Suspended ceiling: advantages, disadvantages, and costs

So far, a 15cm suspended ceiling is planned in our design. It will be constructed by the drywall installer.

Now, the advantages (according to the planner) are the great and lasting flexibility regarding, for example, spotlights as well as the easy installation possibility for a controlled residential ventilation system.

Of course, we wonder whether these advantages outweigh the higher costs and if there are any disadvantages. Clearly apparent are higher costs for:
- Shell construction (each floor must be built 15cm higher) <- we have no sense of how high the additional costs are here?
- Window frame extension by 15cm, since we want to install ceiling-height windows, they will probably need a higher frame at the top by exactly 15cm so that the window frames can be mounted to the concrete ceiling. This costs around €5,000 gross for all windows combined. <- The question is whether installing a lintel by the shell constructor would be cheaper, for example?
- Costs for the suspended ceiling itself (drywall installer)
- Increased costs for the larger exterior surface (plaster, insulation, painting) <- here we lack an understanding of how high the additional costs are?

Our planner is currently enthusiastic about the suspended ceiling. What are the opinions here? Are the advantages really that great, or are there even more besides those mentioned? Or have we forgotten further disadvantages/costs?

If you want to install the pipes and lines in the ceiling without suspending it, the ceiling must also be thicker (e.g., due to the slope of the wastewater pipes). Depending on the structural design and the position of the lines, you cannot transfer the height one-to-one. In general, it is more expensive to make the floors higher and then suspend the ceiling. However, in this case, you do not need concrete installation housings, etc. The suspended ceiling is definitely more flexible. It also offers more design options or additional soundproofing measures. Whether you can or want to afford this, you have to decide. You just have to request the additional costs. Are you building via individual contracts or with a general contractor?

Thank you for your response. We are doing individual contracting (the architect is supposed to take over the awarding and supervision).

The 1:1 allocation is now clear and logical. Nevertheless, there are items, like the doubling of the upper window frames, that simply add up. 5,000 euros is quite a bit, and we wonder if among other reasons this is why hardly anyone builds with a suspended ceiling. At least we don’t know of any single-family house with a suspended ceiling, except for the architect’s.

A suspended ceiling can be worthwhile if a lot is to be installed in the ceiling. For example, with a pronounced spot fetish, it might be worth it instead of installing 100 recessed pots. Or if the ventilation is to go into the ceiling and this would not be easily possible for other reasons.

As a purely temporary solution, just to get something installed, I find it clearly too expensive.

We don't really have a tendency towards too many recessed spotlights; actually, we prefer fewer and instead some nice floor lamps...

The ventilation can probably be realized without a dropped ceiling, as in another new building as well.

However, the electrician will surely be more expensive without a dropped ceiling...

As is often the case in life, we can't easily quantify the exact price difference with and without a dropped ceiling at the moment.

Why does the electrician become more expensive?
Then more has to go through the floors and/or in the ceiling.