I hadn’t really considered that. It certainly wouldn’t be cheaper, but the cost certainty would of course be given. But I also don’t know how it works with personal contributions then (is it even possible, for example, to install the electrical wiring yourself?). Could we use plans from the architect that the general contractor then implements? I need to read up on this topic.
Yes, that definitely works. We did service phases 1-4 (up to the approved building application) with the architect and then signed a turnkey contract with a general contractor. We realized that we could have saved the money for the architect, but since we planned a very individual house ourselves, we thought that normal house-building companies wouldn’t go along with that. However, that was a wrong assumption and especially for you, where it’s about optimized costs and not necessarily a classic individual architect’s house with huge windows and other highlights, I would definitely recommend talking to one or two solid-masonry general contractors or prefabricated house companies; they have numerous floor plans for hillside houses ready and can give you very well-plannable costs (except for ancillary costs, so please don’t get tempted and plan a proper buffer). A friend is building in the countryside with a locally based general contractor and is also doing quite a bit herself (also a hillside house, by the way, with a great floor plan), so that seems to be basically possible. Since we are building in Munich, I don’t want to jump to conclusions regarding the financing of your project because it is so difficult to compare with other federal states and prices in Bavaria (even in the countryside far from the city) are a completely different world than in Schleswig-Holstein or Brandenburg. But honestly, when I hear “the woman should stay home with the children” and barely any buffer, my alarm bells ring a bit. For me and also friends who build much more rurally, many things have become more expensive (ancillary costs, especially earthworks, bureaucratic hassle that was neither foreseeable nor budgeted, absolutely necessary special wishes like multiple light switches or outdoor lighting, etc., kitchen prices have risen enormously) and none of the acquaintances could manage the house or the condominium with just one income, and most of them work at Siemens, the airport, MAN, or consulting and actually earn quite well, including the women, whose salary with children should at most drop to 2/3 to make it work. That’s why my advice is to talk to several banks and construction companies and compare, ask friends for unvarnished costs of their new houses or apartments (most downplay the costs because envy discussions quickly arise in Germany) and then realistically confront the costs and weigh whether it is feasible and with high quality of life. Everyone is different, but for us, vacations, occasional visits to restaurants, swimming pools, and amusement parks are part of a good life and that should still be possible with a house, especially because children never negatively remember an apartment or rental house but deprivation compared to other kids still has an impact decades later. The parents of my friend were in a similar situation back then and the house could just barely be financed; he still knows today that on mountain trips there was never a sausage from the hut and it was always "we don’t have money for that," which clearly shaped him.