Is a house for a total volume of 400k still possible at all?

Personal effort in the garden is unfortunately rarely worthwhile. I calculated it for us back then, it would have been a disastrous own goal.

So the following larger items are included in the price of the house. Windows Rc2+P4, chimney, Kfw 40 package, electric shutters, knee wall height increased to 2.00m, walls in q2, floors and bathrooms throughout the house (for the floor €20/sqm as a basis, if we want better we pay extra), photovoltaic preparation and underfloor heating throughout the house. So I hope that we should manage with the €30k. Of course, I did not expect such an item for the exterior area. But doesn’t the civil engineer prepare everything? Especially paths that are to be paved must also be compacted, right? Well, slowly my illusion that €500k will be enough is fading. I really doubt the construction project. Who can give me concrete information regarding the driveway and terrace? Only the garden landscaper?

I have looked at the construction and performance description and (although I am not an expert) found nothing unusual.

The most important thing is not what is included, but what is not listed and additionally comes on top. Everything labeled with the word "bauseits" is not included in the offer.

The most important thing is not what is included, but what is not listed and still comes on top. Everything marked with the word "bauseits" is not included in the offer.

The problem is that some things are really not included at all – not even marked with a term like "bauseits."

If you want to do it properly and transparently, you have to start comparing different construction and service descriptions... Only then will you get a feeling for what is included and what is not.

If you don't do that, you will 100% experience "nasty" surprises or have no cost transparency before/during and even after the contract is signed.

The equipment seems good to me. Only the 20€/sqm sounds more like DIY store laminate. For the basement, we found tiles under 20€, but otherwise we pay more like 60€/sqm for parquet, 34€/sqm for laminate in the children's rooms, and 50€/sqm for tiles. We did not choose the very simplest, but for example, there wouldn't have been any cheaper parquet.

We already had the earthworker deliver the frost protection gravel for the terrace, paths, and driveway; we compacted it ourselves. But just the earth excavation and frost protection gravel cost us 6k for the foundation engineer. The garden landscaper would have done it as well, so that would have been possible too.

Own work in the garden is unfortunately rarely worthwhile. I calculated it for us at the time; it would have been a disastrous own goal.

That is interesting for us. Why was that the case for you?

We also briefly doubted the construction project. We briefly considered painting the basement or the garage. We also thought about painting the chimney. In the end, we probably would have done one of those if our parents had not offered to support us if it wasn’t enough in the end. Basement and interior chimney can hardly be retrofitted.

The equipment seems good to me.
Only the 20€/sqm sounds more like DIY store laminate.
For the basement, we found tiles under 20€, but otherwise we usually pay 60€/sqm for parquet, 34€/sqm for laminate in the children’s rooms, and 50€/sqm for tiles.
We didn’t choose the very simplest, but for parquet, for example, there wouldn’t have been any cheaper option.

We already had the earthworker deliver the frost protection gravel for the terrace, paths, and driveway; we compacted it ourselves.
But just the earth excavation and frost protection gravel cost us 6k for the earthworker.
The landscaping gardener would have done it otherwise too, so that would also be possible.

Yes, that’s why we have the 30k as a buffer. As I said, I will study the construction description again and make sure I haven’t overlooked anything. Today, as already mentioned, we have an earthworker appointed by our architect on site. I’m curious how he will assess the building project. I will explicitly ask him about access, entry to the house, and the terrace. Splitting everything into two parts seems doable to me, but access and driveway definitely have to be ensured. Well, I’ll get back to you in the next few days when I have some figures. Oh, and the soil survey will now also be done at short notice ;)