Cost planning - core renovation of farmhouse / country house

I agree with haydee on that. I believe you just had terribly bad luck with your neighbors. I don’t even know such neighbors from my closer surroundings and we have already lived in the fifth house in the fifth area. Maybe you should just look for another new build again. From your descriptions, I estimate the probability that the old building will not satisfy you to be high.

Maybe it’s due to the area or also group dynamics (when one does it), but now a few months have passed again, and it’s also coming from other sources by now. The neighbor opposite and the neighbors on the other side of the house now occasionally have the Makita construction site radio running in the garden. Granted, that’s not so often. But it does add up. The final construction of the street is happening here right now, we’re working from the home office. We currently have construction noise all day long (there’s not much you can do about that), but when the construction workers finally stop in the afternoon, the first neighbors come home and start up the Makita radio and the angle grinder, paving their stuff themselves to finish it. When they’re done around 8 p.m., the soccer club on the field behind us finishes training and taps a keg to celebrate something. Then techno music blasts from the sports field over to us until 2 a.m… and all that was on a single Friday in November. Since I can’t imagine we should be that unlucky right away, maybe I’m just too sensitive to noise to live in such a densely built new housing estate.

Of course, there is the likelihood that it will generally be quieter here in 2-3 years. When most have paved their paths and laid out their flower beds, it won’t be a madhouse here every weekend anymore. But this accumulated noise (keyword "constantly"), which I’m currently sensitive to anyway, doesn’t make it easy to endure. Especially since I had hoped to calm down a bit over the winter, and that is not at all in sight right now. It’s as loud outside as ever. Typical new development area.

Anyway, I don’t want to harp on the noise issue anymore since, as I said, we are now driven by more than one motivation: and we might also want to move overall to be closer to family. In that context, I would like to learn from the current experience and am therefore currently limiting my search to plots of land with at least 1500 sqm in size.

Bringing an old building up to new build standard without compromises is almost impossible and if then only with a lot of money.

How much money is a lot of money? And what exactly is meant by "new build standard"? Important to us would be things like new windows, new heating, underfloor heating, air conditioning, and ventilation. It probably also makes sense to renew the electrical system and pipes in very old buildings. Therefore, the idea was to gut the building to the shell and then renovate it to new build standard. What would have to be given up compared to an actual new build? Or did you mean that with the “a lot of money” variant?

I roughly calculated your list with about 200k renovation cost for a normal standard. Plus ventilation/air conditioning. Wall heating was already mentioned. Old buildings often have several chimney flues, where controlled residential ventilation could possibly be installed. I would do that with a so-called air well by the way. That warms the air in winter and cools it in summer. Otherwise, it is a super elaborate project. The construction manager/architect will be added on top. Extreme caution regarding monument protection!

Thank you! That’s quite a figure. My estimate straight from the construction was also that 200k would not be enough. If we buy a really old building (which are often available for under 200k), I think you have to reckon with renovation costs up to 300k, because I somehow have this back-of-the-envelope calculation in my head that you don’t get to a reasonable standard with less than 500k. That means for me, if a property is listed at only 150k on Immoscout and co, I have to invest another 350k before I can live in it.

I would absolutely not dare to touch monument protection.

Then the two biggest questions arise: How do I find a very reliable construction manager/architect who supervises and reliably accompanies all that? Because due to the local distance, we would not be able to visit the construction site continuously. We could of course involve the family, but it’s not the same. I was also really impressed by the general contractor (GC) solution we had for this house. Except for small details, everything really ran smoothly here and what annoys me afterwards are mostly things we decided ourselves. But I suspect that you won’t find an “all from one source” provider for a complex renovation like this.

How much money is a lot of money?

A lot of money is the extra cost for the second helicopter landing pad on the yacht.

I do not make such a prediction. What is true is that you always take yourself along wherever you go.

I don’t believe that the bad luck was "terrible." In my experience, music increases as additional acoustic pollution. In German "isolated locations," you might have planes, motorcycles, rutting donkeys, a rooster, or something else that then disturbs. The likelihood of the "bad luck" you can have rises or falls with your own interpretation of perceptions.

I have lived in a few apartments and houses over the course of my life and have always had myself along. And there were living situations where I was always very satisfied when it came to the environmental noise level (most recently almost 10 years in an apartment building), and here I simply am not. If it had never been quiet enough for me anywhere, I would see it differently. But that is simply not the case. I have only ever felt disturbed in living spaces where other people forced me to listen to their music. And that simply hasn’t always been the case so far. That it is unfortunately like this now in our self-built home is, in a certain way, bad luck. Or I have at least underestimated the possibility.

The dismantling costs The conversion will be more expensive than in a new building Possibly statics Windows in special dimensions Limited material selection e.g. insulation I have the feeling that between your wishes and reality there will be many compromises. You call a 1990s house a middle-old building what do you do with a house from 1920? Vaulted cellar? Low, damp Ceiling height leaves no room for ventilation, underfloor heating, only small cute windows, far from bright and large. Layout old-fashioned Stairs relatively steep Upper floor half-timbered

In this context, I would like to learn from the current experience and am currently limiting my search to plots of land with at least 1500 sqm in size.

Size alone does not have to be the solution. We have just under 1500 sqm and if our neighbor were loud, we would hear it just the same. I do think it can also be smaller; you need the environment that suits you. I would just look at "everything" that appeals to me, at least the listings and visit the place...
Therefore, I wouldn't restrict myself with too many other parameters either. It's like choosing a partner... it usually turns out very differently than you thought beforehand... very differently :D. Maybe it's something where you can build an extension; there are a thousand ways to live beautifully.

You are now perceiving all these ambient noises in the cool autumn with the windows closed to a disturbing extent? I also live in a fairly densely populated area, it's not a new development, but I do have a few neighbors who really like to tinker. I'm no exception there either. Still, now in winter I hardly notice anything at all. If one of the huge tractors with a massive trailer passes by, you can easily tell; you can also hear the siren of the ambulance. If the neighbor is grinding, I might hear it too if I listen very closely. But enough for it to be disturbing indoors? Possibly your house is simply not optimal acoustically, I really can't imagine it. By the way, it is very quiet in the basement as well; I don't even notice if a bomb explodes next door there. Maybe that would be something for you too, study and wellness bathroom in the basement.