Is purchasing a house and complete renovation affordable?

Exciting how much the prices differ. Friends of ours pay 20,000 for new radiators with piping and 50,000€ for a new pellet heating system. Others have already paid 30,000€ just for the expansion of a rather small bathroom with bathtub and shower without special tiles or exclusive ceramics. (Alles Region Südschwarzwald).

About our project: we have a 168sqm house with a wonderful 1392sqm garden. The house itself was built in 1953, so almost everything had to be done new—except for the roof, which was beautifully covered with natural slate in the late 80s and was fortunately described as tiptop by several craftsmen. Since January (after we had to empty the fully furnished house including practice rooms and basement for almost 2 months) we have replaced the windows/ patio door/ front door (~13,000€ installed by ourselves with the help of a friend who worked for several years at a window manufacturer). The windows have no blinds and were a friendship price because they came from an uncle. My husband is doing the electrical work himself and since everything will be inspected by a craftsman in the end, we have liability for the insurance. Currently, we are at 2,000€ for the ground floor including thermostats for the underfloor/ ceiling heating. For the upper floor and basement, we expect about the same price, and then there will be the new meter with inspection and connection. At the moment, we estimate total costs of 7,000€, let’s see where we end up. Otherwise, the kitchen is ready for plastering, a 0.8sqm WC is finished, a Swedish stove is installed, two walls have been removed, and two walls have been added, floors are hopefully ready for the underfloor heating by the end of the month, and currently I am insulating the roof slopes from the inside with XPS boards as discussed with the energy consultant. Of course, it is all taking time because we still have two children, but overall it is still fun and so far our work has been approved well. But of course, we also make mistakes; for example, the drywall panels in the small WC are still a bit loose in one spot. It is not noticeable because it is behind a cabinet, and in one place we had to remove the drywall panels again because we didn’t glue them fully on the chimney. But so far, nothing serious.

We are still allowed to use our oil heating, so we are postponing the heating replacement a bit since we are currently financing the renovation from our own capital and want to see where we end up. So far, we were able to underbid the estimates well, but the new underfloor/ ceiling heating is much more expensive than we expected. Another offer was even at 30,000€, so I guess we have to live with that price.

Now I have written quite a lot. How is the timing looking for you? Do you have a fixed move-in date or are you handling it flexibly?

Best regards

I don't find that cheap. What is included with the heating? Also the heat generator? New pipes at the basement ceiling? I did something similar in 2021/2022. It cost about 30k€. Meaning underfloor heating installed on 165 m2, completely new water and wastewater, and old pipes decommissioned. Since the purpose of the rooms changed during extension and conversion. However, without changing anything about the heat generation. And without tiles, sealing, etc., but with ceramics and fittings (Vigour) For a completely new warm roof and roof windows, possibly with removal of old battens, I think it's OK. With shading cheap, otherwise around OK. Price-wise good, even if I would have skipped the storage tank. I find it rather expensive for your area (130m2?). I am currently paying 8k€ for screed on 350m2 for a two-family house, but without insulation, since done in own work.

I find it expensive, the heating (heat pump?) is probably marked up heavily or you chose very expensive fittings and objects. That seems cheap to me again (roof as outermost thermal envelope or cold roof?) Depending on material and format cheap to standard (with roller shutters/venetian blinds?). Rather expensive – system too small, storage too big. Ok Depends on the kitchen. Compared here rather cheap, but can also be too expensive depending on running meters, countertop, appliances and especially cabinet interiors and fronts.

Topic sanitary and heating Demolition was done by own work. The rest, meaning installation of water, wastewater, underfloor heating, heat pump etc., is all included in the price. It must also be said that there are 2 fully functional bathrooms, each with walk-in shower, and one bathroom has a bathtub. Unfortunately, the heat pump costs a lot of money. Topic roof: I had 5 offers between 55,000 and 75,000 euros. The roof is the thermal envelope... the attic is being converted. 7 roof windows alone cost 13,000 euros. I dismantled the old roof myself and saved 4,000 euros. My rafters were doubled to get more insulation in. 10 mm Gutex boards are also laid on top. Topic windows About the entrance doors, it should be mentioned that there is only 1 main entrance door. The other is a back entrance door but also made of aluminum. Windows are plastic but of course triple-glazed. Here too I had offers between 28,000 and 44,000 euros. In the living area and in the bathrooms Venetian blinds and otherwise roller shutters.

Yes, so apart from heating, plumbing, and photovoltaics, everything is actually okay in my eyes. Unfortunately, the fact is that most heating installers charge an incredible amount for heat pumps. I have now come to the conclusion that it is not solely greed but mainly the shortage of technicians. Not every heating engineer can do that. Officially, you need a refrigeration certificate and probably some internal (manufacturer) training. I had everything included 51 thousand euros two years ago. Also two bathrooms with walk-in showers and one bathroom with a bathtub. Mostly standard fittings (Hans Grohe). The toilet seats were ridiculously expensive (Globo in black) and the washbasins were purchased separately ([IKEA own effort]).

We paid a similar amount for photovoltaics (15k for 12kWp, but without storage).

Heating was 85k including 2 bathrooms, but including dismantling and probably for a larger house (more heating surface/rooms).

Roof also 60k, but only 1 (large) roof window -- including scaffolding for 3 floors. Price seems OK to me.

Windows were 35k for us (wood, 17 windows, partially quite large, front door, large sliding door, 2x 2.5x2.25 meter balcony glazing).

All end of 23, beginning of 24.

Here are two more pictures of the finished roof with the photovoltaic system.
We have received the photovoltaic invoice.
For 11.3 kWp and 14 kWh storage, we have finally paid 11,500.
The roof invoice is still to come
but I hope it will not exceed 60,000 euros.

Hello Kugelblitz, thank you very much for sharing all the information and prices. That helps me a lot, as we are planning a very similar project over the course of next year (build year 1956, 143 sqm, designed as 2 residential units) and are also aiming for a KfW Efficiency House. For the photovoltaic system, I personally had actually even expected 30,000 euros. So I definitely misjudged that (positively). I am already looking forward to your further progress, please keep it up.