ᐅ Apartment or house, prefab or traditional construction?

Hello Forum,

I’m currently considering buying my own property and am strongly leaning towards building a house. However, I’m still a bit hesitant because of the high costs, which might partly be due to not having a clear understanding of everything involved — and that’s where you come in 🙂 I hope you can share some useful tips and/or links to help me get a better grasp.

Now, here are my “ideas” and my current level of knowledge:
I would like to build a house of about 130m² (1400 sq ft), including a basement. The big question is whether to go for a prefabricated house, a solid construction house, or a hybrid prefabricated-solid house?!

Time is not a critical factor for me — whether the process takes a few months longer or shorter isn’t decisive. What matters more is a future-oriented building method and features, meaning good thermal insulation, and possibly installing solar panels or similar systems if the budget allows.

The cost of the land is set aside here; I want to focus only on the house itself and all related costs.
What I know so far is that additional construction-related costs usually add about 15–20% to the total building cost. I can do some of the work myself, such as electrical connections, wallpapering, painting, installing doors, and laying floors. So, I don’t necessarily need a turnkey house — unless it turns out to be cheaper in the end to have some of these tasks done by the builder.

Because building plots here (in the Stuttgart region) are quite expensive, my budget is somewhat limited. I don’t want the cheapest possible house, but rather a good balance between quality and price. I understand that good quality doesn’t come for free.
Do you think it’s possible to realize the above within about €160,000 (approximately $175,000) — that is, build a complete, decent house for this price?
My total budget should not exceed €250,000 (around $275,000), so €160,000 for the house (including all costs) because the land is estimated at around €90,000.

So many questions, but I’m still quite new to this and really count on your help 😉


Optimistic and best regards
Flameboy

Hello Flameboy,

Since less than €100,000 is available for the actual house of 130m2 (1400 square feet) (the remainder of the €160,000 is already allocated to the basement with earthworks and additional costs), the answer is unfortunately no.

Brief and to the point, thank you.
How much more would I roughly need to invest? I estimated the basement at about 30,000 (currency).

Basement for utility purposes, 70m2 (750 sq ft), with floor height increase and insulation approximately €35,000.
Earthworks approximately €10,000–15,000.
Additional costs approximately €20,000.
Plus exterior landscaping, new kitchen, garage, financing costs, moving expenses, special requests, and do not forget the 5% for the notary and land registry fees on the property.
You can budget the house itself in a basic version at 130m2 (1,400 sq ft) x €1,200, which equals €156,000.

6Richtige schrieb:
Basement with utility rooms, 70 m² (750 sq ft), including additional floor height and insulation about €35,000
Earthworks approximately €10,000–15,000
Additional costs around €20,000
Plus exterior landscaping, new kitchen, garage, financing costs, moving expenses, special requests, and for the land purchase don’t forget the 5% for the notary and land registry fees.
For the house itself, you can estimate a simple version at 130 m² (1,400 sq ft) × €1,200, so €156,000.

Ok, then only the land is missing, or am I overlooking something?

€90,000 land plot
5% of that €4,500
€35,000 basement
€10,000 earthworks
€20,000 additional costs
€156,000 house

totaling approximately €320,000 budget. Don’t forget to plan a contingency fund, and having 20% of that as equity is advisable 😉