Total cost of new detached single-family house construction

Hello everyone. I want to build a single-family house, I am not a professional and have virtually no expert knowledge. I have read a bit sideways here in the forum. I noticed that some of the statements made here are complete nonsense. For example, there was a discussion about the purpose of shutters. It was claimed that you can only close them from the outside, although there are cranks with which you can close them from the inside by turning, etc. If you have no idea, you should hold back.

I have inquired about prefab house companies and tried to get offers made for me. My approach was that I saw photos of houses I liked (also price-wise, since price information was always given) on the providers' websites and then wanted to get offers. I sat at the table with two of them, and then the prices suddenly were completely different. Suddenly everything was no longer included in the standard version, although something completely different was visible on the picture and the associated price. In short, I am now totally confused and just can’t move forward. One company states the price as turnkey from the base plate, but the floor is not included, no painting work, etc. I am not even sure what else is being added at all.
If you leave the land out and see an offer of, for example, 200,000 euros from such a company, then another 100,000 come on top plus land. Notary, broker, development costs, earthworks, water, telecom, etc. connection costs, basement, house... I have not received a definite offer from any provider. I wanted a house with a 13x10 meter footprint, no one can give a price. I’m supposed to say what I want. How am I supposed to know what I want? How do the other home builders do it? I have no idea about timber-frame construction, or what kind of heating, etc. How is one supposed to know that? Do you have to have studied it in advance?
- What does a fully finished house cost, 1.5 floors, rectangular floor plan, no basement? Can you say it like that?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of a house building company vs. an architect and local companies?
- Are house building companies even cheaper? It seems to me that prefab house companies are much more expensive. Their explanation, however, is that much larger quantities are purchased and therefore everything is much cheaper.
On closer inquiry, the elements are delivered, that costs a fortune. Other prefab house companies have local companies build, so as the homeowner, you pay all commissions twice...

Does anyone have an opinion, or experience or knowledge on this?

Many thanks for competent answers.

Hello,

roughly 13mx10m == 130 m² * 1500€ (minimum) == 195' € approx. (without guarantee) But depending on execution/equipment/luxury. Kfw55 or KFW70, passive house ...

In life, everything costs money. Nothing is free. Costs may arise for soil storage, disposal, additional foundation, house connections, rent for construction electricity/water/toilet .... And how high should the tiles in the bathroom be? Door height, room height .., which fittings? The house builders make their profit from the extras. They will be wary of stating all costs as a flat rate. So the tenders will say "or similar, equivalent materials" this is almost a free pass.

Best to read up in various forums and get several offers to get a feel for the price AND plan a certain buffer. In the end, you are always at the budget limit.

Have fun with the building adventure

Well, I'll say normally you at least get a basic offer from the companies, which don't include everything and usually have standard equipment, but if you go there and ask for house costs for a base area of 13*10m and nothing more, it might be that they don't take you seriously either! You have to know roughly what you want, how much you want to spend, etc. If you have money, everything matters less, you can hire consultants, etc. If that's not the case, long-term planning is advantageous. Plan for around 3/4 to 1 year or so to possibly start building the house this year. It's a lot of effort, especially as a layman, but if you don't want to blindly buy something, it belongs to the process.

JPH, I don’t understand your calculation. How can you quote a price based on the floor area? I know that everything costs money, but you get an offer for a specific house, for example 200,000€, calculate the land including 100,000€, and then think you have a house for 300,000€. But that’s not the case. Development, utility connections, ancillary building costs, earthworks, outdoor facilities, garage, etc.... no one mentions that. Often, even the flooring, painting, etc. are not included in the turnkey house price. It makes you feel like you’re being deceived.

blurboy, this information is not my own invention. According to the house sellers, only the external dimensions count and the interior walls can be planned freely. Why should I then provide exact measurements if what you move inside is free of charge anyway? It supposedly all refers to the external dimensions and shape of the house. I don’t want a conservatory or anything like that. Rectangular, basement, 13x10m, 1.5 stories. There probably aren’t that many alternatives. These data should be enough to discuss everything else roughly in a one-on-one conversation.

The money is available. I don’t spend any of it on a consultation. I first want to know where I stand and what I can expect for certain amounts.

You all talk about planning. What are you planning? The appearance of the house? The functionality? Are you searching that long for a building plot? When you have one, everything is dictated by the development plan anyway and you can throw your plans out the window again.

That’s why I plan a house the way I imagine it and then look for a building plot until I find a suitable one where the price and development plan fit.

Do you just start building and then get surprised by what it costs? I want to know exactly beforehand how much I have to transfer to whom and when, and exactly what I get for it. Isn’t that possible when building a house?

Well, the prices are usually mixed prices for a building, which vary depending on each company and the equipment.

Connection, outdoor facilities, etc. are ancillary construction costs and have nothing to do with the building construction!

Since everything is customizable, it is clear, but you cannot just go and say I want a piece of house, how much will that cost! If you tell the butcher you want 3 kg of meat, how much is that, they won’t take you seriously either.

And if this is not at least half explained in a conversation, no one will give you a reasonable price, because everything is too variable!

What are we planning? The plot is available and practically everything is possible. -Orientation -Functionality/layout -Energy standard -Windows -Heating -Which roof shape/roof structure/roof tile -Electrical and networking of the house -Solar or ventilation -Special requests and and and -Which company offers what for the money -Financing

If you get more into it, you can also get lost

And the more you know what you want, the better the price can be determined, as you think, it is rather a rough estimate plus or minus 50%

Hello,

I can only speak from my own experience. So:
The plot was already in our possession beforehand. And we also looked online for houses where we roughly liked the floor plan. Basically, we gathered ideas. Then we went to an architect. He then designed "our house" according to our visual wishes. With this plan, we went to various construction companies and got quotes there. And it was very clearly stated in the construction contract what was included in the price (just for the house). Here you can also specify your extra wishes. For us, that was the heat pump, or the walk-in shower, and so on. For us, the base slab was included directly. The excavation was included as well. However, the soil was not removed. At the end of the construction contract there is a price X. You would then sign for that price. You can also reduce price X by doing work yourself, which is then compensated with sum Y.
Almost always, things like flooring or painting work are not included in the price. Or tiles only in certain rooms up to a certain price per sqm. The builder will show you what is considered standard with them. If you want something different, it will be more expensive. For us, relatively little electrical work was included. So we talked to our electrician (he was assigned to us by the builder), and he then installed many additional sockets and network cables. Of course, that was not included in the house price and we settled that directly with the electrician. As I said, special wishes are always expensive.
So, now you have a price for your house. You also roughly know what your plot costs. We then called a civil engineer and asked for a price for the sewer work. Many construction companies offer that directly as well, but our builder was extremely expensive. It pays to compare. You can also call your electricity provider directly and ask how much the house connections will cost. For us, that was very important and unfortunately extremely expensive because we were a backland development.
For the outdoor facilities, we budgeted 2,500 euros (garden) and 3,000 euros (driveway paving work). We built our garage entirely by ourselves. We calculated 6,500 euros for that.

At first, it was all very confusing for us, but the more construction contracts we read, the better we understood it eventually.
I hope this helped you a bit. If you have any questions, feel free to ask anytime.
Best regards,
Nina