Home, here I come!

Hello,

I just signed up here because this has slowly cost me many sleepless nights so far :D

It’s about the following, I bought a really nice plot of land a few weeks ago. Now it’s time to put a suitable little house on it, the question is what now comes into consideration.

How the house should roughly look like, approximate layout of the rooms is already “planned”.

I think building a house “stone by stone” will probably be too expensive for me, which is why I am currently strongly leaning towards a prefabricated house.

Now, there are also shell houses, are these “rather” recommended compared to prefabricated houses? After all, I still have more room for design when it comes to bathrooms, kitchen and not just the selection the manufacturers have in their program.

The next thing is, what I have read often now, most have insulated windows with triple glazing, I have already heard several times that these windows are simply TOO tight and often become damp. Even my mother always said “windows must not be completely tight, they always have to ‘breathe’ a little!”. Sure, you can ventilate, but I notice it with a friend who ventilates every day and still condensation forms on the edges of the panes, it’s especially extreme for him in the bedroom in the morning after getting up. And to be honest, I don’t want mold, is there a “trick” or something like that?

Last but not least, there really is more than one big selection of prefabricated house builders, are there any here that are particularly recommended, where the price/performance ratio also fits?

I don’t want to go to the first one I find right away.

That should be enough for now, I hope some of you can help me here ;)

Best regards Max

Hello Max,

first of all, welcome to the forum.

You should approach the topic of building rationally and start with financial planning. So first go to your main bank and define the framework; debts are rather disadvantageous and 10-20% equity should be available.

From the determined total amount available, first deduct all costs that will occur anyway: land, development, incidental costs, outdoor facilities, garage, basement/foundation slab, etc.

The remaining amount is available for the ready-to-move-in house; you divide this sum by 1000-1500 €/m2 depending on the scope of own work and planned equipment.

The result will give you the approximate house size you can afford.

Only then comes the search for providers, model home centers, etc. offer initial clues.

The price/performance ratio is not so easy to determine because often the construction descriptions are very incomplete, the sellers hide many costs, high surcharges are demanded during selections, or the payment plans are disadvantageous for the customers. Here you should get professional help on board.

Windows (and walls) don’t breathe and don’t snore either ;), triple glazing is recommended from an energy point of view. Does your friend with the condensation on the panes happen to live in a prefab house?

By the way, a shell construction has nothing to do with a prefab or solid house but with the (non-existent) interior fittings.

If you have proceeded as described above and the development plan of your plot also allows the construction of your dream house, we are happy to help with floor plan optimization and further questions.

Hi,

first of all, thanks for the detailed response.

Regarding financing, the plot (fully developed) cost me a bit more than 200,000 euros for 900 sqm area. Fortunately, the notary was done through a notary friend, so afterwards I only had to pay for the land registry entry, etc.

Everything was paid with equity, meaning no loan, nothing!

The garage is more or less going to be integrated into/on the house, so I am not including it for now, but will count it with the house later.

The outdoor area, meaning garden, etc., I roughly estimated at 20,000 euros, I think that should be enough.

To be honest, I don’t really need a basement; for me, it’s just another room where you simply "dump" things, which in my opinion just collects stuff. Heating, house connections, etc., can also be installed in a specially designed room in the house.

A small storage building of about 100 sqm will be built on the plot, which I will pay for, but afterwards my company will pay me monthly rent, so the money comes back to me.

The personal labor is, of course, a question... So the garden, etc., will probably be done by a friend of mine, meaning I would probably only have the raw material costs here.

But precisely because of personal labor, I wonder whether a shell house or a turnkey house would be more sensible. With the shell house, I would have the advantage that personal labor would be credited and I would have the advantage of being able to build in exactly what I like and what fits my budget.

With the turnkey house, I would of course have the advantage that everything comes from one source. From what I have seen so far, the bathrooms or kitchens installed, as well as doors, switches, etc., don’t actually look that bad. Unfortunately, the costs come with quite a surcharge.

My current equity is about 200,000 euros, meaning I would need a maximum loan of about 100,000–150,000 euros extra if it’s going to be a turnkey house. With the shell house, of course less.

Are there certain contact points for prefab houses? Meaning where someone can support me with advice and assistance?

Because as I said, I want good quality, but I don’t want to be ripped off.

My friend’s house is a prefab house in solid construction. So is it normal and not usual for condensation to form on the edge of the window panes? I have already heard several times that windows should never be 1000% airtight so exactly that condensation does not happen.

Best regards Max

Hello Max,

I already mentioned the contact points; you won't avoid personal conversations with some providers anyway. The chaff separates from the wheat based on the quality of the advice and how quickly a signature is requested.

Fogged windows are not normal, but they occur, for example, in the bathroom; if it is tiled up to the ceiling, moisture settles on colder spots after showering, such as windows and mirrors.

If you want to save money, that only works to a limited extent with a shell construction; first, you should know what you are doing, and second, costs add up as well: the friends who want to help you must be fed, phone and fuel costs, tools and machines have to be purchased, don't forget BG, etc. If you are self-employed and earn, for example, €30 per hour but only manage €10 for your own work, you quickly make a loss.

With your budget, I would only possibly do the wall and floor coverings yourself; the rest should be done by skilled craftsmen.

If you assume about €60,000 for incidental costs, floor slab, earthworks, and outdoor facilities (storage aside), €240,000 - 290,000 remain for the house, at about €1300/m2, so good 200 m2 living space, which fits.

Hi,

catering the helpers is probably not really the issue now, no need to serve lobster :D
Phone, well mine is through the company, so...
Fuel costs, I don't cover those for them and I could even bike to the property.

About the "I manage the hour for 10, but normally earn 30," you're, of course, mathematically right, but I have a fixed income or salary, how I organize myself or how many hours I work per month is entirely up to me.
After all, I'm not alone in the company ;)

But all in all, sure tools cost money, which are available but sometimes things break.
You would have to borrow machines.

So you clearly think I should rather look for something turnkey than look for shell houses?

That's great with the square meter number, regarding living space I was planning to acquire something between 150-200 sqm (depending on the room layout), more is always nice but I see it with my parents' house (1200 sqm of purely heated space, 768 sqm living space, 3500 sqm plot) and that's a huge amount of work all the time with the house.
Especially since a house like that can quickly get expensive if something needs to be redone, to be honest I personally don’t feel like dealing with that. I'd rather go on vacation one more time a year :D

So, I sincerely thank you and will start looking in the next few days at who has what on offer and maybe arrange some appointments right away.

Best regards
Max

Hi,

With the turnkey house, I would of course have the advantage that everything comes from a single source. From what I have seen now, the bathrooms, or kitchens installed, as well as doors, switches, etc., don’t look so bad after all. Unfortunately, the costs for these are also not exactly a small surcharge.

My friend’s house is a prefabricated house built in solid construction. So is it normal that condensation does not form at the edge of the panes? I have heard more than once that windows should never be 1000% airtight so that exactly this - condensation - does not happen.

Regards Max

Hello Max,

even if you want to build a shell construction ( Ausbauhaus), it will not be cheaper. The materials have to be purchased and installed. If you want to do it yourself, it will certainly be cheaper, but only if your hourly rate is lower than that of the craftsman. From him you also get a guarantee and he will install it in half the time.

About the windows: forget it. If moisture condenses on windows, it is because they are the coldest point in the house. The tip from your mother was certainly correct at some point in time, but not anymore today. Because everything that goes uncontrolled outside means loss. And that is money, your money. The heating costs are all paid and should therefore be used as efficiently as possible. That is why all houses are built as airtight as possible and equipped with controlled ventilation.