area can, and for your program, the price seems absolutely normal, almost "cheap" if I compare it to friends who are building much smaller.
A roof terrace and a sauna upstairs are of course great, but not feasible if you still need to cut 80k. Do you have such a great view that a roof terrace would be worthwhile? If you live in nature, I would also recommend the outdoor sauna and garden shower; you don’t save much in the basement (we needed a heavy-current connection and a lifting system for the shower, so no savings :).
From our experience, I would give you the tip to really build smaller and without a balcony (as a teenager I loved smoking there, which of course annoyed my parents, but my brother never used his balcony), because even with the "smaller" items, a lot can still be added. For us, the earthworks and incidental costs were twice as expensive as the house builder had estimated (60,000€, which was nowhere near enough), the kitchen prices are currently absurd, and we also had 40€ per square meter for tiles and parquet in the quote, which only sometimes was enough for the tiles; oak country house flooring (not luxury flooring, just a normal selection) costs 90€ per square meter here, and the surcharges for 60x60 tile layout and for the country house flooring are not included yet. With the electrical fittings without smart home and really without many extras (more sockets and switches, a few more ceiling outlets, 4 spots in the kitchen, outdoor lighting) an extra 10,000€ came on, and significantly more for the bathrooms.
Only you can assess this for yourselves, but from afar I simply suspect that anyone who dreams of a roof terrace and sauna also dreams of large-format tiles, beautiful wooden floors, wood-aluminum windows, a kitchen with an island and Bora, electric shutters with central control, a high-quality staircase and stylish bathrooms. If the house’s equipment is just very important to you, I would radically reduce the sizes of the children's rooms (I think I had 14m2 as a child, which was more than enough even as a teenager) and the guest room/office, forgo the balcony and roof terrace, and think about a double carport with a shed or an inexpensive prefabricated garage. And get a quote for the earthworks in advance... I suspect that even in BaWü the house builder works with inflated prices there.

If you are already going over budget with the current offer, and the ancillary construction costs are not even included, this will be a tight situation.

The ancillary construction costs will also be higher than estimated; I would expect an additional 10-15% in costs.

I thought it was great there as a teenager for smoking, which of course annoyed my parents

That's exactly what I wanted to add. I actually know "children's balconies" exclusively for secret smoking, vaping, etc. during the tempestuous adolescence. The kids like it, especially if it's hard to see. But whether that was the original builders' intention, I dare to doubt.

When optimizing the budget, such "frills" should definitely be questioned. Especially rooftop terraces would then, in my opinion, be better designed as living space.

Guest room+ Shower/WC+Stairs/Hallway+Vacancy/Fitness

These are all filler rooms that you don't need.

But maybe the sauna was simply a luxury dream after all, which I now have to/should give up for the sake of reality.

If you actually use a sauna, then do it in the basement. That has to have a purpose too. Usually, there are only placeholder rooms here as well, because no one knows what the space is for. Consequently, they become junk rooms.

Completely giving up a terrace on the upper floor/attic is certainly possible, but it hurts. Especially when living together with growing kids.

Roof terraces need to be maintained. Even a single bush next to a lonely seating area requires water, soil, fertilizer, and care. That gets annoying eventually because you also have to take care of the garden. It's not easy! Just letting the mower robot run or setting up the watering timer isn't enough. I also think it works very well if teenagers can openly express their needs alongside their parents instead of hiding "up there." I've often experienced that parents and teenagers spend an hour together in the garden over a beer before the teen heads out for the night. Family life is celebrated in the garden, then everyone goes to their evening event. That doesn't require a separate room. Make a room program and limit it to a maximum of 3 levels (which is already very large). Often you can even do without a basement ;)

Are there any recommendations on how we should proceed together here with the architect and especially the developer? Where they know our pain threshold and are aware that we are willing to make compromises during the planning? I want to avoid that we will only partially feel the cost savings from the reduced planning in the final price.

You will likely not see anything from the savings. Therefore, my advice is always to fix all additional or reduced costs financially and in writing during the planning phase and only then place the order.