What loan amount is realistic for house construction?

I also belong to the candidates whose everything is tightly sewn up to the edge. I can confirm that the generally mentioned prices here are significantly too high for some regions and it can also be done cheaper. In addition, some standards here for "normal middle-class people" are quite high, which you personally don't need and can therefore get away cheaper. BUT the warnings (by the way, at first I didn't quite want to believe them like you either, because sometimes the gut is stronger than the head), that small stuff also adds up, self-performance can fail, or the buffer can disappear very quickly, are definitely true.

I was incredibly lucky that my injury happened only 2 weeks before the move. If that had happened during a phase of self-performance, I would have had to put tens of thousands of euros on the line, which could have been missing later. Small stuff that couldn't be foreseen before cost us almost 2k, although I could borrow all the tools for free. If I had had to buy or rent the tools for a fee, another 2k would probably have been gone. Then come 1-2 undisciplined actions regarding equipment, which basically wouldn't be necessary, and bam, money is gone again. It adds up quite a bit in the end. Then there is a price increase and bam, money is gone again unexpectedly. I can only recommend not to completely switch off common sense.

I, for example, would also do without the garage. If there is money left at the end, you can still retrofit it. Maybe also think about a floor plan that allows you to finish only the ground floor and do the upper floor later (like the parents of your friends). Basically a small bungalow floor plan with a pitched roof and an unfinished upper floor. This is frowned upon here by some, but we did it that way. Although we have only been living in the house for 3 weeks, we don't miss the upper floor at all and are very satisfied.

We are also lucky that there should be enough money left for a carport with a solid shed. But I consciously say lucky because this was due to circumstances, e.g. the application for gas/electricity was submitted in 2018 and on 01/01/2019 a new price list was published by the supplier, which would have made our connection almost €900 cheaper. I only noticed this by chance and we were waived €900 as a goodwill gesture, although the invoice with the old prices was already available. We had 2-3 similar incidents, so in the end there is money left. But these are lucky exceptions, without them we would be around break-even and a big problem could have broken our neck. Lucky break.

Result: you should believe the warnings of most users; unlike you, they have already gone through the construction topic and do not just rely on hearsay from acquaintances/friends. I also didn't quite want to believe it at first, but the longer the construction lasted, the more I noticed that although sometimes it's a bit exaggerated, basically almost everything warned about beforehand is true.

I also belong to the candidates whose everything is just barely barely enough. I can confirm that the generally mentioned prices here are clearly too high for some regions and it can be done cheaper. In addition, some demands for "normal middle-class people" here are quite upscale, which you do not personally need and can therefore get by cheaper. BUT the warnings (by the way, at first I also didn’t quite want to believe them like you, because the gut sometimes is stronger than the head), that small things also add up, self-performance can fail, or the buffer can be gone very quickly, are definitely true.

I was incredibly lucky that my injury happened only 2 weeks before the move. If that had happened during a phase of self-performance, I would have had to spend tens of thousands of euros, which could have been missing later. Small stuff that couldn’t be foreseen before amounted to almost 2k with us, although I could borrow all tools for free. If I had had to buy or rent the tools for a fee, probably another 2k would have gone away. Then there are 1-2 undisciplined things in equipping, which fundamentally would not have been necessary and boom, money is gone again. It adds up in the end quite a bit. Then comes a price increase and boom, again unforeseen money gone. I can only recommend not to completely switch off common sense.

For example, I would also do without the garage. If in the end money is left over, you can still retrofit it. Maybe also think about a floor plan that allows you to finish only the ground floor and the upper floor later (kind of like your friends’ parents). Basically a small bungalow floor plan with a gable roof and unfinished upper floor. This is frowned upon here by some, but that’s how we did it. We have only been living in the house for 3 weeks, but so far we don’t miss the upper floor at all and are super satisfied. Only a shed is already missing quite a bit.

We are also lucky that there will probably be enough money left over for a carport with a massive shed in it. But I say deliberately lucky, because this was due to circumstances, e.g. the application for gas/electricity was submitted in 2018 and as of 01.01.2019 the provider published a new price list, which would have made our connection almost 900 € cheaper. I only noticed this by chance and they waived 900 € out of goodwill, although the invoice with the old prices had already been issued. We had 2-3 more similar incidents so that money was left over in the end. But these are fortunate exceptions, without them we would be +-0 and a big problem could have broken our neck. Lucky break.

Result: you should believe the warnings of most users, unlike you they have already been through the building topic and do not rely only on hearsay from acquaintances/friends. At first I also didn’t quite want to believe it, but the longer the construction lasted, the more I noticed that although it is often a bit exaggerated here, basically almost everything that was warned about beforehand is true.

I now think that many high earners are writing here, who expect a high standard and could never imagine doing almost all the interior construction work themselves after the shell construction

It is frowned upon by some here,

The trophy for guy of the day goes to you

So if someone would build a house while still having debts somewhere – I have never borrowed money or overdrafted an account, so zero problem. I even talked to the board, I would get the appropriate loan, but we are still considering, especially since rural life here is still relatively cheap, many of you forget that – what good is it if I earn 1k more net but spend more on living expenses