Which house fits? Prefabricated house, solid house, or architect-designed house?

This is my first entry on this page. We are currently in the process of dealing more closely with the topic of real estate acquisition. In the last two weeks, I have already read a lot, searched real estate listings (to check the market), examined financing options for construction....

At first, we were totally open regarding buying a house – from "renovating an old semi-detached house" to "turnkey single-family home," close to the city with a small plot of land to rural with a larger plot, everything was initially in question.

I am a bit further now. Renovation or own labor is definitely out of the question. Even when buying a turnkey prefabricated house, it seems to involve a high amount of work. Since we have 3 small children, my husband works a lot, and we are generally not very skilled with manual work (and I also want to go back to part-time work next year), we have already ruled out this option. Buying an old property that would then be thoroughly renovated also does not seem sensible to us, because the total price would be so high that we could simply buy a new build more conveniently. The current preference is therefore for a new build.

After reading some construction diaries, the thought of commissioning the land itself and then a company makes me anxious. It seems that even with the large companies, there is still so much trouble. Also, I find the total cost calculation very complicated/opaque. I currently feel that the offers where the house comes turnkey with the land and basement are the "safest." I would like to hear your opinion on this.

Regarding the plot, I have already noticed that we actually do not want/need a very large plot at all. I wonder how families manage the maintenance of those huge gardens? I barely manage my laundry. As a possible plot size, we have now set our sights on 300sqm-800sqm. We have ruled out rural areas because of the high fuel costs, 2 cars that we would need, and... I do not want to be the chauffeur for my children later. So we would like to live close to the city (so that the children can later take public transport to school, the city, etc.).

How did you start, if you wanted to build/buy a new build too? Did you rely on your feelings when deciding whether to go for a prefabricated house, solid construction, with an architect or from a prefab construction company, etc.? It seems there are pros and cons for everything. Where did you start? Thanks in advance.

Hello,

I can't give you any advice, just describe my approach.

At first, I/we wanted to buy a "used house" and by now we would like to build.
We couldn't find a "used" one, at least none that matched our ideas. Probably it's due to the fear of an economic crisis, which I have also heard repeatedly from various people.

Plot between 300 and 800 sqm? That's quite a range.
But here too, it simply depends on personal wishes and ideas. Some have a huge garden and would love to concrete it over and paint it green...

We come from Hannover and currently live close to the city (about 12 km outside) and we don't want to move much further away when settling down.

I hope I was able to help you a little...

Regards

hi,

so we bought an existing house 8 years ago and half-renovated it. Meanwhile we are fed up and have decided to build new.
That means land is available, new build and demolish the old house (possibly sell?).
Currently I am looking for companies to build the house for me. Which one is right for you? I can certainly not say, as it is not exactly clear to us yet what it will be. However, my children are older and I have more "free time" to look, compare, and so on.
Take your time for sure. Eventually you will find your house and adjust it financially to you.
Start with the space requirements per room, then the distribution in the house and then set out to look for the "perfect" floor plan. And think about the sloped ceilings and the loss of space in the attic. With 10 sqm children's rooms and sloped ceilings, the children can quickly end up in a 5 sqm chamber.

Regards Bromi

Thank you very much for your answers. It is true, 300-800 sqm is a large range. That is because my husband would like an 800 sqm plot in the countryside and I would prefer a 300-400 sqm plot near the city.

Do you lean more towards a prefabricated house or do you want to build a "proper" house? I was just at a friend’s place today with a dream house.... they bought an old house, tore everything out, expanded, etc., but with a lot of help; they were also able to do the electrical work completely themselves. That would not be an option for us.

Bromi, do you want to have your house torn down, did I understand that correctly? Are you looking at prefabricated houses? I have an appointment on Thursday to look at a plot. It has a total of 900 sqm and can still be divided.... somewhere you have to start....

hi,

so we live very rurally. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sell the old house. Also, my land would shrink by at least 250 sqm. So let’s see. I am currently open to everything. I have chosen two companies—one for a prefabricated wooden house, one for a solid house. I have also now found "my" floor plan and just have to perfect it. By the way, our idea to build new is already almost 3 months old and I am almost only occupied with it. Still, we are not far along yet. So—normally you only build once. Since you all want to live in the house, you have to agree. Think carefully about what you want, where the limit is. In the 3 months I have talked to about 100 (felt like 100000000) companies and have about 40 catalogs lying around. I have gone through them so many times. Take your time— with a project like this you can’t have everything wrapped up in 4 weeks.

Regards Bromi

I can only warmly recommend to all undecided and prospective home builders to thoroughly inform themselves before building a house. In any case, to get a rough overview in advance, one should compare all the construction companies under consideration. The best way to do this is through so-called house building portals, where you can get free information material about the respective construction companies. On most common portals, you only need to select a construction method and your building region.