Building permit inquiry, what is important?

Hello dear forum members,

I have been reading diligently for some time and now have a question for you.

We plan to build, the plot is located in a village and is about 1540 sqm, a purchase application has been submitted and the plot is currently reserved for us. Our idea is a bungalow with 120 sqm of living space in L-shape with a hip roof and a garage (to be added at a later time). We are currently in the floor plan planning stage with a prefab house manufacturer. There is no development plan for the plot. The municipality has no objection to building and advised us to submit a preliminary building inquiry to the district office. For better clarity, I have attached a draft of the local conditions.

Our question now is, what questions should definitely be asked in the preliminary building inquiry?

If you have any questions or if I have written too naively, just ask/say so.

Best regards

Spontaneously, I would say you want to position the main building too far away from the street within the actual building envelope of the probable §34 area. Angle bungalow and hipped roof are two cost-increasing factors that can easily outweigh the modesty of the 120 sqm. A commitment to "prefabricated" house companies is, in my opinion, not a good idea – what should that be good for? Basically, a preliminary building inquiry must include things that are feasible for the builder themselves, armed with a set square, namely a description of the building body and the scaled drawing of its outlines in the site plan.

Thank you for your reply.

Spontaneously, I would say you want to place the main building too far outside the actual building envelope of the probable §34 area from the street.

What exactly does the term "Baufenster" mean? Would it be sufficient to move the bungalow forward to the height of the house standing to the north?

Angular bungalow and hip roof are two points of cost increase that can easily outweigh the modesty of the 120 sqm.

What do you mean by that sentence?

Basically, a building enquiry must include things that are affordable for the builder themselves armed with a set square, namely a description of the building structure and the to-scale drawing of its outlines in the site plan.

Would the "design" as a floor plan not be sufficient for the location?

I would also be interested in concrete questions that one writes in the preliminary enquiry.

Best regards

What exactly does the term "building window" mean? Would it be enough to move the bungalow to the height of the house standing to the north?

A building window is the area of the plot where the house is allowed to be located. In development plans, these are the blue frames. In §34 areas, one provisionally uses actual building windows, for the derivation of which the shown cadastral excerpt is, however, chosen too locally. Therefore, I cannot answer your follow-up question, and until "our expert" checks in here, meaningful documents should be available. I also deliberately spoke of the main building because I would consider it naive to fully include the outbuildings in the consideration. So where a neighbor has a shed or a garage, your actual building window does not necessarily "expand."

What do you mean by that sentence?

I mean that being satisfied with a moderate 120 sqm alone does not lead to an affordable house if, on the other hand, you choose the form of the angled bungalow and the hipped roof. In this combination, 120 sqm can quickly reach the same price range as 145 to 150 sqm in one-and-a-half-story houses with gable roofs.

Would the "design" as a floor plan not be enough for the location?

The floor plan does not yet have to be from the design, and not even necessarily concrete from the preliminary design. But the building authority must also know other design features beyond the approximate outlines of the house (e.g., the hipped roof and the number of stories).

I would also be interested in concrete questions that one writes in the preliminary inquiry.

There is actually only one question: "Is such a building in the dimensions shown allowed to be built on this plot?" To answer this question, the plot must be identifiable (district, parcel number, basically how the plot is "named" in the land register), and the question must be related to a specific house (since the answer only applies to that house; a "yes" for a "country house" means nothing for a "city villa"). In principle, the floor plan is a black box, and elevations, drainage plans, structural calculations, heat demand calculations, and other details of the later formal building application are not yet included. So basically a "building application very light."

thank you very much for your detailed answers, they have already brought some clarity. I have attached the current property map, which I received from the surveying office; it concerns plot 1388. Can more be said about the possible location of the house with this? Regarding the size, we are a two-person household that will not get any bigger, 120 sqm is enough ;) The floor plan I created based on the location is only roughly done. Hopefully, we will receive designs of what the house will actually look like from the manufacturer next week. We should also attach these to the building inquiry, right? Our current problem is that we don’t really know how to proceed correctly. The background is that the plot is 650 km from our current place of residence. So everything depends on the decision (e.g. job change). Now we just wanted to clarify everything in advance, soil survey before purchasing the plot, building inquiry whether a bungalow of this size and orientation is allowed on the plot, then purchase of the plot and conclusion of the contract with the manufacturer. Best regards

For me, the situation of the neighboring buildings is too inconsistent, but "our expert" will surely be able to hallucinate a building envelope there. The facade design / window arrangement does not matter in a preliminary building enquiry, as it is enough to draw the house into the site plan in the way an eighth grader would do in a geometry test. The description of whether it is going to be a witch's house or a World Trade Center is added verbally in a few sentences.

However, at a distance of 650 km to the construction site and with only a work-related change of residence there, I strongly advise against acquiring home ownership during the probationary period. You can also rent for half a year until you are clear about staying; and another whole year until the house is ready. I hope the idea of a "prefabricated house" did not come from the delusion that it would be built faster. At the other end of the republic, one is in a completely different mentality area. Is one of you from there, or have you at least already vacationed there?