Who first built a smaller house and extended it?

Hello dear experts,

who among you has first built a smaller house and then extended it after 10-15 years or who is planning to do so?

My concern is that we visited an architect who advised us to do this since we definitely want to have our own house, but the financial resources are just enough for a complete project.

Therefore, her suggestion was that we could first build a smaller house (approx. 100m²) and expand it by about 50-60m² after 10-15 years if needed.

Since the first children are expected in 5-6 years and we want to have three, this suggestion doesn't sound so bad.

That would save us the wasted rent and we wouldn't have such a huge bunker standing at the beginning.

What do you think about it? Good or bad?

We also don’t yet know how we want to build. Whether solid or prefab/wood.

The disadvantage of solid construction is, of course, that the extension takes a long time and also needs to dry, etc. With a prefab house, the whole thing could be accomplished in one day.

Many thanks for your answers.

Best regards

I would build immediately in the size that is required. The part that is not yet needed, (kompletter oder Teil vom OG) would then be gradually expanded later.

If an extension is already planned, then make it solid.

Otherwise: If the money is not there, simply don’t build. Quite simple.

Well, the money would be there, but the installment would be very high (> €1500.00 interest + repayment excluding additional house costs)

The loan would amount to €350,000.00 - €400,000.00.

That is simply too much.

So the money is not there after all!

Hello,

That's why her suggestion was that you could first build a smaller house (about 100m²) and expand it by about 50-60m² in 10-15 years if needed.

I would always recommend the golden mean to you, provided a classic single-family house with attic is planned. If so, have the staircase built up to the attic and close it off with a living space door. You can then do the conversion later; it’s not that incredibly difficult, provided all the lines above the attic ceiling are cut. 130 sqm living area, cleverly planned, make a nice little house!

The disadvantage of solid construction is, of course, that the extension takes a long time and also has to dry, etc. With a prefabricated house, you could do the whole thing in one day.

You can forget about a prefabricated house extension; none of the reputable providers do that. That means you would have to - when the time comes - find a specialized craft business in timber frame construction to carry out the extension. I can well imagine that the figure in their bottom right offer will pretty much blow you away ;)

Rhenish greetings

The main thing is to build a house, no matter how. Sure, rent is just wasted money and you simply have to secure the low interest rates. :rolleyes:

I would probably also tend to build "big" right away and plan to finish the upper floor later. And no, an extension to a prefab house is not done in one day. Okay, maybe the shell is, but there’s still a lot to do before and after.