Single-family house - house type and location search

Dear all,
I am currently looking for a plot of land, but I am not making much progress because the resulting costs can vary greatly, which significantly affects my remaining budget.

I House type
As a house type, I would like a single-family house in the Bauhaus style, but with brick cladding. My wife would prefer a "normal" house with a gable roof or half-hipped roof, but she would go along with it if no (high) additional costs would result. In my opinion, the Bauhaus style, due to its presumably more favorable ratio of volume to exterior surface and the flat roof, should be cheaper than a similarly equipped "normal" house, right?

II Plot and costs
We currently live in the outskirts of Hamburg in S-H, and we like this area very much, but the connections (traffic, shops, schools) are rather poor. If we were to move closer to Hamburg, however, the plot prices would rise. Currently, they are around €250/sqm with us; closer to Hamburg (depending on the district) they are €350/sqm, €440/sqm, up to €550/sqm.
Although I am calculating with, what I consider to be, a generous total budget of about EUR 650K (170K equity), I quickly reach my budget limit with a desired plot size of 800 sqm (minimum 700 sqm), especially since I cannot reliably estimate the house costs.
Since plots are in high demand here, they are sometimes reserved after 2–3 days, and one may have to commit within 14 days, including the bank’s financing commitment. Since I cannot plan a house including costs plus development plan restrictions within this timeframe, I want to clarify as many questions as possible in advance.
Therefore, I would appreciate your feedback on the overall project as well as the expected costs so that I can refine the plot search accordingly.

III Size and equipment
The house should include the following rooms; how do you assess these sizes, is anything missing?
3 children’s rooms (each 18 sqm) 54
Bedroom 20
Kitchen 15? (separate room, no open kitchen)
Guest room 18
Library 25
Dining room 20
Study 16 (possibly in the basement)
Living room 40
Total living area 193
Usable area (25% of living area) 48
Ground area 240

Are the bathrooms (2–3) included in the usable area, or do I have to calculate extra space for these?
Is the approach to usable area so realistic?

The house should have a full basement, a central ventilation system with heat recovery, underfloor heating, and a stove. A garage would be nice but is not a priority.
An architect once quoted me as a ballpark figure EUR 400K (including incidental building costs) for these requirements, but without a basement, but including the garage and floor coverings at €30/sqm. This fits with the frequently mentioned €2,000/sqm, but what level of equipment can I expect within this?
What it ultimately comes down to: if you think that the house outlined above in "really nice" quality is only available for e.g. > 450K+ x, then I would limit myself to the "cheap" plots and perhaps buy a larger one there. If the house can be realized for 350K-400K in "really nice" quality, then I would consider financing up to 100K more and looking for a better-connected plot.
Finally: if I accept the restriction that the first upper floor may only be 60% of the living area of the ground floor, how large would the plot need to be in your experience so that the maximum buildable area is sufficient (I know: the development plans are all different ...)?
Many thanks
Sullivan

This is going to be a really nice and spacious property, which is rather rare to find here in the forum. But well, if the finances work out :D The bathrooms and hallways are not utility but living areas, which also have to be paid for accordingly. If you work with an architect and individual trade contracts, TEUR 400 could be sufficient – and also very nice! But then probably one or the other Eastern European crew will be rushing around the construction site; in my opinion, it’s not doable with established craftsmen. You probably won’t get a prefab house for that price either. However, you must make a detailed plan beforehand, or buy a plot that you like and then plan accordingly. There are always ways to fit into the budget – 18 sqm children’s rooms, for example, are a luxury. Is the budget also available for outdoor facilities, etc.? Does it have to be a basement (with that house size, easily TEUR 50 are built in)? I would choose my desired plot and then go into planning. If you are flexible, you will get a great house with the available budget.

We are already a bit further along and have already purchased the property (approx. 900 sqm) and the designs are also finished. The house (without garage) is also designed in the Bauhaus style and must likewise be built according to the 2/3 rule (upper floor maximum 2/3 of the ground floor area).

There will be approx. 280 sqm with 150 sqm roof terrace + double garage and storage room also in Schleswig-Holstein where we pay €90 per sqm, so significantly less. Our total budget is also approx. €650k including garage, ancillary building costs, outdoor facilities (not much will be done), architect, etc.

The kitchen, furniture + KNX as an EXTRA are not included in this sum. In the next 1-2 weeks I will receive a detailed cost breakdown as we are uncertain about many points:

For example, for the exterior facade, it was supposed to be plaster first, then clinker... Now again we are back to plaster because the clinker we like costs about 3 times as much as the standard clinker...

I will update my thread shortly and post the views + adjusted floor plans, feel free to take a look ;)

... quickly check the development plan when searching for property to see if Bauhaus style is allowed. I'm curious about albert299's floor plan :D

Real luxury house. I’ll calculate reasonably and say €1800 / m². So if you take 240m² x 1800 = €432K already gone for the house without the basement. In Hamburg with the special requests, it will be at least €1800. Huge house = huge basement => about €40K = €472K gone for house + basement. That leaves €178K for the land and that is already too little for 800m² at these prices, right?

The budget is nice, but the location is quite expensive. The money melts like butter in the sun. Maybe you should plan a bit smaller. Many of my relatives have large houses over 200m² and only use about 100m² of it. They say they would build much smaller if they had the choice. The rooms are all huge, and the heating costs are already frightening.
Here are the room sizes I would plan if I had your budget:

3 children’s rooms (each 16sqm) 48
Bedroom 20
Kitchen 15 (separate room, no open kitchen)
Guest room 12
Library 15
Dining room 16
Living room 30
Total living area 156
Utility area (25% of living area) 39
Floor area 195 (still a big house!)

Study 16 (possibly in the basement)

195m² x €2000 = €390K + basement €40K = €430K for the house. Leaves €220K for the rest. With your €250/m² x 800m² = €200K gone. €20K reserve - that’s how I would plan. :)

That aside, whether your architect can conjure all that easily with the m² is another matter. :rolleyes:

Stop!

Building is cheaper here in the North, even though land prices near Hamburg are very high. We haven’t had to pay more than 1500/sqm – and that with a shed roof (those are also a bit more expensive, just like a flat roof/Bauhaus style).

I also think that a few sqm less would be good, and the savings could go into more expensive tiles etc. Anyone planning at this scale will probably choose something higher-end for the bathroom fittings. Electrical work (more outdoor lights, for example) and the kitchen also eat up money. So I would calculate 50 more and save 10-20 sqm.

Quote: Flooring for 30€/sqm: I bet those aren’t the fancy 40 x 80 ones... if these are desired (matching the house), a hefty surcharge will apply.