Single-family house Bauhaus style living area 180m with double garage

Hello everyone,

First of all, many thanks for the numerous replies - that helps and eases the burden

In my opinion, the shell is quite tall. What is included? Monolithic, basement, garage, including earthworks?
30K€ for conventional electrical work is also rather a lot. 40K€ for windows is not little either, I assume including front door and a bit more glass with venetian blinds?
Additional costs look good, only the house connections seem too optimistic to me, I would rather budget 10-12K€ including wastewater (the 200 is a joke?! The handover shafts alone cost 2K and up)

The shell includes everything including garage, basement, earthworks. However, we are having the earthworks done by an acquaintance. He won’t do it for free, but certainly cheaper than the "normal way."

180 sqm is definitely not a small size, especially in "Bauhaus style," some modernity is expected, i.e., with regard to resale value, I wouldn’t underestimate the smartness of the equipment.

To what extent does the Bauhaus style define the non-"small size" or the building sum? I will certainly install a "basic" smart system; I work at the Swabian automotive supplier with the big B, where we employees get discounts on smart home applications. I think I can count on around 10,000 EUR for a basic setup, right? I think the architect factored this into the cost estimate since we also mentioned it.

Is the double garage including roof already part of the shell as well as the basement? Stairs and carpenter work must also be considered. Don’t forget shading, paving, furniture, window sills. 7,500 for the structural engineer seems a lot; the construction must be very complex for that.

I assume so. An architect once offered us 20,000 EUR for the structural engineer, which completely blew us away. The plot / new development area is completely flat. Groundwater at around 8 meters. Therefore, I also do not expect the structural engineer to be that expensive.

What is completely missing: disposal of excavated soil, possibly extra effort for foundation, etc. Or is that all included in the shell? Is the property completely flat? Is there a soil report? Does the terrain possibly need to be modeled or blocked off?

See above, additional info: Our acquaintance will take care of all the "excavator work," and disposal of the excavated soil will accordingly not be very costly. What must be said: According to the architect, the costs are included in the shell item.

For sanitary and electrical work, I would also plan a good buffer. Your outdoor facilities are completely missing. You can quickly spend a lot of money there. You don’t want to walk into the house over pallets for years...

For sanitary and electrical work, I think about 55,000 net is planned. It should actually fit our ideas (bathroom with bathtub, shower, and toilet upstairs, guest toilet with shower on the ground floor).

I agree with , if you plan with a basement, the house could be somewhat smaller with a good floor plan. There are really experts here. Have a general contractor / main contractor calculate the house for comparison. We are building with a main contractor (architect = builder), and I have to say I find the fixed price very comfortable. Sure, extra costs sometimes come up, but only if you order something special yourself. (At least, that’s how it runs here. It might be different elsewhere. It will depend on how good the GC/MC is.) If you already have the plot, you’re not under pressure to give someone a hasty commitment. Drive around the building areas near you and ask around. Who built what, who was satisfied. That’s how we did it and hit the jackpot.

We also called one or two GCs, but most rejected us, saying they currently only want to build multi-family houses and industrial buildings. The "driving around" is a bit difficult since we currently live about 180 km away from the plot... But I’ve done some research online and have selected a few construction companies... We will call them on Monday and see who might be interested in such a project.

Experts for floor plans? Bring them on! I have to browse through the subforums a bit

I missed that your father is a landscape gardener. Materials cost money though...

Absolutely – but through his network, we can get some things cheaper. Especially the paving stones and paving work we can do very affordably.

One more thing. Personally, I find individual contracting harakiri in the current situation. Unless you can reduce your workload to 50% part-time for at least one year. All the interface hassle, coordination effort... Someone constantly doesn’t show up.

50% part-time? No way! Absolutely unthinkable, but: interface hassle? coordination effort? I don’t have to worry about that, do I? According to the architect, he takes over construction management for the entire project. I don’t have to take care of anything. He would put out tenders; we may name companies if we have contacts; he puts out the tenders; we decide; and he monitors further. Only the payment of the trades is somewhat decentralized through me – the rest is with him.

Isn’t that the architect’s job? Am I being too "green" with this premise or should I just have mentioned that the architect manages the entire process?! At least that’s how he “sold” me the 60,000 EUR.

One more question: The architect said KfW55 (e.g.) would have an increased space requirement (due to the insulation). Is there a rule of thumb about what this would cost compared to, for example, 36 walls? I don't think the insulation costs much more, right? Since we want to heat with the heat pump and also plan a ventilation system, the path to KfW40 plus is "only" the photovoltaic system on the roof, or am I misunderstanding something?

To what extent does the Bauhaus style define sizes that are not in the "poor people range" or the construction budget?

Not the construction budget, but the fittings. 180 sqm is clearly above social housing, and Bauhaus style creates the expectation among potential buyers not to find seventies-era electrical installations as the "standard." Personally, I also found an S-Class with a manual transmission totally cool, but it counts against you when reselling. And as long as you don't have combined life, accident, and divorce insurance, I would always consider resale value.

Cracks for floor plans? Bring them on! I have to sift through the subforums.

The experts tend to hide in the subforum specializing in kitchens; otherwise, you see them here in the "all-purpose room." These are especially Kerstin (kbt09, plans best) and Katja (kaho674, prefers painting); I also focus on the floor plan but mainly express myself verbally, as I have two left hands when it comes to drawing. I also prefer to work on a strategic level.

50% part-time? No way! Absolutely unthinkable, but: interface hassle? coordination effort? I don't have to worry about that at all, do I? According to the architect, he takes over the construction management for the entire project. I don’t have to take care of anything here. He would put out the tenders, we may also name companies if we have contacts, he puts out the tenders, we decide and he follows up. The only thing is that the payment of the trades runs decentrally through me in this case – the rest is with him.

Isn't that the architect's job? Did I approach this a bit too "green" with the premise or would I have only had to mention that the architect oversees the entire process?! At least he "sold" me the 60,000 EUR that way.

We built quite rurally in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2017. Also with an architect and individual contract awarding. For us it was like you described. Together with the architect, we decided which companies should be contacted for the tender. We were allowed to name companies if we had suggestions; otherwise, he suggested companies that he considered "good, cheap and reliable" based on his experience. Then he made the tender, discussed the following offers with us, awarded the contracts to the companies, coordinated the companies and the entire building process among each other, and supervised the work performed. We then received the invoices directly from the companies; if we wanted, we were supposed to send them briefly to the architect for "checking," and he checked the invoices briefly and gave his "OK" before we paid.

All this worked absolutely smoothly. There was no long downtime on the construction site. We didn’t have to worry about anything. The architect did everything. We ourselves had practically almost no contact with the executing companies, unless there was something to discuss in detail or select samples, but even then the architect (if desired) was there to support. The entire construction ran absolutely trouble-free and (except for really minor details) without defects or problems. And the architect's original cost estimate was quite accurate – okay, we were a bit over (about 10k), but only because we chose more elaborate finishes afterwards, so it was our conscious decision. Otherwise, everything fit because we had precise bids from the executing companies early on, which all the companies also actually stuck to.

However, as I said – that was 2017 in rural Rhineland-Palatinate. Things often run a bit differently here. For example, almost everything runs without written contracts and only with a handshake. Yes, can be risky. But for us, it worked flawlessly. So, no idea if it would work like that with your construction and your architect. But: if he communicated it like that, I would firmly assume so. I can definitely recommend building with individual contract awarding and an architect!


Here are our house building costs. As I said, we built rurally in Rhineland-Palatinate, so this will absolutely certainly not be transferable to the OP, but it might still be interesting to one or another.

Our entire house construction including land (about 40k), incidental costs, town villa with 160 sqm + double garage 6x9 m, 36.5 cm monolithic walls, controlled residential ventilation, air-water heat pump, RC2 windows, partly external blinds (otherwise roller shutters), conventional but well-equipped electrics (no smart home), no fireplace, as well as the necessary outdoor facilities (terrace, laying L-stones, lawn installation) cost just under 350k in total. Own work was drywall (only ceiling in upper floor), installing doors, floor coverings (vinyl, laminate), partial painting (painting fleece + painting) and the outdoor facilities. That will be absolutely utopian and completely unfeasible in other regions of Germany, I know that.

But just as an example. For us it looked like this (all for house and garage together, but we have no basement); all approximate values I still have in mind:

[*]Shell and excavation: 80,000
[*]Carpentry work: 11,000
[*]Roofing: 21,000 (incl. scaffolding)
[*]Interior & exterior plaster: 25,000
[*]Screed: 3,500
[*]Interior doors: 2,500
[*]Window installation: 22,000
[*]Ventilation system: 10,500
[*]Electrical work: 20,000
[*]Heating and sanitary: 47,000
[*]Wooden steps on concrete staircase: 4,000
[*]Statics: 2,200
[*]Surveying: 1,700
[*]Utility connections: 3,000
[*]No permit fees (OK 100 euros for building application in exemption procedure)
[*]No energy consultant (building without KfW)

I unfortunately don’t have the other trades in mind at the moment.

With an architect who is commissioned, it should work. He lets everything be paid. In our very rural area, two are building with pure direct awarding (without architects in the service phase) or are still building. Disaster. They started at the beginning of 2017, even before the demolition excavator arrived here. House 1 hopes for Christmas 19. House 2 hopes for the end of 2020. Costs are running away with both. Sometimes 1 offer comes from 10 requested and that at defensive prices.

Be sure to clarify whether that is really included where you wrote above, I think, I assume.

Make sure to clarify if that is really included where you wrote above, I think, I assume

Hi, yes, so the architect's fee calculation is composed as follows:



The offer also includes the following