Cost points for house construction - Is there a list?

Interior plaster and drywall do not necessarily have to be covered by the shell builder. The screed doesn’t either. I would list that separately in your place, and if the shell builder agrees, that’s good, but if not, at least you have it on your radar.

With a 200m² house, there really isn’t much green space left on 400m² including the garage. Is that intended?

... This is also one reason why we keep our distance from prefabricated houses. You often read that not all costs are always mentioned and later a lot has to be done on-site by the builder. Additionally, the selection of materials and fixtures happens quite late and no one can give information on how expensive it will be. ...!

You can't say that in general!

Define for us what you mean by "prefabricated houses." Usually, it means: prefabricated construction with wood or something similar.

But there is also the solid house.

Whether self-builders go for prefabricated houses or general contractors for solid houses, they are not as bad as you present them.

And then there is self-building with an architect. As is well known, they can compile the trades and costs.

Anyway, you need one for a building permit.

I don't understand your intention: do you want to calculate and commission all trades now? What if something in the structural substance is overlooked by you and your house is built on the wrong foundation according to your specifications? Who do you want to hold liable then?

by
1. making a solid cost estimate and controlling expenses during the construction phase
2. including enough buffer

Step "2." will also be necessary if "1." is only controlled during the construction phase. Otherwise, in case of additional costs in the ground floor, one would have to draw the consequence of reducing or omitting the upper floor ;-)

Don't forget the overhead costs in the buffer (which increase the more is saved on the execution plans).

with a 200m² house on 400m² including the garage, there really isn’t much green space left. Is that intended?

Sort of. A 400sqm plot and 160sqm living space are the minimum for us. The plots in the new development area are supposed to be between 400sqm and 600sqm. Depending on what we get, the living space will also depend on that, but we don’t want less than 160sqm. If we actually only get 400sqm, it certainly won’t be 200sqm living space.


I didn’t want to portray prefab house providers negatively. This is still an option for us.

We have three options:
1. Prefab house provider with timber frame construction or solid construction
2. Developer
3. Self-build

For the first two options, we have already looked at some providers and obtained offers. So we have a rough figure of where the journey should go.
Now we are at the point of self-build. We need detailed information here to weigh whether, for example, it will be cheaper and if so, whether the extra effort and risk are worth it. By self-build I mean that we award the contracts ourselves. We also have electricians, painters, carpenters, civil engineers, landscapers, and building surveyors in the family and circle of acquaintances, which argues in favor of self-build.

In the end we have the following:
1. e.g. Okal Haus would build the house for amount x
2. Developer A builds a similar house for amount y
3. With self-awarding contracts, we come to amount z

When we decide on an option, I want to consciously decide against the other two options. For that I need the details. Of course, this is only presented in a simplified way now, but I wanted to briefly mention the background.

Of course, my initial outline will be rough and raise further questions, but you have to start somewhere. That means I inform myself about shell builders from our area, talk to them and obtain offers. During the talks I will surely get new information that I can then research. Over time I certainly won’t be so clueless anymore ;-)

In the end, we have the following:
1. For example, Okal Haus would build the house for sum x
2. Developer A builds a similar house for sum y
3. With self-contracting, we come to sum z

One, two, or three - plop, that means: stop - whether you are right or not, the light will tell you immediately :)

With the specific knowledge (deficit) of the greenhorn, among "1" and "2" the one who is best off is the one who understands best how to write his construction service descriptions in the most trickster-like way. The "developer" here is called "contractor" (general contractor or general undertaker) - unless you also want to buy the land from him, but with a developer "1" and "3" automatically fall away. Within group 3, one of your biggest enemies is yourself and you work against yourself with every small mistake in calculating lengths, areas, and volumes, since these are essential price factors (for the items themselves, and therefore also for every deviation from plan and actual). I already mentioned the little bombshell "time-and-material hours."

If you enter such a triangular balancing with little specific experience, instead of the "logically expected" result "best offer," you end up deciding for the "false winner" "latest discovered error."

The overestimation that three moving points can already be kept in view together is the basis of the business model "shell game," and in its popularity probably immortal. The tuition fee is higher than any architect's fee, if you ask me.

But the dream that you can pay for about 20 sqm of your living space just by playing apprentice sorcerer as an architect must be very tempting. At least you will always be in the best company, since people with "higher educational degrees" also regularly make this mistake.

By the way, one example, discussed quite freshly here: - only two contractors and already something overlooked ...

What bothered me about your first post was simply the accusation ;-) We have already spoken to some developers and architects, and our financial expectations are solid and even somewhat ambitious. But I know us, and you’re right, people often spend more or want more than they can afford. I try to counteract this by
1. making a solid cost breakdown and controlling expenses during the construction phase
2. calculating enough buffer

This is also one reason why we keep some distance from prefab houses. You often read that not all costs are always mentioned and that a lot has to be done on site later. Additionally, the selection of fixtures happens quite late and no one can provide information about how expensive that will be.

I read your first posts and the prices back then were dreamlike. At €50 per sqm, we wouldn’t even be considering it ;-) We currently hope that the price for us will not exceed €350/sqm. The price is not yet fixed and the last plots were at €320/sqm.
Also, the price for a basement single-family house was very low. Of course, it is now difficult to estimate as inflation has to be considered. But for your information:
Our budget currently stands at €600k, whereby we calculate with a 400-500 sqm plot for €350/sqm, on which a two-story urban villa with 160-200 sqm on a slab is planned.


Thanks for the list. That already helps significantly. I wouldn’t have thought that the shell builder covers so many things. I would have rather expected it like this:
- Civil engineering work, foundation slab
- Masonry work, concrete and steel work, screed, facade
- Drywall builder
- Interior plaster

Thanks for all the info!

I wrote 90% of the builders... not 100%. Of course, there are some who calculate solidly and it then works out. But that is not the rule.

Regards, Steffen

PS: We once had €500...600k in mind. Current status: €1.14 million (all in including expensive kitchen, expensive garden, expensive plot, etc.) and we are still not living in it :)