Realistic financing or cost plan

Hello everyone,

my family of four would like to build a single-family house. We also have a dog, family planning is complete.

Our net income is 3231€ per month. I have not included the 13th and 14th monthly salary (guaranteed) as well as the annual bonus of gross 5000€+ (not guaranteed). My wife is currently still catching up on school and could possibly work soon as well. Due to our rather modest lifestyle, a monthly burden of 1000€ + additional costs seems realistic and sustainable to me (to you too?). Especially since I assume that my salary will increase significantly in the next 5 years; I am currently in the final stages of a part-time master's degree. We have no loans, the car is a paid-off car with 3 years of warranty left. Financial help from the family is not expected.

Our equity is 40,000€ cash (of which I do not want to declare 20,000€) + 20,000€ as an emergency fund, only partially liquid. We do not have a building plot. The bank would probably lend me about 350,000€. We have set a total budget limit of 300,000€. I initially calculated the building plot at 80,000€. Meanwhile, I have come to the conclusion that 100,000€ + acquisition incidental costs (7,500€) is a realistic value. After deducting the planned additional construction costs of 25,000€, that leaves 167,500€ for the house. I realize that this is not much and we will have to do a lot ourselves.

Even though I am not a craftsman myself (which does not mean that I am not handy), we do have many craftsmen in the family. In addition, I am active in a large club where you can achieve a lot with pocket money from the aforementioned 20,000€. I can do the following work myself:

- Excavation (family - excavator driver and road construction master)
- Disposal of soil (family - on other own plots)
- Interior cladding (family - two master carpenters)
- Interior carpentry work (family - two master carpenters)
- Exterior design paving (family - road construction master)
- Exterior design (family - gardener)
- Flooring except tiles (family)
- Installation of sanitary facilities (family)
- Kitchen (family - two master carpenters)
- Electrical installation (generally family - master electrician, but acceptance may be difficult)
- Painting and wallpapering (family / club)
- Roof (club - two roofers)
- Tiles (club - tilers)

Family includes myself and is only meant to show that no labor costs will arise here.

What do we want?

About 140sqm net floor area (3 bedrooms, bathroom, toilet on the ground floor, open kitchen/living/dining room, small office)
Basement
Floor/wall heating (gas, ideally already designed for heat pumps)
Controlled ventilation
Roller shutters
KfW 70
Additional windows in the living room

Optional (will probably fail due to money)

Garage with carport in front of the front door (can still be added later)
Solar for hot water generation

We can do without (or possibly postpone):

Exterior design
Bay window
Dormers
Heat pump
Design packages
Basement development

What is your assessment? Realistic? Does anyone maybe have a tip for a construction company that meets our requirements?

Thanks in advance

Rather unrealistic regarding the construction costs, but others will be able to say more in detail. I estimate that you will build significantly more expensively despite possibly contributing your own work.

Thank you for the answer. I also suspect the biggest problems there. So far, we have only had an offer from Bien-Zenker amounting to €206,008, although they are not supposed to be among the cheapest.

Hello Haeusle_bauer,

welcome to this lovely forum. :-)

First of all, I agree with toxic. I also think the price is unrealistic, especially with your wish list (basement, controlled ventilation...). And even with the Bien-Zenker offer, something would certainly be added.
Doing it yourself is good and fine, but first of all you and your friends/family must have the time to carry it out, and you still have material costs. And I also doubt that the roofer/carpenter/electrician etc. will do the work on your house without pay. After all, it is not even possible to do everything over a weekend.
You should also plan more for additional construction costs. Take a look at Epis' list here in the forum. If at the end "only" €25,000 are needed, you can be happy.

As for the monthly burden, only you can actually know that yourselves. Feel free to calculate €300-400 for ancillary costs, plus a reserve for repairs/renovations on the house, which may not come at the beginning, but when the time comes, you should have something saved up. Whether you can permanently manage with about €1,600 for the living expenses of the four of you + dog, you have to know yourselves.

Just as a thought: you write that your wife could start working soon. So why not wait for this time and then plunge into the house building project with a second income?

Our net income is 3231€ per month. I have not included the 13th and 14th monthly salaries (guaranteed) as well as the annual bonus of gross 5000€+ (not guaranteed). My wife is currently still finishing school and could possibly start working soon. Due to our rather modest lifestyle, a monthly expense of 1000€ + utilities seems realistic to me

Hm, that means you live on about 1500 euros a month as a family of four with a dog. I think that’s good! We need more, but without a dog ;-) ... You can only check this for yourself (what is included in the utilities, do you pay GEZ, do you have phones, internet, and similar things ...)! Are the children already mobile (monthly passes, possibly their own vehicles, ...)? Still, or precisely because you apparently know your own finances, I consider the topic overall to be realistic. I was not able to assess the cost estimate and financing.

Good evening,

Hm, that means you live on about 1500 euros a month as four people with a dog.

Mhm ... I can't do math late at night anymore or how do you come to EUR 1.5k ... ?

Rhenish greetings