ᐅ Solid (or masonry) house with basement. Is our budget sufficient?

Hello everyone,

We are still actively searching for a property of our own. After about x viewings, we realized that within our budget near Munich, only existing houses from the 1960s and 1970s are available. Renovation and modernization would add a lot of extra costs, which doesn’t really appeal to us.

So, plan B is to buy a plot of land and build a single-family house on it. It would be further out but still close to the highway, so commuting to Munich is quick.

Here’s the situation:

Plot of about 540 sqm (5800 sq ft) for 128,000 Euros, it is serviced, and there is already a soil report.

Our total budget including additional costs has an absolute limit of 370,000 Euros.

That leaves around 240,000 Euros for the house, indoor and outdoor areas, garage, and importantly, a good basement.

Our wish list: 5 rooms, about 150–160 sqm (1600–1720 sq ft) of living space, basement, double garage, and a traditional masonry build.

Is this realistic, or are we dreaming?

I am currently collecting quotes from companies because it’s hard to find example houses online with pricing to get a rough idea.

Best regards,
Ingo

Hello Ingo,

isiebeck schrieb:
Plot of about 540sqm (5800 sqft) for 128,000 euros, already serviced, soil report is also available. Our total budget including incidental costs has an absolute limit of 370,000 euros. That leaves roughly 240,000 euros for the house, inside, outside, garage, and importantly, the basement. Our wish: 5 rooms, about 150-160 sqm (1600-1700 sqft) of living space, basement, double garage, and a solid masonry build. Is that feasible, or are we living in a dream world?

To put it bluntly: yes, you are living in a dream world – but you could have realized that yourself if you had looked around a bit here in the forum.

A single-family house with 150 sqm (1600 sqft) including a basement will cost you (here in the Rhineland) as a KfW 70 efficiency house about 240,000 euros. A garage – I would always recommend a prefab garage – costs additionally about 11,500 euros, or even 13,500 euros with a sectional door (a solid masonry garage would easily double these costs). This totals roughly 251,500 or 253,500 euros; plus incidental building costs of about 30,000 euros, and extras like a new kitchen are not included yet.

Without a basement and without extras, this might barely work; however, I estimate the price situation in Munich and surrounding areas to require adding a surcharge to the above prices.

Kind regards

Hello,

we are building a solid house in bungalow style with Rötzer brick elements, but with an attic. 160 m² (1720 sq ft) of net living space plus 36 m² (387 sq ft) of walkable attic. This way, we saved on a basement. The house costs 235,000 EUR ready to move in, including painting and flooring work as well as the concrete slab.

A solid house of the size you want with a basement for 240,000 EUR should be very tight...

Ok, let's leave out the basement and store the "junk" in the attic instead. That should actually work out. It is quite a lot of money after all.

isiebeck schrieb:
ok, let's just leave out the basement and store the "junk" under the roof. That should actually be enough. It is quite a lot of money though.

Indeed. I believe a basement is actually a space the world doesn’t really need anymore nowadays. Unless you use it for a sauna, pool, party room, or hobby room.
I see it at our place. We currently have about 50 square meters (540 square feet) of basement space in our rental building. Around 12 to 15 of those are laundry rooms.
Our house is probably still about nine months away from being finished, but we’ve already started sorting and clearing out.
Looking at everything, it will probably end up with two-thirds of the contents going to the trash. To be honest, over the years we’ve just kept all kinds of stuff that nobody really needs anymore.
That’s why in the end, I’ll be happy not to have a basement anymore.

It is clear that a lot of waste ends up in the basement, and that it is more expensive per square meter (square foot) than above-ground construction. In our case, however, there is a maximum building height, so I have no space under the roof for storage; therefore, a basement is necessary. If it can be solved differently, it is definitely cheaper!