Ready to move in - Estimate house costs with own labor

a) Undercut thanks to your own performance at the same quality. or b) Still fully utilise thanks to your own performance at better quality.

Mostly a mix of both.

1. Craftsmen/GUs get materials cheaper. 2. Craftsmen know their products and know what fits well in terms of price/performance; you yourself tend to choose the "best/better" products. I'm noticing that right now when selecting the paint. Caparol offers a lot of qualities.

in our planned house construction project, we are undertaking some trades ourselves, which we want to carry out with the help of family. Specifically:

- Roof insulation
- Floor coverings
- Tiles
- Interior doors
- Interior window sills
- Painting work

How do I best proceed now to find out how expensive the remaining trades will be for me, in other words how high the material costs will be?

It should not be a problem to calculate the paint or the floor covering: how much area the paint covers is stated on the can, and if you want to paint each room differently, then you have to buy a can of paint per room. White is calculated upwards. Door prices are also per piece. I would generally add one third on top of the material for work materials and tools. If you know how and with what a door frame is set, then you have the price. Tile adhesive and skirting boards per running meter can also be calculated, but honestly: whoever has never tiled before should not use their new build as a practice site. I would also trust myself with interior window sills, but how does the material get to you? <- This also applies to tiles. I would keep my hands off roof insulation: sh*** work that you and your relatives shouldn't do. Too much can go wrong, and scaffold work can break legs. Who would then install the drywall? If you want to do that yourselves too, then you also have to fill and probably live with uneven walls under the roof. For that, a scaffold would have to be purchased and you will be confronted with unwieldy construction panels.

Although you can save money with own work, it steals time! Time in which you could already be living in the house... instead, you struggle for weeks, get stressed over roof insulation because the contractor cannot continue interior finishing, and have to bear a financial double burden.

But I don't want to discourage you, only make you sensitive - and as my fellow contributors have also pointed out: someone who knows their stuff knows how to calculate it. Someone who asks a simple calculation question is hardly believable as knowing it.

Try going into our search and enter Eigenleistungen

will be confronted with unwieldy construction panels.

For that, there is the panel lift. You can also rent it. Very, very practical.

That's what the flat lift is for. You can also rent it. Very, very practical.

Oh, there are things to borrow or buy for many things... the calculator is even in the phone.

I find your question amusing and interesting

There are also tasks like installing interior doors where you first think about who in the family has expertise and then exclude that trade. Or how did you choose the trades?

That's exactly how we did it. Asked around in the family who can do what and is willing to help adequately. Don’t worry, I’m not planning any DIY work in my own house that I then have to teach myself via YouTube

Almost all of the things you mentioned depend heavily on taste.

The only solution is to visit dealers, pick something nice, have prices calculated, don’t forget additional costs for materials!!! (tile adhesive, primer, foam sealant, silicone, baseboards/sockets....) and that’s it.

Yes, I feared that you can’t avoid the legwork. I hoped there might be some rule of thumb for the individual points (e.g., parquet flooring, you save about 30% of the price quoted by the general contractor for the same quality, etc.)

It’s best to have the construction company give you the turnkey price, subtract €250,000 from that, then you know how much you can spend on your own work. You will then
a) Underrun the budget thanks to your own work at the same quality.
or b) Still use up the budget thanks to your own work but with better quality.

I’m not sure how to understand this? Very optimistic or ironic?

I see it like my predecessors ...

The approach and the questions lead me to conclude that the whole thing is not fully thought through. If I have to ask how to calculate the material costs of my own work and have a quote made with own work included, something is off. That’s why I see the desired savings potential diminishing ...

What is “off” about having a quote made with own work included? How would you proceed?
Regarding price estimation: As I said, I can also go to the DIY store and look at price tags. My question is more whether there is an elegant way to estimate it, €5,000 more or less.

It shouldn’t be a problem to extrapolate the paint or flooring: how much surface area the paint covers is on the bucket, and if you want to paint each room differently, you’ll have to buy one bucket per room. For white, extrapolate.
(...)
I would stay away from roof insulation: crappy work that you wouldn’t want to do yourself or ask your relatives to do. There is too much that can go wrong, and scaffold work can break legs.
Who would then install the drywall sheets?
(...)
But I don’t want to talk you out of it, just make you sensitive – and as my fellow contributors have also noted: someone who knows what they’re doing knows how to calculate it. Someone who asks for a simple calculation task is hard to believe that they can do it.

Go to our search and enter “Eigenleistungen” [own work]

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful contribution. I will discuss the roof insulation again with my helpers and the general contractor.

How do I best proceed now to know how expensive the remaining trades will be for me, that is, how high the material costs will be?

How large should the single-family house be, and what architecture?