Construction Cost Planning - Once Again...

So my advice to you: keep about 20,000 in reserve... you will definitely need it... in an emergency, just save it up as equity. We do the same, and small bills constantly come up that can be paid with it.

So your approach is already OK. Is the sewage connection actually included in your costs? Add something on top of the price everywhere, consider every little thing like new furniture and decorations or flowers. I made a calculation at the beginning and no one wants to believe it, we roughly broke even. The house connection ended up being a bit cheaper, we got the tiles laid cheaper than planned, some things we canceled and put that money into other bathrooms, controlled residential ventilation, and geothermal energy. I totally miscalculated the garden by 5k, but that’s what you get if you want paving later... As the house number, we paid easily 70k including all additional costs for the fixed price on the house and land to have everything as it is (with garage). Plan things that you can use as a buffer. For example, the carport, as you said, can initially be left out, then you have 5k for more important things. If you also plan furniture and other things that you will need sooner or later like this, you have a reserve and can do without it in an emergency. And my favorite sentence: "You only build once." Everyone (tradespeople) tells you that, and everyone is right. Retrofitting a flush shower, a chimney, controlled residential ventilation, an outlet is always difficult and unnecessarily expensive, so you plan it in, but eventually there will be too many points.

Good morning,

Thanks already for your nice answers and good tips. I was already afraid that you would tear my plan apart.

We currently have 50k extra planned in addition to the fixed price and the land. Although the fixed price is not 100% certain yet. Since we want to co-finance our equity, we still have about 10k in reserve if necessary. For now, we’re focusing on getting the house fully planned and securing a good interest rate fixed for at least 20, preferably 25 or 30 years.

We’re leaving out the garage anyway. We’ll do a carport if it fits. If not, it will stay off for the time being. The garden is perfectly fine with me if it just has grass sown at first. Without any flowerbeds or anything else. That can really be spruced up later. I’m not that demanding that everything has to be finished right away.
Regarding furniture. Well, we’ll probably need a kitchen. Everything else is pretty new, high-quality, and comes along with us. We don’t need new things for now. Like I said, I’m absolutely no perfectionist that everything has to be flawless immediately. It has to be allowed to develop ;-D
Well, let’s see. I don’t think I’m completely off, and I believe there are always surprises ;-D

I share your view too.. Better to invest a bit more money in the substance of the house, and save on the “unnecessary” stuff. The garden/carport can be done later. A ventilation system with heat recovery is probably rather unlikely ;-D

But don't mess up with the garden! The terrace and the paths will soon be desirable and cost a lot, or you do it cheap and twice. Do you know how annoying it is to go inside every time with dirty shoes full of soil? Everywhere it crunches when you walk. And furniture... Are you coming from a smaller rental apartment? Then you'll probably need more furniture. And if I've built a house for nearly half a million, I won't put cheap stuff in there... Or the table. A 1.6m table in a 40m² room looks sh...! Now there's one with 2.9m (there weren't any longer ones ). Aaaaand when you finally live inside, you want to (at least I do) finally have the construction stress behind you. Then you want everything to be nice quickly. You know better about that, but I thought like that at the beginning too... let's see, there's time. Now it really gets on my nerves that it doesn't go fast enough! I'm fed up!!! My wife is at rehab with the kids for 3 weeks, which means for me: work, work, work and surprise... the garden is done! Be glad you don't have kids yet, they really make building stressful!

Oh waterbed... definitely mention it when planning the house. You have to calculate structurally whether reinforcement is needed if the bed is to go to the upper floor.

The problem with "I'll do it later" is: with what money? You should put all leftover money into the loan, or you could also book yourselves a vacation. I don’t believe that after a construction phase you will have €10,000 left over, unless you inherit. But in the end, everyone has to decide that for themselves.

Regarding the kitchen... brace yourself. I am currently searching: I am a passionate cook, which is why only high-quality and energy-efficient appliances are acceptable. I need everything new and will have to pay at least €5,000 for that alone (Bosch appliances). If I take the cheapest Ikea kitchen without any frills as wooden furniture, that’s another €2,000 plus €1,000 assembly.
I also have an offer from a kitchen studio for €11,000 for everything complete and from my friend who is a carpenter for €10,000 (furniture only).
And that doesn’t even include high-quality granite or tiling of the kitchen, etc....

In my opinion, a fitted kitchen only works properly or not at all... Those roller and discount kitchens are a nightmare... And Ikea is good, but from my own experience, unfortunately, they break after a few years, especially when it comes to special drawers or hinges.

You have to calculate about €70/m² for paving a driveway, about €120/m² for a terrace.

Our first offer without: Floors and walls except bathroom Base plaster Earthworks House connections Ventilation system Instead with: Solar + 300l hot water Gas boiler Fireplace + chimney For 140sqm net was €190,000 including VAT fixed price. You know the company we are building with (@ Bauexperte). That would then be a price of €1350/sqm Meanwhile, due to many special requests and adjustments, we are well above €1500/sqm 120sqm turnkey was offered to us for €180,000.