Financial planning for new construction with good income and little equity

We really had a very very good equipment and had to upgrade relatively little. When we had to upgrade, we already knew in advance what was coming, since we had partially visited the dealers during the offer phase and informed ourselves about prices.

Stairs - you can quickly be 3,000€ more down and still feel like you haven’t really upgraded anything.
Electrical - same game
Garage, carport - that’s still completely missing - quickly you’re at 15-30k
Bathroom - you can easily leave 5k more without major upgrades
Floors (tiles) or possibly others - also quickly 3-4k
Kitchen - nowadays you definitely won’t get a kitchen for under 14k that you want to put in a single-family house
Photovoltaic system - you don’t have that included yet
Windows/fly screens/windowsills - sometimes you have to upgrade and quickly lose 3-4k
Civil engineering things like excavation/pipes/cables etc. - believe me, we thought NOTHING would come up here for us - even we had to pay out of pocket... In this area 10k is really nothing
- Ventilation system - certainly not included for you - if you want that, you’re at 20k
- Heat pump - you might also have to upgrade here with a few thousand euros
- Electric shutters, satellite system, base plaster, Q3 filling compound....

These are all things that just came to my mind quickly.. But you wouldn’t believe how often bills or additional costs came that we NEVER would have calculated for if we hadn’t dealt with it forever.

Stairs - you’re quickly 3,000€ more down and you feel like you haven’t really upgraded anything yet.
Electrical - same story
Garage, carport - you’re completely missing that - you’re quickly at 15-30k
Bathroom - you can easily leave 5k more without any major upgrades
Floors (tiles) or possibly others - also quickly 3-4k
Kitchen - nowadays you definitely don’t get a kitchen for under 14k that you’d want to put in a single-family house
Photovoltaic system - you don’t have anything included yet
Windows/fly screens/windowsills - you partly have to upgrade and are quickly 3-4k down
Civil engineering in terms of excavation/pipes/cables etc. - believe me, we thought NOTHING would come up here for us - even we had to pay extra... In this area 10k really isn’t much
- Ventilation system - certainly not included for you - if you want that, you’re at 20k
- Heat pump - you might also have to upgrade by a few thousand euros
- Electric shutters, satellite system, base plaster, Q3 filling....

Honestly? I don’t see any “must-haves” anywhere. I see “want to have.” You can also, and the OP is absolutely right about that, drive a Dacia without special equipment.
All this upgrading comes from the era of free money, just like the quite tight 180 sqm for DINKs.
Oh yes, kitchen. You can also easily stay under 10k€ – Ikea (with decent fronts) + high-quality appliances in self-installation.

Where the truly mandatory additional costs come from are the items that are the builders’ responsibilities. So additional foundation work (almost always), portable toilet, connections, your own construction electricity, etc.
And of course, terraces, driveways, exterior facilities, etc. are often underestimated.

P.S. I would also rather live in a nice rental apartment than at Town & Country without any goodies. You can compare Town & Country (like the other budget providers) to social housing. You can live in it, but it can definitely be nicer.

Honestly? I don’t see a "must" anywhere. I see a "want to have." You can, and the OP is completely right about that, drive a Dacia without any extra features.
All this upgrading comes from the era of free money, just like the rather tight 180 sqm for the DINKs.
Oh yeah, kitchen. You can also comfortably stay under €10k – IKEA (with decent fronts) + high-quality appliances in a DIY build.

Where the actual mandatory extra costs come from are the items that are the builder’s responsibilities. So additional foundation work (almost always), porta-potty, connections, own construction power, etc.
And of course, terrace, driveway, landscaping, etc. are often underestimated.

P.S. I would also rather live in a nice rental apartment than in a Town & Country house without any perks. You can compare Town & Country (like the other budget providers) to social housing. You can live in it, but it can be nicer.

You are right – based on experience, also among acquaintances, this was often budgeted for but then upgraded.

It feels like no one drives a Dacia without extras – the same applies to house building.

So far, I have not seen any house that was truly sparsely equipped – and in my opinion, that should not be the standard for a home.

The awareness of the equipment and how the house really looks often arises during the specification phase, and many are completely shocked at that point. I have experienced that very often.

That is why I rather advise to calculate a significantly higher buffer, because 95% of home builders actually use it (depending on the scope).

If the OP belongs to the 5% who really want to live like social housing, then all is well – I just don’t really believe it.

Some things have already been said about the financing, so I won't go into more detail here.

We also plan to build with Town & Country.
If you don't have any big extra wishes, that's quite feasible.

However, you should inform yourself about your licensing partner in advance. On the internet, you read very different reviews.
Fortunately, our licensing partner has a good reputation. Both the banks and the reports from acquaintances are positive.
I also found it helpful to visit our desired floor plan in a shell construction. After that, we immediately discarded some ideas and added others.
Especially at the beginning of the planning, I had so many great ideas, but they turned out to be impractical or too costly.
In total, we planned for almost a year. By now we are satisfied and think that it will also work well in practice.

I would advise you to wait a little longer and see what you want and need.
Plan roughly how you want everything, the outdoor area, and also the kitchen.
It would be a shame if you rush it now because you want it urgently and end up dissatisfied because you lack knowledge about the different possibilities.

Honestly? I don't see a "must" anywhere. I see a "want to have." You can also, and the OP is absolutely right about this, drive a Dacia without any special equipment.
All this pimping up comes from the era of free money, just like the rather tight 180 sqm for the DINKs.
Oh yes, kitchen. You can also easily stay under T€ 10 – IKEA (with decent fronts) + high-quality electrical appliances in a DIY build.

Where the actually mandatory additional costs come from are the items that are part of the builder's tasks. So additional foundation work (almost always), porta potty, connections, own construction power, etc.
And of course, terrace, driveway, outdoor facilities, and so on are often underestimated.

P.S. I would also rather live in a nice rental apartment than in Town & Country without any goodies. You can compare Town & Country (like the other budget providers) to social housing. You can live in it, but it can also be nicer.

Of course, it is a want to have. But do you want to lay 500k€ on the table for a Dacia and later regret having been stingy? It’s like FOMO in the stock market. It just happens, even if you don’t intend it (the pimping up).

Just a side note: The property really exists and is a fixed part of the deal? Just be careful that it is actually a real property that will really be available to you. There was a lot of shady stuff regarding property searches (especially during boom times), so you have to keep your eyes open. (Like promises to find you a property, but "sign the contract anyway" and then you were left alone with the property search – or that a advertised property was not even in their possession yet, or something like that.) There are many stories where people try to get out of such contracts because in the end there was no property. (I don’t know if there were also stories about Town & Country – but unfortunately it’s a fairly widespread practice.)

Of course there are also cases where there really is a property and everything is above board. And if you are talking about soil surveys and that property transfer tax applies to everything, then I assume that it will indeed be there. I just wanted to point out that you should be very careful not to sign anything that later turns out to be just a bait offer.