Project "House Construction" - Assistance requested in the planning phase

Hello dear forum,

I have been following you for a while and I think I have already learned quite a bit and gathered information that can be very useful for my family and me for our project "house construction".

A brief introduction: My wife and I are in our mid-30s. We have 2 children (3 and 5). A third child might also be possible. We live in southern Lower Saxony and want to build within the town if possible.

I would like an assessment from you about our project. We have already had a few talks (architect, financial advisor) and gathered information.

Our wish is for a solid single-family house with a cross gable, without a basement, with about 140/150 sqm of living space. For storage and as a basement replacement, a large garage (about 4m x 9m - single garage + storage room) should be directly attached to the house. Some floor-to-ceiling windows, underfloor heating would be nice, and there should also be a chimney. We do not want anything extravagant in terms of equipment.
It should be a KfW70 house, also to be able to receive the 50,000 € funding.

Room layout:
Ground floor: living room and kitchen, utility room, bathroom with shower, guest room (which could later be used as the parents’ bedroom)
Upper floor: 4 rooms, bathroom

Plot:
We have a plot in mind where the price expectations currently differ widely. Alternatively, there will hopefully soon be a new development area in the town where, thanks to local residency and child bonuses, we would probably have good chances of getting a plot.
The currently available plot has about a 10% slope away from the street. All utilities are at the street. Special feature of the plot: two-story development is mandatory, so a higher knee wall is necessary. According to the municipal utilities, the connection of gas and water would cost about 5,500 €. Electricity and telecom would be additional.
A construction expert always estimates 30,000 € for house connection costs in his posts. What is included in this?

Financial situation:
We have 40,000 € equity (plus 10,000 € reserve, which should really remain for car, washing machine, and whatever else might break). The equity consists of 25,000 € "cash" and 15,000 € in building savings contracts.
We have calculated that we can and want to repay a maximum of 900 € per month. Options for special repayments should of course be agreed upon. The 900 € are manageable with one salary. The second (half) salary is then supposed to flow at least partially into special repayments.

Our current calculation looks like this:

Plot including incidental acquisition costs: 65,000 €
House including garage ("turnkey"): 170,000 €
New kitchen: 10,000 €
Garden and co.: 5,000 €
Miscellaneous: 5,000 €
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Total: 255,000 €
- Equity: 40,000 €
----------------------------------------------
Financing requirement: 215,000 €

The financing requirement currently matches (but unfortunately only with a maximum fixed interest rate period of 10 years) the 900 € repayment.

"Turnkey" means that the house should really be completely finished then, including house connection costs, floor coverings, and wallpaper. We can do the interior finishing on the upper floor with drywall ourselves.
In owner’s labor, we would do (with various family members) the flooring and wallpapering work as well as the bathroom design (tiling, attaching sinks and toilets, installing the shower). We will also do garden and paving work ourselves – it does not all have to be finished by the time we move in.
We would do the electrical work with a friend who is an electrician, so payment in addition to pure material costs must be taken into account here.

We are well aware that the budget is quite tight. But it must also be affordable in the long run – after all, we will be paying for it for the next 40 years.

A friend who is an architect described the 170,000 € for the house as "very ambitious". However, he specializes more in high-quality ecological construction.

According to catalog information from some solid house providers, it should not be entirely impossible to build for this price.

In principle, I would rather build with an architect and a civil engineer than with a solid house provider – if only because of construction supervision. But we are not fixed on that.

What do you say? Is this within the realm of possibility or is it completely unrealistic to get our house for this price?

And one more question about financing: The first assessment by a financial advisor was that it makes more sense to dissolve the building savings contracts and use them directly as equity. Originally, we had planned to save into the building savings contracts and, once they matured (around 2016), use them for repayment in order to possibly reduce the monthly repayment after about 10 years. How do you assess this? It doesn’t matter to us if the calculation adds up to 1,000 € more or less over the entire term – we would rather tighten the belt somewhat for a manageable time in order to have more breathing room later. Furthermore, the house should be paid off during our working life – so not only in 40 but at the latest in 30 years.
How else could one solve this with the decreasing monthly burden?

I look forward to your answers,
Jens

You have made a very interesting list there A little tip from a former homeowner! About 20% of the planned amount should be added as a contingency. You always need more money than planned. Maybe you want different tiles after all or 5 more sockets, etc. Unfortunately, all that costs and almost ...

Thank you for the response. However, we will have to strictly adhere to our guidelines ourselves in order not to exceed our limit. We definitely do not want to budget another 30 K€. For emergencies, there is the 10 K€ free capital in the savings account. Ideally, of course, we would stay below the limit in the planning and still have some leeway for special requests and complications. However, there will certainly not be much room to maneuver. I will take a very close look at and calculate the electrical work beforehand. I know what sockets and network outlets can cost...

@Bauexperte: Could you say something about the house connection costs? How do you come up with the 30 K€? Is that perhaps including development?

Hello Jens,

Our desired house is a solid single-family house with a cross gable, without a basement, with approx. 140/150 sqm of living space.

Then you can forget about EUR 170 thousand; a single-story house is around EUR 185 thousand, a two-story accordingly more.

For storage space and basement replacement, a large garage (approx. 4m x 9m - single garage + storage room) directly attached to the house.

It is advisable to stick to the standard dimensions of prefabricated garage manufacturers here. Changes in the depth of the garage up to a max. of 10.0 m are not a big problem – of course, it costs more, but anything over 3.00 m width requires permits, night transports, etc., so it is expensive. A prefabricated garage 3 x 9 including storage room and door to the garden costs about €7,200.00, a prefabricated garage 4 x 9 about 80% more – in that case, you might as well have it built with masonry.

It should be a KfW70 house, also to be able to take advantage of the 50k€ subsidy.

Another EUR 5 – 13 thousand more, depending on which heat pump you prefer – KfW 70 masonry assumed.

A friend who is an architect called the 170k€ for the house "very ambitious". However, he is also more specialized in high-quality ecological construction. According to the catalog information of some solid house providers, it should not be entirely impossible to build for this price.

I want to agree with the architect without reservation – for what you have in mind, the budget is too tight. Even if you want to do a lot yourself (DIY), the materials still have to be paid for. Besides, in most cases, it’s not “marriage-proof” to plan too much time for DIY, apart from the fact that the necessary knowledge must also be available.

I know that there are many providers who will tell you that your budget is sufficient. Do yourself a favor – if you don’t want to believe me – believe your architect friend; your budget is not enough for a construction project of this kind. If there is also a sloping site, additional costs for earthworks will arise, which are not yet included in the EUR 30–35 thousand ancillary costs.

Best regards