KfW and Bafa Funding / Grants - Are They Worth It?

Hello,

for the modernization of our house we need a loan.
An offer from Interhyp was not bad. Fully paid off after 15 years. Loan amount 75,000 euros.

Now we have seen that there are also KfW and Bafa funding/subsidies and we don’t really understand it, even two consultants unfortunately couldn’t really clarify it. Or I just didn’t understand....

If I understood these subsidies correctly, you only get repayment grants, if at all, afterwards and have to bridge the financing, since the heating installer or window installer wants their money after the work is done. Is that correct?

Also, you are forced to take a special energy consultant, who, as I have seen here in the forum, costs quite a bit.
Isn’t that just a cost shift?

Also, this special energy consultant must be involved BEFORE all actions like modernization and loan application, which certainly causes some delays. Or am I seeing this wrong?

I would appreciate a practical answer and an approximate procedure, also whether it was worth it in the end.

Best regards
MaHaus

BAFA is definitely worth it, we had a pellet heating system installed with a buffer tank. Within a week, we got 2900 euros paid out. The stove installer filled out the pile of forms. The total costs for all parts plus installation were 6000 euros, so a 50% subsidy. I’m happy to accept that. Effort was zero. We paid the remaining costs through the KfW renovation loan.

Here we took out 60,000 euros. The house is supposed to become an Efficiency House 100. The maximum is 75k per housing unit. Since we bought a two-family house, we could have taken out 150k euros. After the renovation, it is a single-family house. However, we didn’t want such a large sum but rather more own contribution.

According to the glossy brochures in banks advertising renovation loans, for example, 15k is enough for the facade. You shouldn’t be deceived by that, the craftsmen already wanted that much money just for insulating the upper floor! So we decided to do it ourselves.
With the KfW credit variant Efficiency House, you can also do everything yourself and don’t need professional contractor declarations. With individual measures, you do!
The energy consultant hasn’t cost us a single cent so far. He planned the measures and filled out the form for the bank. In the end, he reviews everything once and fills out another form. It can’t be that expensive.

You don’t have to bridge the repayment grant; you get the entire requested amount paid out. Unless, of course, you count the repayment grant as capital. So you take out 50k and want to spend 55k. Then yes. The repayment grant is calculated based on the achieved standard, which can only be proven at the end.

Is it worth it? Yes, I think so. For the Efficiency House loan, we pay 0.7% for the first 10 years. We took it out when the rest still cost 2.5%; I think the interest rate today is closer to 0.25%. We have 5 grace years without repayment and therefore currently pay a rate of 37 euros for the 60k. Since we have to do a lot ourselves (sometimes simply finding no craftsmen, sometimes totally overpriced), it takes a very long time, and we have already been granted an extension. You have to be finished 9 months after full disbursement. It’s not possible with self-work, at least not for us, where I as a woman do practically everything alone and the man goes to work and only helps very little here and there.

What I underestimated were the difficulties finding craftsmen. For example, we have been looking for three years for someone to install underfloor heating, no chance. Nobody bothers for under 100 sqm, and since the house is occupied, we simply cannot clear 100 sqm. The furniture still has to go somewhere. As we planned, underfloor heating room by room, no company does that. So now we will have to lay the underfloor heating ourselves.

Nevertheless, I don’t regret it. You learn a lot, and an older house should be insulated and renovated right from the start and not after 30 years, like my father-in-law. He literally blew gas to the roof for 30 years, which was completely uninsulated. His window gaps are so big that I can stick my finger through them. Better to start right away, even if you live on a construction site for years.

Here is a before-and-after comparison of the facade that I did myself:

Hello Elina,

thank you very much for your detailed response.

Sounds interesting anyway.

I am still comparing prices of the individual trades, such as
heating
windows + front door
internal insulation
wall openings.
Partially electrical work

Our property is more to be seen as a "shell house."
But so far, it fits what we had imagined.

At the moment I have a heating + solar company that also includes self-performance; I am still waiting for the offer.

Currently saving vacation days so that I can do quite a bit myself in the beginning.

The loan amount is basically not a problem, we will get it.
I just think, if I can save something, I don’t have to pay it off for so long.


You can lay the underfloor heating really well yourself, there are quite a few useful options.
Or if you already have screed, there are companies that mill and install the underfloor heating within 2 days.
I find both versions quite good in terms of quality, but it doesn’t work with our wooden floorboards.


Hey, great work!!! As you can see in your pictures!!! Awesome.

Then underfloor heating is no problem for you!!!

I once watched how quickly it actually goes.

With so many things that you can do yourself, it would be interesting to know how it is insurance-wise.
Insurances seem to go into a lot of detail here.

But well, first the financial part has to be settled.

I think, before any actions, the applications via the energy consultant have to be submitted before anything proceeds at a bank, right?
And only then sign at the notary.


Best regards
MaHaus

Grooving in underfloor heating is out of the question! There is not a centimeter of insulation underneath, and all the heat disappears into the floor. We completely chiseled out the screed; underneath were bitumen sheets, some stacked four layers thick. This caused unevenness of up to 2 cm. The craftsmen who looked at it wanted to lay the insulation directly on top. When I asked whether it wouldn’t wobble terribly and eventually cause the floor to crack because of the voids underneath, they just said they always do it that way and everything is within tolerances. That was when it became clear that we would have to do it ourselves. After all, we have to live inside, not them... and I want a stable, even floor for 50 years, not just for the warranty period. We then leveled it with bitumen thick coating and a few millimeters of sand. In general, I have to say that craftsmen often work in a way that looks okay afterwards but is botched underneath. I had the facade insulation people tear off the insulation boards twice because, even with layman’s knowledge, it was total rubbish (joints in door and window corners, huge gaps filled with mortar…). They gave up after a week and we had to continue ourselves. We didn’t get a cent for that, but did file a complaint because they damaged the wooden facade. Then learned the next thing: you will never find a company that will fix the botched work of the predecessor or continue something started. So either you are lucky and find someone who does it right from the start, or you do it yourself. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that doing it yourself is the better alternative. You put in more effort (after all, you want to live there and see it every day), even if it takes longer. We signed the renovation loan retrospectively, we already had the house for half a year. But the form from the energy consultant must definitely be available for the application!