My girlfriend (soon to be my wife, and yes, she knows about this ) and I are both employed in the public sector. So far, we don’t have children, but looking ahead, we are thinking about having two, maybe even three. Of course, a little bit depends on the budget, so it’s closely linked to the house itself, aside from the number of rooms... but let’s start from the beginning.
We have already purchased a plot of land. It is located in Fredersdorf (15370), near Berlin (about 30–45 minutes to the city center). The size is 840 sqm (around 9,042 sq ft), and the floor area ratio is supposed to be 0.25... "supposed to be," because looking at nearby properties makes us a bit uncertain. As far as we know, it’s a plot within an established residential area, not a pure building site. The plot is developer-free. The purchase price was €85,000, although the official land value is €70 per sqm (about 6.50 per sq ft). Accordingly, the financing looks like this: a €59,000 mortgage, €1,000 personal capital, and a €25,000 private loan with the option of early repayment. Please don't start with any parental advice right now. We know what we’re doing. That’s why I’m mentioning the "early repayment option.” Also, the price was high in our opinion but justified and, most importantly, affordable. The plot was previously used as a weekend retreat. On it stands a well-maintained bungalow of 30 sqm (about 323 sq ft) with a partial basement and another 30 sqm... a closed porch? Conservatory? Hallway-like addition with the character of a conservatory??? It’s hard to describe. In any case, it’s dry, wind-protected, uninsulated, locked, and tiled. The bungalow itself is insulated and has double-glazed windows. Definitely not a standard East German bungalow in my view. The bungalow is located in the front third of the plot. Wastewater is connected at the bungalow, and the drinking water connection is currently in the commissioning phase. Electricity and telephone are, of course, already available. Gas is only connected at the street side.
Regarding the plot itself, it is diverse in terms of plants and well maintained. Fence, hedges, pond... the whole package is present. The plot dimensions are roughly 18 m x 47 m (59 ft x 154 ft).
Now to the main point. I’d like to know how you assess where our project might be headed and whether it matches our (desired) expectations. Wishes in such matters are often a negative indicator, so I believe that the opinion of uninvolved third parties with experience can help.
I’m trying to give as much insight as possible. Please don’t complain immediately if I forget something; I will add it later if I can.
We are both securely employed in the public service (no, not civil servants, just regular employees). Our combined net income is €3,700 (about $4,000) monthly. In the short term, we expect this to increase to €4,000 (about $4,300). Currently, we pay €400 (about $430) monthly for the land – we aim to repay this as quickly as possible. Each of us can currently set aside €600–700 (about $650–750) monthly. The planned monthly payment later should be around €1,000–1,200 (about $1,075–1,290) plus additional costs.
Regarding the house and our preferences: We want to build a townhouse-style villa with 120–130 sqm (about 1,290–1,400 sq ft). The buildable footprint CAN be up to 10 x 10 meters (33 x 33 feet), adhering to the boundary building regulations. I will upload a sketch later when it’s technically possible. We want to build with masonry, preferably sand-lime bricks. Our wishes include underfloor heating, a kitchen island, smart home technology, a fireplace, and a walk-in wardrobe, plus a basement. A basement and kitchen island are not absolutely necessary. For self-performed work, possible tasks include basement waterproofing, gas and water installation, electrical work, flooring, and painting, which could be done by family members with relevant skills. Additional costs related to connecting existing utilities on the plot should be manageable. For example, the plan is to take the drinking water connection, currently routed in the bungalow’s basement, back outside behind the water meter and lay it frost-proof at 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) depth in the rear part of the plot.
Questions:
1. Are there any missing details needed to answer the following questions?
2. Is our project realistic so far, or are we being overly optimistic?
3. What would be a sensible approach to further technical planning?
4. What might be a rough timeline, and what should we generally expect?
Sorry if this sounds a bit choppy at the end; the way I had to write this in stages under the current circumstances is to blame.
We have already purchased a plot of land. It is located in Fredersdorf (15370), near Berlin (about 30–45 minutes to the city center). The size is 840 sqm (around 9,042 sq ft), and the floor area ratio is supposed to be 0.25... "supposed to be," because looking at nearby properties makes us a bit uncertain. As far as we know, it’s a plot within an established residential area, not a pure building site. The plot is developer-free. The purchase price was €85,000, although the official land value is €70 per sqm (about 6.50 per sq ft). Accordingly, the financing looks like this: a €59,000 mortgage, €1,000 personal capital, and a €25,000 private loan with the option of early repayment. Please don't start with any parental advice right now. We know what we’re doing. That’s why I’m mentioning the "early repayment option.” Also, the price was high in our opinion but justified and, most importantly, affordable. The plot was previously used as a weekend retreat. On it stands a well-maintained bungalow of 30 sqm (about 323 sq ft) with a partial basement and another 30 sqm... a closed porch? Conservatory? Hallway-like addition with the character of a conservatory??? It’s hard to describe. In any case, it’s dry, wind-protected, uninsulated, locked, and tiled. The bungalow itself is insulated and has double-glazed windows. Definitely not a standard East German bungalow in my view. The bungalow is located in the front third of the plot. Wastewater is connected at the bungalow, and the drinking water connection is currently in the commissioning phase. Electricity and telephone are, of course, already available. Gas is only connected at the street side.
Regarding the plot itself, it is diverse in terms of plants and well maintained. Fence, hedges, pond... the whole package is present. The plot dimensions are roughly 18 m x 47 m (59 ft x 154 ft).
Now to the main point. I’d like to know how you assess where our project might be headed and whether it matches our (desired) expectations. Wishes in such matters are often a negative indicator, so I believe that the opinion of uninvolved third parties with experience can help.
I’m trying to give as much insight as possible. Please don’t complain immediately if I forget something; I will add it later if I can.
We are both securely employed in the public service (no, not civil servants, just regular employees). Our combined net income is €3,700 (about $4,000) monthly. In the short term, we expect this to increase to €4,000 (about $4,300). Currently, we pay €400 (about $430) monthly for the land – we aim to repay this as quickly as possible. Each of us can currently set aside €600–700 (about $650–750) monthly. The planned monthly payment later should be around €1,000–1,200 (about $1,075–1,290) plus additional costs.
Regarding the house and our preferences: We want to build a townhouse-style villa with 120–130 sqm (about 1,290–1,400 sq ft). The buildable footprint CAN be up to 10 x 10 meters (33 x 33 feet), adhering to the boundary building regulations. I will upload a sketch later when it’s technically possible. We want to build with masonry, preferably sand-lime bricks. Our wishes include underfloor heating, a kitchen island, smart home technology, a fireplace, and a walk-in wardrobe, plus a basement. A basement and kitchen island are not absolutely necessary. For self-performed work, possible tasks include basement waterproofing, gas and water installation, electrical work, flooring, and painting, which could be done by family members with relevant skills. Additional costs related to connecting existing utilities on the plot should be manageable. For example, the plan is to take the drinking water connection, currently routed in the bungalow’s basement, back outside behind the water meter and lay it frost-proof at 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) depth in the rear part of the plot.
Questions:
1. Are there any missing details needed to answer the following questions?
2. Is our project realistic so far, or are we being overly optimistic?
3. What would be a sensible approach to further technical planning?
4. What might be a rough timeline, and what should we generally expect?
Sorry if this sounds a bit choppy at the end; the way I had to write this in stages under the current circumstances is to blame.
Beule schrieb:
The bungalow itself is insulated and has double-glazed windows. Definitely not what I would consider a typical DDR bungalow. Just a small side note: That actually sounds like a typical DDR bungalow to me. Around 1984, I helped my parents build a Bungalow B34 from a standard kit. The exterior wall panels were about 10cm (4 inches) thick, clad with hardboard and insulated with expanded polystyrene. The windows had insulated glazing and are still in good condition today. The ceiling insulation consisted of glass wool mats included in the kit.
Be careful, though—the top model available at the time, called "Party," used asbestos cement panels for the exterior cladding.
Best regards,
Michael
miho schrieb:
Just a small side note: This definitely sounds like a standard East German (GDR) bungalow. Around 1984, I helped my parents build a Bungalow B34 from a typical kit. The exterior wall panels are about 10cm thick (4 inches), covered with hardboard and filled with expanded polystyrene foam. The windows had double-glazing and are still in good condition today. For the ceiling, the kit included glass wool insulation mats.
Be careful, though—on the then top model called "Party," the exterior panels were made from asbestos cement boards.
Best regards,
MichaelThanks, Michael. I’ve always been curious about the asbestos issue. Regarding the "GDR bungalow," I might have expressed myself somewhat unclearly, as often happens. Yes, it is clearly a GDR bungalow. It just doesn’t feel like one to me. My subjective impression from those I have seen is that these GDR bungalows were little to not insulated at all. The condition of the one on my property nearly convinces me that you could live in it year-round... at least in theory.
Was the top model "Party" a popular seller back then? Do you know if there’s a way to find out whether asbestos is present without having to drill a hole? Are there any visible signs or anything that might indicate it? Thanks in advance.
B
Bauexperte27 Nov 2015 12:09Beule schrieb:
The aerial photos show the current condition. If you took this image from Aunt Google, I will have to delete it.
Please clarify the source of the aerial photo.
Thank you and best regards, Bauexperte
Beule schrieb:
Thank you, Michael. I’ve always been curious about asbestos as well. Regarding the "GDR bungalow," I may have expressed myself somewhat incorrectly, as often happens. Yes, it is definitely a GDR bungalow. It just doesn’t feel like one to me. From what I’ve seen, my subjective impression is that these GDR bungalows were little to not insulated at all. The condition of the one on my property almost convinces you that you could live in it permanently... at least in theory. My mother still uses the bungalow, at least outside of winter. But there are plenty of people nearby who actually live in such bungalows, which have often been somewhat extended by now.
Beule schrieb:
Was the TopModel "Party" a bestseller back in the day? Do you have any idea how I can find out if asbestos is present without drilling a hole? Are there any visible signs or anything that could indicate it? Thanks in advance I can’t say if the "Party" model was a bestseller. More often, one would see the smaller models from the garden shed series (named GL xx) or the bungalows (named Bxx), where xx stood for the number of square meters of enclosed space. Different sizes could be easily created using various numbers of wall panels arranged in a 1.20m (4 ft) grid and roof trusses. The series differed, as far as I recall, in wall construction. Bungalows probably had more insulation. You can usually tell if it’s a bungalow from such a series by the wooden cover strips over the joints between the wall panels. Do you happen to have any photos? Otherwise, I would check if the walls match that grid dimension.
Regarding asbestos, I cannot provide a definite answer. I just looked up the types briefly. Apparently, these could also be bought via Genex (gifts for D-Mark in the GDR). According to the catalog description, the bungalows already had gypsum board on the inside and asbestos on the outside. The domestic version my parents had was almost certainly hardboard. That might also have varied depending on the model year. You might want to search for pictures online—you can find some for comparison.
Good luck
Michael
B
Bauexperte27 Nov 2015 14:11Beule schrieb:
Quelle: xxx.bb-Viewer.geobasis-bb.de/ Thank you.
As you may have noticed, I deleted the aerial photo. The website clearly states that aerial images are *only* allowed for private use.
Edit: please generally avoid posting links; according to the forum rules, they are not always permitted and are therefore deleted by us—with few exceptions, e.g., KfW.
Regards, Bauexperte