Opinions about our topic home ownership

Hello, my girlfriend and I now want to seriously deal with the topic of building a house. We also mentioned this once during our financial consultation, and now the planning is slowly starting. About our finances. Our net income together is about €3500. Equity about €55,000. Our maximum budget for the house is set at €400,000 including land and all additional costs. Our house is planned with about 150m² of living space. Additionally, a basement and double garage. The price of the land will be around €60,000. I myself have been a construction technician for 3 months and work in a structural engineering office. Before that, I worked as a bricklayer for 11 years. That is why the whole thing will be built with own labor. I am still unsure when it comes to planning whether we should involve an architect for the first planning steps. Actually, I trust myself to do the complete planning of our single-family house. And according to the [Landesbauordnung] I am allowed to do so up to a certain size. Only I have no experience in estimating the cost planning, which is why I am still hesitating. Does anyone have experience with such a case or useful tips?

without meaning to offend you - but financing 350k is already "ambitious," you never know if/how long the 3.5k monthly are secure?!

And if you want to build everything yourself - doesn't that affect your "normal" job? Especially since you still need (paid) helpers, you can hardly do everything alone...

As I said, I don't want to rain on your parade, even if it sounds like it right now - but this is a huge project... How deep are you in theory at home? Just because you have been masonry for 11 years doesn't mean you have the complete planning of all trades in view - heating, gas, electrical, kitchen...

A budget of 400,000 euros (typo above?) and then "the whole thing" as own work doesn't quite fit for me 100%. You don't have a very expensive plot of land, so about 300,000 euros (you have to consider incidental costs somewhere) are available for the house. In my opinion, you can also have it built turnkey for that.

What monthly payment could you afford (household budget, living expenses, ...)? How long are you willing to pay off? You can do some calculations on the internet or with a calculator (calc.exe can also handle mortgages).

For the house, I would roughly list the items (house, basement, garage, plot, outdoor facilities, incidental costs, ...) and write some numbers next to them. Others here surely know better what exactly to write down. It would be good if you can give a more concrete starting point.

Oh, a friend who is an electrical engineer (so rather not a specialist, but an engineer ;-)) planned his house completely by himself and in the end only had it approved by an architect (also for legal reasons). So that's possible if you bring a few skills and time (!) with you.

Hello, first of all, thank you both for your opinions. And I am certainly not upset with anyone who shares their opinion here. That is what the thread is for. Regarding the construction sum of 400,000, that is approximately the maximum budget based on the initial consultation with our financial advisor. That includes everything: land, house, interior finishing, garage, ancillary building costs. From that total, our equity will of course be deducted for the financing, plus own work contributions which are expected to be quite high. The entire specialist planning for electrical, heating, and so on will of course include a specialist planner. And yes, I trust myself to plan and draw the house according to our wishes. I just have little experience with cost calculation. I have no problem with the whole thing being approved, as I covered that in my technical degree. Our initial considerations regarding the rate are between at least 800€ and max 1000€. The 1000€ would already be the absolute limit since family planning (children) is also in the works. And I am well aware that this whole process takes a lot of time, but you just have to get through it. There are no work-related problems as I have fixed working hours.

Hello,

Equity approx. €55,000. Our maximum set capital for the house is €400,000 including the plot and all additional costs. Our house is planned with approx. 150m² of living space. Additionally, a basement and a double garage. The price of the plot will be around €60,000.

Means:

Plot: €60,000
Single-family house according to Kfw 70: €248,000
Usable basement: €50,000
Finished garage 6 x 6: €13,000 (incl. strip foundations; executed as FD with sectional door)
Additional construction costs: €35,000-40,000
Painting work in own labor: €10,000
Floor coverings in own labor: €10,000
Outdoor facilities in own labor: €10,000 (only the necessary)
Reserves for extras: €10,000

The effort with "normal" handling, i.e. house construction via general contractor / general subcontractor is about: €451,000

I myself have been a construction technician for 3 months and work in a structural engineering office. Before that, I worked as a bricklayer for 11 years. That’s why the whole thing will be done in own labor.

You probably mean, that’s why you can be your own site manager ;)

When planning, I am still unsure whether we should involve an architect for the first planning steps. Actually, I trust myself to do the entire planning of our single-family house. And according to the state building code, I am allowed to do so up to a certain size. But I just have no experience estimating the cost planning, so I am still hesitating.

For that, I have given you figures above if you want to contract a single conventional provider. You can already see from these numbers that your budget is too small for your project. Also, for individual contracting; current experiences with individual trades contracting and time expenditure can be found here:



Rhenish regards

Our initial considerations regarding the installment are at least €800 up to a maximum of €1000. The €1000 would then be the absolute limit as family planning (children) is also pending.

Hello,

with a loan amount of approximately EUR 345,000.00 (building cost EUR 400,000.00 - equity EUR 55,000.00), an installment of EUR 800.00 up to max. EUR 1,000.00 is already quite ambitious.

As a rough guideline, you can calculate EUR 500.00 installment per EUR 100,000.00 loan amount - this value can of course vary upwards or downwards depending on the corresponding loan-to-value ratio.

With EUR 345,000.00 we would then be rather at around EUR 1,725.00. Of course, it is also possible with a lower installment, but then the repayment (e.g. 1.00%) is so low that you have to expect loan terms > 40 years, unless special repayments are made! Also, the interest rate risk should not be overlooked if no appropriately long fixed interest period is chosen.

Regards,

Dirk