Building a single-family house in NRW

With us, the first construction providers (about 5 companies) started at €400,000 (excluding land and additional costs) for a simple house (about 9x10m) with a basement and brickwork in Kfw55. Then the house got smaller (9x8m) and some things were left out. We ended up between €300,000-350,000. I contacted 10-15 more construction companies within an 80km radius and requested the currently downsized house with the previous features. We sometimes ended up between €250,000-300,000. We realized that the house is actually small and only represents a lazy compromise. We talked more often with our favorites and also about various individual aspects where we had concerns. At some point, we were either offered a "winter discount" and/or additional services at no extra charge. However, this all still felt annoying to me. We contacted another 10-15 providers and confronted previous providers with offers from other providers as well as with different opinions from other providers. In the end, we negotiated additional discounts and extra features (electric shutters, 0.5m wider wall on two sides). The costs excluding additional costs are now about €300,000 but with much better equipment than originally offered. Overall, it took almost three-quarters of a year until we agreed with a company. The provider is an architect with a son and partner who have their own construction company and many in-house craftsmen, but also subcontract well-known external craftsmen. In the area of large cities, however, one can assume that prices are higher and there is less room for negotiation. Bottom line, my recommendation is: write to many providers (especially from different regions/directions within your reach) and talk to them. Compare all services meticulously. And allow plenty of time.

These tall tales that your place will mold away without controlled residential ventilation are truly dreadful. It’s like being in church here... believing without reason or sense... If you work and are not at home, what do you do? Right, bring moisture into the house... I was on vacation for 4 weeks and came home and, what a miracle, oh Lord, the place was perfectly fine. A bit musty, but everything okay. And when we are not out and about, airing in the morning and evening is enough. You do that anyway... Kids, don’t let anyone sell you everything... Kfw55 can be done, but you don’t have to... Let them offer it to you as an extra charge and then calculate... Otherwise, good luck.

110 thousand house, 370 thousand without land, I think. Even if I subtract some unnecessary extras for me, we would be at 330 thousand. That is simply outrageous. 110 washing machine living space according to DIN costs me 163. so half. Neither bricks nor cement nor roof tiles nor wages are half as high here in SH as in NRW. They may be lower, but not by half. These prices are simply greed.

These old wives' tales that your place will mold without controlled residential ventilation are really dreadful. It's like being in church here... belief without sense and reason... If you're working and not at home, what do you do? Right, you bring moisture into the house... I was on vacation for 4 weeks and came home and, oh wonder, oh Lord, the place was perfectly fine. A bit musty, but everything okay. And when we're not away, airing in the morning and evening is enough. You do that anyway... Kids, don't let yourselves be talked into everything... Kfw55 is an option, but not a must... Have it offered as an extra cost and then calculate... Otherwise, good luck.

It’s not definite, but the chances are drastically higher. And if with ventilating twice a day you just barely don’t have mold, that’s okay. Have you checked behind all the furniture and inspected the corners?

If mold does appear, the controlled residential ventilation would have paid for itself immediately compared to professional and permanent mold remediation.

We once were in a private house of a home seller who also ventilated 2-3 times a day, always with the range hood and exhaust, and still had mold problems. It’s a bit like playing roulette; everyone has to decide how they want it.

For me, the argument that I save 30-50 minutes of ventilating per day was completely sufficient. I also want to leave in the morning after showering and not waste a quarter of an hour because the bathroom is being aired.

Mold prevention, energy saving, etc. came on top; the decisive factor was comfort from the daily saved work time on the house.

And of course, basically every expert nowadays recommends controlled residential ventilation to you. Architects, engineers, energy consultants. Controlled residential ventilation is still often omitted only for cost reasons.

We are now talking about mold formation in the first weeks and months after moving in due to moisture in the house. But there are no long-term studies on germ formation in such systems. Just google:

Lüftungsanlagen können zu Keimschleudern werden;
Keime bei kontrollierter Wohnraumlüftung;
Kontrollierte Wohnraumlüftung - Keime im Rohrsystem;

etc. No one can tell you what has formed in your pipes after 5-10 years. It is clear that the more bends and grooves are contained, the more surface area there is for potential germ colonization. And with a central controlled residential ventilation system, everything gets nicely mixed... Each person must decide for themselves, I just want to offer a different perspective: not only look at the comfort I have in the first months and years after moving in, but how will this technology look in 10, 20, or 30 years? Because cleaning is currently not possible... It gets really "nice" when connecting the kitchen (ask kitchen studios) to the controlled residential ventilation system.

These old wives' tales that your place will mold away without controlled residential ventilation are really terrible. It's like being in church here... believing without reason and understanding...

Be careful with faith in the Lower Rhine