I am currently in the very early planning stage of building our own home and need some help gathering and estimating the ongoing costs that come with such a house after construction. Basically, I want to find out how much of our net income will ultimately remain after deducting all ongoing costs, so that, for example, we can determine how much is left to cover loan repayments.
A few key details about the planned project:
- Passive house (semi-detached)
- Approximately 150m² (1,615 sq ft) living space, spread over 2 full floors
- Approximately 430m² (4,630 sq ft) plot size
- Garage
- Initially two adults and a newborn, with a second child planned
- Local multiplier (for property tax / ground tax) currently 471
From my own research, I’ve identified the following monthly cost items (all converted to a monthly basis):
- Property tax: max. €37.50 (I contacted the tax office and was told that property tax cannot be reliably estimated at such an early planning stage, but I should expect no more than €450/year)
- Electricity costs: approx. €150 (it is not easy to find reliable figures on electricity consumption of passive houses; online sources vary between 4,000 and 7,000 kWh/year. I decided to calculate with a rather high estimate of 6,400 kWh)
- Water: about €15 (assuming a consumption of 120m³ (4,240 cu ft) per year)
- Heating: €0 (a conventional heating system is not needed in a passive house, and hot water production and backup heating are usually electric. These additional costs are included in the electricity estimate)
- Waste collection: €26
- Sewage: €32
- Contents insurance: €15 (I simply used a comparison website and took the average price for coverage of €100,000)
- Building insurance: €25 (similar to the contents insurance)
- Reserves for repairs, etc.: €150 (simply the commonly cited one euro per square meter)
The following two points are not directly related to the house itself but, in my opinion, still belong among the ongoing costs:
- Internet + phone + TV: €55
- Public broadcasting fee (GEZ): €17.50
(I have tended to estimate on the safe side and rounded these numbers up where I was not able to get precise figures.)
All in all, this adds up to ongoing costs of about €523 per month. Now my questions to you experts here:
- Which ongoing costs have I not yet accounted for?
- Where have I gone wrong in my calculation or used completely implausible figures?
Thank you very much in advance!
A few key details about the planned project:
- Passive house (semi-detached)
- Approximately 150m² (1,615 sq ft) living space, spread over 2 full floors
- Approximately 430m² (4,630 sq ft) plot size
- Garage
- Initially two adults and a newborn, with a second child planned
- Local multiplier (for property tax / ground tax) currently 471
From my own research, I’ve identified the following monthly cost items (all converted to a monthly basis):
- Property tax: max. €37.50 (I contacted the tax office and was told that property tax cannot be reliably estimated at such an early planning stage, but I should expect no more than €450/year)
- Electricity costs: approx. €150 (it is not easy to find reliable figures on electricity consumption of passive houses; online sources vary between 4,000 and 7,000 kWh/year. I decided to calculate with a rather high estimate of 6,400 kWh)
- Water: about €15 (assuming a consumption of 120m³ (4,240 cu ft) per year)
- Heating: €0 (a conventional heating system is not needed in a passive house, and hot water production and backup heating are usually electric. These additional costs are included in the electricity estimate)
- Waste collection: €26
- Sewage: €32
- Contents insurance: €15 (I simply used a comparison website and took the average price for coverage of €100,000)
- Building insurance: €25 (similar to the contents insurance)
- Reserves for repairs, etc.: €150 (simply the commonly cited one euro per square meter)
The following two points are not directly related to the house itself but, in my opinion, still belong among the ongoing costs:
- Internet + phone + TV: €55
- Public broadcasting fee (GEZ): €17.50
(I have tended to estimate on the safe side and rounded these numbers up where I was not able to get precise figures.)
All in all, this adds up to ongoing costs of about €523 per month. Now my questions to you experts here:
- Which ongoing costs have I not yet accounted for?
- Where have I gone wrong in my calculation or used completely implausible figures?
Thank you very much in advance!
T
toxicmolotof3 Aug 2017 16:39Rainwater drainage, street cleaning, and winter maintenance would still be missing in our case.
W
Weird_Wookie3 Aug 2017 19:49toxicmolotow schrieb:
Rainwater runoff, street cleaning, and winter maintenance are still missing for us.I have included rainwater runoff in the sewage fees. Street cleaning and winter maintenance would be "free" for the property because, according to the environmental agency's regulations, the residents themselves are responsible for these services.
As a homeowner, I can share our costs related to your points, in case it helps you:
- Property tax: €125 per quarter => €42 per month
- Electricity costs: €100 per month (and I think we already have a relatively high consumption with 4200 kWh per year)
- Water: €25 (we also consume 120 m³ per year)
- Heating: €60 per month
- Waste collection: €21 per month
- Sewage: €35 per month
- Home contents insurance: €20 per month
- Building insurance: €36 per month
- Reserves for repairs etc.: €200 per month
- Internet + phone + TV: €40 per month + €40 for Sky
- Public broadcasting fee (GEZ): €17.50 per month
Additional costs for us:
- Chimney sweep: €12.50 per month
Nothing else comes to mind at the moment...
As I said, in my opinion your electricity consumption is set far too high. We really use a lot of electricity (2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, TV running a lot, PC sometimes on overnight, often cooking twice a day due to work...), and in 10 years we have never exceeded 4200 kWh.
Water consumption is the same as ours (also 2 small children), but with us, you can’t get by with €47 per month including sewage – we pay almost €60 per month.
The rest is realistic, although the reserves can be set lower at the beginning – if you are building new, everything is new, so there shouldn’t be any major repairs needed in the first 20 years. Reserves yes, but not €1800 per year. You could probably invest 50% of that into higher loan repayments and save quite a bit of money over the term. Just my personal opinion!
- Property tax: €125 per quarter => €42 per month
- Electricity costs: €100 per month (and I think we already have a relatively high consumption with 4200 kWh per year)
- Water: €25 (we also consume 120 m³ per year)
- Heating: €60 per month
- Waste collection: €21 per month
- Sewage: €35 per month
- Home contents insurance: €20 per month
- Building insurance: €36 per month
- Reserves for repairs etc.: €200 per month
- Internet + phone + TV: €40 per month + €40 for Sky
- Public broadcasting fee (GEZ): €17.50 per month
Additional costs for us:
- Chimney sweep: €12.50 per month
Nothing else comes to mind at the moment...
As I said, in my opinion your electricity consumption is set far too high. We really use a lot of electricity (2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, TV running a lot, PC sometimes on overnight, often cooking twice a day due to work...), and in 10 years we have never exceeded 4200 kWh.
Water consumption is the same as ours (also 2 small children), but with us, you can’t get by with €47 per month including sewage – we pay almost €60 per month.
The rest is realistic, although the reserves can be set lower at the beginning – if you are building new, everything is new, so there shouldn’t be any major repairs needed in the first 20 years. Reserves yes, but not €1800 per year. You could probably invest 50% of that into higher loan repayments and save quite a bit of money over the term. Just my personal opinion!
C
Caspar20204 Aug 2017 10:06Xorrhal schrieb:
As I said, in my opinion your electricity consumption is set way too high.He has a passive house. That means part of your heating costs of €60 are for things like mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, which requires electricity.
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