Evaluate the purchase of a house with timber frame construction

Hello, a timber frame house from the company Streif Haus from the 1990s: how do you rate a possible purchase here? How long does such a house last? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Thanks and best regards, Ashley

Hello ashley,

the house cannot be evaluated with these few details. If you want a somewhat meaningful answer, find an architect/expert on site and have the house appraised or, if you have serious purchase interest, do an inspection with an expert/architect. Everything else is just guesswork. The house can basically be in good condition and, assuming a normal lifespan of 90 years, still have about 65 years of remaining life, but it can just as well have construction defects and inferior substance and be close to demolition. Sounds harsh, but it happens.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

You will certainly not avoid an expert assessment before purchase, as @DirkGrafe already mentioned above. But you are probably still in an early stage of the potential purchase and currently do not want to invest money for it, which is also understandable.

What can make you optimistic: If the year of construction is 1990, then the major asbestos period was already over. Prefabricated houses from the 70s and partly 80s are usually still contaminated because asbestos was required to be used according to DIN standards at that time.

Just Google prefabricated house renovation or prefabricated house restoration. There you will find specialized companies; some manufacturers even offer their own RENO service. There you can certainly inquire about a rough assessment of this manufacturer and year of construction.

Before purchasing, a detailed real estate purchase consultation with an inspection of the property by a qualified architect/civil engineer should always take place. They represent your interests towards the owner/agent and independently examine the condition of the building fabric, the need for renovation, any structural damage, and the energy insulation standard of the house.

In your case, a statement about the construction quality can only be made with knowledge of the building construction (wall, floor, ceiling, roof structures) and the building services (heating system). The problem with these wooden prefabricated houses from past decades is often wall structures that are not physically correct, which can lead to drafts/mold formation, unsatisfactory insulation values of the components, and pollutant emissions from building materials that cause indoor air pollution.

Request the building application documents from the owner/agent, including the type statics, and have these documents and the property inspected during an on-site appointment by the expert.

Hello and thank you for your assessments. Then I will have it inspected by an expert. Can you simply take a provider from the region for this and is a simple verbal building inspection enough (here there are e.g. several offers: link removed by Mod Dirk Grafe, please observe forum rules). Is around 400 euros realistic/okay for this? Thanks Ashley

A detailed real estate purchase consultation usually takes 2-3 hours at/on the property, including a follow-up discussion and an oral summary. This is sufficient to provide the prospective buyer with a clear and independent evaluation of the property. € 400,- gross is reasonable and quite common for this, but may depend on travel costs. The on-site consultation alone (2-3 hours) should amount to a maximum of € 330 to € 390 gross. The consultant should be an architect/civil engineer with appropriate background knowledge.