So, I would wait until October/November 2017 to see if the development work might still be delayed.
Then already have a soil survey and do the final planning with the construction company as well as prepare the building application. Then you have to wait for the approval and suitable building weather before starting. Authorities and construction companies have different logistics than builders, so I would schedule the start of construction later.
Then assume 9 months of construction time plus possibly extra time for painters or flooring.
The logistics of authorities and the company including their subs, which we builders cannot comprehend, are hardly influenceable, so building a house always takes longer than expected.
Best regards in short
Regarding the development work, I have to agree with you. That is also an absolute unknown. In the worst case, we might not be able to start in March at all. But if interest rates have risen further from August to November? That’s the only reason why I would prefer to finalize the financing today and without a building plot immediately.
I actually wanted to do without a soil survey because we will build without a basement and therefore considered it dispensable. But I would leave the final decision to the builder (architect?).
I had also considered the building permit as a possible delay, but I believe I have found a (great?) solution: there is (only in BW?) also the possibility to build "without a building permit."
Besides the regular way "building application" -> "building approval" -> "start of construction," there is also an alternative which was new to me.
There is a kind of “permit-free procedure.” Among other requirements, a qualified development plan is necessary, which exists in the new development area.
According to this procedure, the new construction only has to be notified, i.e., the same documents as for a formal building application must be submitted. In BW, this is called a "notification procedure." The municipality only “roughly checks” because you have to strictly adhere to the development plan in this case. We will do that - at least for now. If we deviate, this procedure is no longer possible and we would have to submit a "normal" building application.
The difference, however, is that the municipality/building authority has four weeks to object to this notification. If it does not object, the construction is deemed approved and you get a green light instead of a red one. There is then no acceptance or anything similar. The fees are supposedly lower for this reason.
The building authority has already confirmed this to me.
We applied for the loan in December and received the approval in early January. Construction started mid-March. We opted for only 9 months interest-free period (so the deadline ends at the end of September), although we are fully aware that we will not have used all the money by then. We also had an offer from the same bank with a 12-month interest-free period. The offers differed in interest rate by 0.06%. These 0.06% higher interest rates for three months longer interest-free time would amount to around €2,800 more in interest over the entire fixed-interest period at the same rate. Our interest on standby during the 3 months will very likely not be that high to make the 3 months longer interest-free period worthwhile. If everything goes more or less as planned, we might pay about 1/3 of that in interest. Maximum. That’s why we opted for the shorter interest-free period. You should calculate something like this too if you have concrete offers from banks and then decide what you feel more comfortable with and what is more worthwhile. A shorter interest-free period can be worthwhile in some cases if the interest rates vary for different interest-free periods.
As has already been said several times, you only start repaying when the loan is fully drawn down. For us, that will probably also be about one year after the financing agreement. Yes, you might ”lose” that year, but that’s just how it is. But you could also save the installment each month and use it as a special repayment after full disbursement, then the difference is probably marginal. We currently continue saving as in the equity savings phase before construction because we don’t have to repay yet. However, we will not put this money into special repayments but spend it on furniture etc. when the house is finished.
I'm really relieved that, for you, the repayment also starts "that late." Even if we split the loan to start repaying earlier, the rest that "remains" should be kept for an "early" special repayment or as an additional buffer for unforeseen things.
The unforeseen things will certainly come; after long reading here in the forum, I have no illusions about that. Also, the planned construction time will certainly not be met, that's something I simply assume. The question is always how much this will delay everything.