Wow Alex, quite a tough nut you’re throwing at me there. I don’t know how it is where you live, but out here in the countryside, people help each other. Most helpers are family and do it gladly. Just last year I took 4 weeks of vacation for my brother-in-law’s house construction; by then the shell was almost finished. So what’s wrong with it working the other way around now? Well, the hard work has definitely hit me now...
I’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes thinking about how to answer you. And whether I was too direct with you. But no, I don’t think I was. I’m happy to explain again why.
There are often builders here who plan to do their own work. They do this, for example, because they know craftsmen/friends/family who can do something cheaply. Usually, they do it to save money. Those who plan a lot of self-performed work often overestimate the value of that work. They forget that materials also cost money and that friends/family/acquaintances don’t have an entire year’s time to build a house every weekend as a friendly favor. In all these rosy calculations, it almost always comes down to the fact that the construction project wouldn’t happen at all otherwise because the money is missing.
With you, it’s completely different. You’re planning a palace with maximum equipment. Please don’t misunderstand me, we help each other here too and yes, you can expect people to reciprocate, but anyone planning 180 sqm plus basement with this list of goodies doesn’t need to obligate their circle of acquaintances to such an extent ("a very, very large amount of self-performed work").
Yet at the same time you write that the house has to be as inexpensive as possible, but money is available for 20,000€ photovoltaics... it doesn’t get more contradictory than that! Your people are supposed to bend over backward in their precious free time so you can earn a 3-4% return with a photovoltaic system? Wow.
Your friends will surely help you willingly to get you into your own four walls, but not to gild your faucets. But with that, I might be overstepping; maybe that’s how it works for you.
My impression is that you still lack an understanding of what the project costs. Hence the advice to first clarify the important things before getting lost in details like photovoltaics.
I’ll ask you directly: what do you think your project will cost? Do you have an idea?
What is the planned self-performance worth?
I’m by no means the authority on estimating house prices, but I’ll try to give you an impression.
180 sqm * 1900€ (Bavaria) = 342,000€ for the house. 50,000€ extra for the basement. 25,000€ for a masonry double garage, 40,000€ ancillary building costs. 15,000€ landscaping (the bare minimum, as they say here), 15,000€ kitchen. Extra for KNX 20,000€ (open end...), controlled residential ventilation 12,000€, 20,000€ photovoltaics, 10,000€ fireplace with chimney. Up to here ~550,000€. Plus land and acquisition costs.
Are you aware that you have >700,000€ on your wish list, including the land?
4 weeks of help on the shell. 4 * 40 working hours * 50€ hourly wage = 8,000€ saved through own work. You counted three helpers, including yourself that makes 4, which means 32,000€ saved. Opposed to that is the significantly longer construction time, during which you may have to pay rent, you will also have to pay interest on construction financing. Plus you have no warranty on the work.
I just want to show you that you surely have good conditions to save money. Trench collector, great, excavator driver on hand, even better. Saves you 2-3,000€. But these are just peanuts compared to the entire project. First knock off the big, unavoidable items and see which price is quoted to you. After that, you can go into more detail and work through the wishlist. Most will likely adjust the previous wishes to reality at this point (may you be allowed to if it’s the other way round, but that hardly ever happens).
