House Construction 2015 - Regional Craftsmen or Mass-Produced Goods

Good evening,

I want to say upfront that I am not responding here at the main train station to make life difficult for potential builders like you; even if some might think so. My primary concern is to set the facts straight. Rightly so, for the simple reason of raising the awareness of potential builders for numbers. For all numbers related to the topic of house construction; maybe by the end of the day also being able to recognize that the topic of building a house does not fit into the current life biography; perhaps not even later in life. The latter is no disaster and nothing for which a person should be ashamed.

The EUR 350,000 should actually roughly cover the purchase including double garage and outdoor facilities, so that my financing also roughly fits.

I will come back to this later in my answer.

And exactly then floor plans and gross volume come into play somewhere,

I do not calculate in gross volume but in square meters; this is also easier for the users.

BECAUSE without a basement it won't work on my property, due to the slope with street gradient (2.10 m), we already had settling clarified.

It is certainly true that slopes make the cost ratio of basement to backfilling worth reconsidering. But it would be new to me that a pure backfill of earth would not be possible; whether in front or behind the house.

So, in the basement I then have the usual rooms HAR/technical, laundry, storage, shower/toilet and room X as office, guest, third child, whatever.

A shower with toilet in the basement is currently not common. The drainage at your construction project must be led above the backwater level. That means you need a lifting station with 2 macerators since you also want to install a toilet. For "only" a shower, a simple lifting station is enough; except in the rather rare case that the sewer invert is even lower than the upper edge of the finished basement floor.

If office, children's and guest rooms are to be in the basement, it must also be designed for residential purposes. This means at least appropriately thick exterior insulation in the earth-contact exterior walls, preferably underfloor heating, and also residential windows (Dirk already mentioned escape routes). That adds a lot of additional costs; on top of the additional costs due to the exposed masonry of the basement having to be plastered accordingly.

Regarding the double garage.

Earth must be backfilled there as well?

The first plans (based on model houses) came to a gross volume of 1100 + 200 for the attic. Then the cost estimate and so all that was for the bin. So we are looking for compromises AND an EXPERT who will plan these requirements properly (which didn't work so far in the model houses, unfortunately)

It is a pity that you didn’t meet a competent sales colleague, maybe you will have more luck now; anyway, I keep my fingers crossed for you! But you have to free yourself from the idea that model houses - no matter which provider - can represent all possibilities of life. This simply doesn’t work; it is simply too expensive for people and materials. But it should be possible that there are similar references, which can also be viewed from the inside.

So, here I am now.... for me it also adds that I have lost my parents and siblings and am more dependent on external help on that side, which drives costs.... and am not a craftsman myself... and have a small child to care for.... costs energy!!

I have a bit of concern – even at your age of 37 – that you are a candidate who, if addressed properly, is willing to believe almost anything. Do yourself a favor – if you indeed recognize yourself in this – and do not sign anything, absolutely nothing, before someone has looked at the documents who understands the job. There are countless ways to realize this; starting with the consumer advice center, various experts, up to a lawyer specializing in contract and construction law.

I come back to your EUR 350,000. If I understand correctly, you need about 150 sqm reasonably distributed on ground floor and attic plus an expandable attic room as well as a basement due to the slope. For Rhineland Palatinate that would look approximately like this:

Single-family house 150 sqm as KfW 70 efficiency house: EUR 240,000
Usable basement: EUR 40,000
Expansion of basement to living space: EUR 25,000
Lifting station: EUR 6,000
Approx. additional costs for exposed masonry (monolithic): EUR 5,000
Preparation for attic expansion: EUR 10,000
Double garage including strip foundations: EUR 12,000
Usual incidental building costs: EUR 40,000
Reserve for foundation extra costs due to slope: EUR 20,000
Painting and floor coverings as basic equipment: EUR 20,000
Outdoor facilities as basic equipment (only the essentials): EUR 10,000
Reserve for extras: EUR 10,000

All in estimated: EUR 437,000

Rhenish regards

Hello construction expert,

thank you very, very much for your effort and support, that is more than commendable!!!!

Wow... that had to sink in first. ....but I see once again that I really have to wrestle with this and manage these amounts. My first calculation also came out at 450,000, which is why I have been dealing with this back and forth for almost a year.

I actually wanted to move the garage to the basement and then extend part of it under the terrace, so that at least the costs for the double garage would be gone. But somehow, despite a slope of 2.10, that doesn’t seem to work unless you drive around the house, which doesn’t work because the plot is about 25m wide.

That’s why I am thinking about spatial concepts that on the one hand align the cost situation and on the other hand our ideas. But in my opinion, I can hardly avoid about 900m² BRI..... and that’s already the amount without the rest.

Good evening,

... and there we already have the total without the rest.

That goes faster than you can think

Take a look at the attachments. This is a two-family house that we handed over in 2011 in the Rhineland; a total of 230 sqm of living space and a good 20 sqm of usable area. Just after the front door, it goes down about 3.00 m, creating something similar to a hillside location. It was originally an old, forgotten garden plot. The move-in ready price for the two-family house was already TEUR 370 in 2010, but without painting, flooring, outdoor facilities, and incidental construction costs.

From the calculation perspective, we are 5 years ahead, and you want to build in RP. "X" price increases later plus higher construction costs in RP.

Rhenish greetings

Yes, with the slope on my garden side at about -1.65m and on the street side at -2.12.

I have attached an excerpt (with names etc. cut out for data protection reasons) from the site plan and my first draft. The house was too big, but right now it’s more about the slope. From my point of view, the plot is crappy, but we got it from my in-laws and just have to manage somehow.

THAT’S WHY I haven’t really gotten along well so far with the representatives of the model houses mentioned…..

Mhh, wouldn’t it perhaps also be possible to place the garage on the left side and to partially basement the house together with the garage?

Good morning,

Yes, whereas the slope on my garden side is about -1.65m and on the street side -2.12.

That reads as "only" more problematic than it actually is.

In my view, the plot is lousy... but we got it from the parents-in-law and have to somehow manage.

I would like to disagree here as well; on the street side it is almost flat and then slopes evenly into the hillside. Besides, there are no problematic plots, only bad planning.

The originally planned single-family house is certainly nice to have, but also quite an ask. Nothing was left out in the design; all possible facade embellishments were drawn ... even the grid windows are not missing (strongly reminds me of the red colleague competitor’s planning). The double garage alone, in form and size, probably requires a good chunk of money. With a basement and so on, you're quickly at a hefty "3" under the offer "only" for the single-family house.

The prioritized question you should ask yourself: do you really need this space? Then talk to your architect and inquire about the costs of a budget-oriented design; there is still a lot possible here without making the single-family house look like a bunker. But for this, you also have to engage with the architect and free yourself from the plan in your head.

If you can’t do that, you have to talk to your banker, because then, including all costs, it stays at a fat "4"

Rhenish regards