ᐅ What would you do differently in your next house build?
Created on: 17 Feb 2018 09:44
U
Username_wahl
What would you do differently in your next house build? (For us, there won’t be a next time, but I think beginners can benefit from our experience.) Please stay on topic and avoid lengthy discussions (feel free to start a new thread for that)!
I’ll start:
* Electrician: A network connection in every room isn’t necessary; nowadays everyone uses Wi-Fi, which is perfectly sufficient.
* Us: OK, then we’ll install one network connection per floor where the TV is going, you have to save somewhere.
* Result: At the network outlet, we get 50 Mbit/s, Wi-Fi with a repeater around 20, sometimes only about 5, Powerline adapters around 25. It’s enough for me, but the kids are disappointed. I followed all the usual advice.
I’ll start:
* Electrician: A network connection in every room isn’t necessary; nowadays everyone uses Wi-Fi, which is perfectly sufficient.
* Us: OK, then we’ll install one network connection per floor where the TV is going, you have to save somewhere.
* Result: At the network outlet, we get 50 Mbit/s, Wi-Fi with a repeater around 20, sometimes only about 5, Powerline adapters around 25. It’s enough for me, but the kids are disappointed. I followed all the usual advice.
Hello,
we have now been living in the house for 14 months, and thankfully there is nothing that really annoys us, but there are a few things I would reconsider next time.
Architect of the General Contractor
In our case, the architect was useless – really a pain to deal with. He just wanted a simple house that wouldn’t give him any work. Honestly, he was a complete failure. Since I had a full design of the house, which we eventually built exactly as planned, it wasn’t a big problem for us. In hindsight, though, I probably would have liked to pay a “real” architect to review it once. Maybe they would have come up with some clever ideas.
Also, because he didn’t include the carport in the building permit documents, it caused us quite a headache later. Make sure everything is included in the building application plans—never rely on statements like, “we’ll do that later” or “we’ll submit it afterwards.” Due to extreme time pressure (we wanted to submit the building permit by the end of 2015 to avoid the stricter energy-saving regulations that would apply afterward) I agreed to this. And sure enough, six months later the building authority suddenly wanted the carport placed somewhere completely different, and no one remembered any verbal agreements (see below).
Sound Insulation:
Looking back, I would probably choose a wall construction made of sand-lime bricks instead of clay bricks. Even more important would likely be soundproof glazing. We have triple glazing, but it still feels like quite a bit of noise comes through the windows (especially when the neighbors’ kids are playing apocalypse in the garden... They can be really loud, even the construction workers standing next to the running stone saw complained about their noise levels during construction).
Therefore, RC2 glass windows—not just RC2N—would have been a better choice.
Fixed Windows:
We have quite a few windows in the living room and also several patio doors, some double-leaf. Actually, two doors at opposite ends of the room would have been absolutely sufficient. The rest could have been fixed windows. Also, a window in the kitchen could have easily been fixed.
Roller Shutters in the Hallway
The “architect” (see above) completely eliminated the roller shutters in the hallway without consulting us, and I stupidly never questioned it. That was obviously a huge mistake. Luckily, we were able to correct this later with interior blinds at a reasonable price.
Dealing with the Building Authority
Even though everyone is initially friendly and nice (the process went very smoothly and quickly for us), _never_ rely on any verbal promises. Looking back, I would demand that any commitments are given in writing with a timestamp. We relied on statements from the building authority regarding the carport location—that we could easily move it to a corner of the property, even though it would protrude 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) beyond the building line. (Quoted: “Because you have two additional parking spaces in the location foreseen by the building regulations, this counts as a non-required third parking space and may be constructed anywhere like a garden shed.”) The position was also agreed upon with all neighbors and would have been optimal for everyone. But six months later, they denied these statements and insisted on the official development plan. It didn’t matter that other neighbors also placed their carports in the corner (interestingly, completely illegally, without permits or anything…), nor that all neighbors preferred our planned location. Now I have to place the carport directly in front of our immediate neighbor’s garden, partially shading their garden...
A very interesting statement from the building authority was: “Now that you’ve asked again, but if you had just built it, no one would have noticed. Nobody can be forced to tear something down over such minor matters...”
Parquet – Floating Installation or Glue-Down
We initially installed the parquet flooring ourselves with a floating method. After a major water damage incident, the entire upper floor had to be replaced. This time, we had it glued down professionally. The feel underfoot is really nicer. Although in our case it was a huge advantage that the floor was *not* glued down and could be removed without problems, in general glued parquet is definitely better!
DIY Work During Construction and Move-In
It is very easy to underestimate the workload and overestimate how much you can realistically get done. For us, it was especially hard since we have two small children, one of whom was born just last year after we moved in, and for the first 4 months was a very demanding baby. And we have _no_ grandparents nearby who could take the kids on weekends or support my wife during the week. In such a situation, you can practically get nothing done. Our to-do list at home is still getting longer rather than shorter, and it will easily take until Christmas this year to finish everything!
I was really glad that friends, based on their own experience, advised us against painting the house ourselves! They ended up spending 32 workdays (8 weekends, two people) and only saved about $1500-$2000. It just doesn’t make sense! This would not have been possible for us anyway due to the kids.
In general, I think people tend to overestimate the savings potential through DIY. A good craftsman (rare and hard to find though…) should be at least 2–3 times faster on their trade than I, as an amateur. Then the hourly wage difference becomes clear very quickly.
Parquet and Laminate Flooring:
Installing parquet and laminate ourselves worked well and saved good money. Still, I would probably have it done by professionals next time.
Interior Doors:
We took the interior doors out of the general contractor’s contract and ultimately spent a bit more money than the refund we received, but got doors that were 2.10 meters (6 ft 11 in) tall instead of 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) and roughly three quality classes higher than the contractor’s standard. The contractor wanted a surcharge of 150 euros per door for the taller size alone.
Ventilation System:
I had this designed and then installed it myself. This way, it cost about €9500 instead of €20,000–25,000 as quoted by others. The work took roughly one full week.
Vanity Units, Cabinets, and Toilets:
We removed these from the contractor’s contract and bought them ourselves at Hornbach (with a lowest-price guarantee—price unbeatable!). We saved about €2,000–3,000 for two days of work.
Garden Landscaping
We neglected this quite a bit during planning due to lack of time and only really dealt with it after moving in. As a result, we essentially had no garden for the entire first year. That’s awful with small children...
In the end, though, we had almost everything done at once. Even though I would have liked to build, for example, a wooden terrace myself, I’m very glad it’s finished now, and we can actually look forward to a summer in the garden instead of another construction site.
General – Thorough Planning vs. Just Getting It Done
I see many people on this forum who seem to plan their houses for 1–2 years. People, just finish it! You can over-plan yourself to death! Once you’re living in the house, it really doesn’t matter if a window is 10cm (4 inches) to the right or left, or if the tiles in the utility room exactly match the washing machine control knob color. In the end, your time is far more valuable! This also applies when deciding between “doing it yourself” and “having it done.” Doing some things yourself is fun, can save a lot of money, and in my opinion is definitely part of it. But ultimately, the goal is to finish—and as quickly as possible!
Best regards,
Andreas
we have now been living in the house for 14 months, and thankfully there is nothing that really annoys us, but there are a few things I would reconsider next time.
Architect of the General Contractor
In our case, the architect was useless – really a pain to deal with. He just wanted a simple house that wouldn’t give him any work. Honestly, he was a complete failure. Since I had a full design of the house, which we eventually built exactly as planned, it wasn’t a big problem for us. In hindsight, though, I probably would have liked to pay a “real” architect to review it once. Maybe they would have come up with some clever ideas.
Also, because he didn’t include the carport in the building permit documents, it caused us quite a headache later. Make sure everything is included in the building application plans—never rely on statements like, “we’ll do that later” or “we’ll submit it afterwards.” Due to extreme time pressure (we wanted to submit the building permit by the end of 2015 to avoid the stricter energy-saving regulations that would apply afterward) I agreed to this. And sure enough, six months later the building authority suddenly wanted the carport placed somewhere completely different, and no one remembered any verbal agreements (see below).
Sound Insulation:
Looking back, I would probably choose a wall construction made of sand-lime bricks instead of clay bricks. Even more important would likely be soundproof glazing. We have triple glazing, but it still feels like quite a bit of noise comes through the windows (especially when the neighbors’ kids are playing apocalypse in the garden... They can be really loud, even the construction workers standing next to the running stone saw complained about their noise levels during construction).
Therefore, RC2 glass windows—not just RC2N—would have been a better choice.
Fixed Windows:
We have quite a few windows in the living room and also several patio doors, some double-leaf. Actually, two doors at opposite ends of the room would have been absolutely sufficient. The rest could have been fixed windows. Also, a window in the kitchen could have easily been fixed.
Roller Shutters in the Hallway
The “architect” (see above) completely eliminated the roller shutters in the hallway without consulting us, and I stupidly never questioned it. That was obviously a huge mistake. Luckily, we were able to correct this later with interior blinds at a reasonable price.
Dealing with the Building Authority
Even though everyone is initially friendly and nice (the process went very smoothly and quickly for us), _never_ rely on any verbal promises. Looking back, I would demand that any commitments are given in writing with a timestamp. We relied on statements from the building authority regarding the carport location—that we could easily move it to a corner of the property, even though it would protrude 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) beyond the building line. (Quoted: “Because you have two additional parking spaces in the location foreseen by the building regulations, this counts as a non-required third parking space and may be constructed anywhere like a garden shed.”) The position was also agreed upon with all neighbors and would have been optimal for everyone. But six months later, they denied these statements and insisted on the official development plan. It didn’t matter that other neighbors also placed their carports in the corner (interestingly, completely illegally, without permits or anything…), nor that all neighbors preferred our planned location. Now I have to place the carport directly in front of our immediate neighbor’s garden, partially shading their garden...
A very interesting statement from the building authority was: “Now that you’ve asked again, but if you had just built it, no one would have noticed. Nobody can be forced to tear something down over such minor matters...”
Parquet – Floating Installation or Glue-Down
We initially installed the parquet flooring ourselves with a floating method. After a major water damage incident, the entire upper floor had to be replaced. This time, we had it glued down professionally. The feel underfoot is really nicer. Although in our case it was a huge advantage that the floor was *not* glued down and could be removed without problems, in general glued parquet is definitely better!
DIY Work During Construction and Move-In
It is very easy to underestimate the workload and overestimate how much you can realistically get done. For us, it was especially hard since we have two small children, one of whom was born just last year after we moved in, and for the first 4 months was a very demanding baby. And we have _no_ grandparents nearby who could take the kids on weekends or support my wife during the week. In such a situation, you can practically get nothing done. Our to-do list at home is still getting longer rather than shorter, and it will easily take until Christmas this year to finish everything!
I was really glad that friends, based on their own experience, advised us against painting the house ourselves! They ended up spending 32 workdays (8 weekends, two people) and only saved about $1500-$2000. It just doesn’t make sense! This would not have been possible for us anyway due to the kids.
In general, I think people tend to overestimate the savings potential through DIY. A good craftsman (rare and hard to find though…) should be at least 2–3 times faster on their trade than I, as an amateur. Then the hourly wage difference becomes clear very quickly.
Parquet and Laminate Flooring:
Installing parquet and laminate ourselves worked well and saved good money. Still, I would probably have it done by professionals next time.
Interior Doors:
We took the interior doors out of the general contractor’s contract and ultimately spent a bit more money than the refund we received, but got doors that were 2.10 meters (6 ft 11 in) tall instead of 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) and roughly three quality classes higher than the contractor’s standard. The contractor wanted a surcharge of 150 euros per door for the taller size alone.
Ventilation System:
I had this designed and then installed it myself. This way, it cost about €9500 instead of €20,000–25,000 as quoted by others. The work took roughly one full week.
Vanity Units, Cabinets, and Toilets:
We removed these from the contractor’s contract and bought them ourselves at Hornbach (with a lowest-price guarantee—price unbeatable!). We saved about €2,000–3,000 for two days of work.
Garden Landscaping
We neglected this quite a bit during planning due to lack of time and only really dealt with it after moving in. As a result, we essentially had no garden for the entire first year. That’s awful with small children...
In the end, though, we had almost everything done at once. Even though I would have liked to build, for example, a wooden terrace myself, I’m very glad it’s finished now, and we can actually look forward to a summer in the garden instead of another construction site.
General – Thorough Planning vs. Just Getting It Done
I see many people on this forum who seem to plan their houses for 1–2 years. People, just finish it! You can over-plan yourself to death! Once you’re living in the house, it really doesn’t matter if a window is 10cm (4 inches) to the right or left, or if the tiles in the utility room exactly match the washing machine control knob color. In the end, your time is far more valuable! This also applies when deciding between “doing it yourself” and “having it done.” Doing some things yourself is fun, can save a lot of money, and in my opinion is definitely part of it. But ultimately, the goal is to finish—and as quickly as possible!
Best regards,
Andreas
andimann schrieb:
...in the end, it’s about finishing as quickly as possible! That’s certainly a matter of opinion. As for me, I don’t see it that way at all. Depending on the available budget, we complete one thing or another step by step. So far (3 years after moving in), we still don’t have a fence. So what?
I am generally quite satisfied with our house.
But you do gain experience and there are a few things I would do differently.
1. Design the network layout differently. I relied too much on the "expert," aka the electrician. But apparently, I’m not the only one here who made that mistake.
2. No power outlets in the window reveals; better to have them somewhere below. It doesn’t work well with timers or remote-controlled sockets.
3. At least on the ground floor, install electronic blinds everywhere. We decided against them because, honestly, I was already glad that they worked smoothly going up and down. At my parents’ house, they often got stuck and then wouldn’t move at all. You’d have to open the window and help by hand. That’s a bit inconvenient in summer and with fly screens. Also, my partner and especially the kids like to put stuff on the windowsills. Having a single button to lower all the blinds at once could be problematic in that case.
For the patio door, we have an electric drive. By the time it’s opened or closed automatically, I usually have done the others by hand. Because of the power outlets in the reveals (see point 2), I can relatively easily retrofit this later.
4. Build all interior walls from 17.5 cm (7 inches) calcium silicate blocks, and use solid-core doors as well. With now three children, we underestimated this a bit. Open-plan living is nice and all, but probably better suited to singles and older people.
5. Use paintable wallpaper, such as textured wallpaper, on the stairwell walls! Kids’ hands! And in general, no more white wallpaper until a certain age has been reached.
6. Use click vinyl flooring rather than glue-down vinyl. Even though glue-down is very easy and you can cover the entire living room very quickly. You can even cut it with metal shears without issue... Although I followed the instructions exactly, gaps still appear between the panels from time to time. No one else notices, but I do.
But you do gain experience and there are a few things I would do differently.
1. Design the network layout differently. I relied too much on the "expert," aka the electrician. But apparently, I’m not the only one here who made that mistake.
2. No power outlets in the window reveals; better to have them somewhere below. It doesn’t work well with timers or remote-controlled sockets.
3. At least on the ground floor, install electronic blinds everywhere. We decided against them because, honestly, I was already glad that they worked smoothly going up and down. At my parents’ house, they often got stuck and then wouldn’t move at all. You’d have to open the window and help by hand. That’s a bit inconvenient in summer and with fly screens. Also, my partner and especially the kids like to put stuff on the windowsills. Having a single button to lower all the blinds at once could be problematic in that case.
For the patio door, we have an electric drive. By the time it’s opened or closed automatically, I usually have done the others by hand. Because of the power outlets in the reveals (see point 2), I can relatively easily retrofit this later.
4. Build all interior walls from 17.5 cm (7 inches) calcium silicate blocks, and use solid-core doors as well. With now three children, we underestimated this a bit. Open-plan living is nice and all, but probably better suited to singles and older people.
5. Use paintable wallpaper, such as textured wallpaper, on the stairwell walls! Kids’ hands! And in general, no more white wallpaper until a certain age has been reached.
6. Use click vinyl flooring rather than glue-down vinyl. Even though glue-down is very easy and you can cover the entire living room very quickly. You can even cut it with metal shears without issue... Although I followed the instructions exactly, gaps still appear between the panels from time to time. No one else notices, but I do.
Hello,
If I remember correctly, you don’t have children, right? Then I might see it the same way, but life is a bit different with a few little kids around...
Best regards,
Andreas
kaho674 schrieb:
That is certainly a matter of opinion. Personally, I don’t see it that way at all.
If I remember correctly, you don’t have children, right? Then I might see it the same way, but life is a bit different with a few little kids around...
Best regards,
Andreas
Interesting topic!
After two months, we have noticed hardly any errors so far. Only in the plumbing area would I pay closer attention to everything. For example, planning the position of the sinks more carefully in relation to the joints (it bothers me if it’s not symmetrical :-( ).
And how the inside of the toilet bowl looks. Unfortunately, we chose it only based on the outer shape and overlooked under time pressure that it has an internal ridge, which is very difficult to clean.
After two months, we have noticed hardly any errors so far. Only in the plumbing area would I pay closer attention to everything. For example, planning the position of the sinks more carefully in relation to the joints (it bothers me if it’s not symmetrical :-( ).
And how the inside of the toilet bowl looks. Unfortunately, we chose it only based on the outer shape and overlooked under time pressure that it has an internal ridge, which is very difficult to clean.
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