ᐅ Building a Home – Getting Started Can Be Challenging – How Do You Begin?

Hello home builders,

We are a family of five (+1) from the far north, currently just starting our journey toward owning our own home. The desire is clear. Now, it’s about exploring our options, finding the right path, and trying to avoid as many potholes and dead ends along the way as possible.

Since we are complete beginners, we appreciate any advice that helps us feel more confident and welcome any questions we should be asking to move forward.

Our family consists of my wife (34), our children (6, 9, 13), and me as the father and primary earner (36). A possible sixth household member is my father (59), with whom we are considering a multigenerational house including a separate apartment.

I hope to find experience reports, tips, and guidance on the steps ahead here, as well as encounter questions we haven’t thought of yet.

How did you start your journey? How did you move from the idea to taking action? What triggered your decision, and why did you ultimately decide the way you did?

Looking forward to your responses.
Best regards,
Alex

Alex, first buy a piece of land. Since the house will not be small with so many people, look for around 650+ sq m (7000+ sq ft). Try to find land that is fairly level if possible; a sandy gravel soil mix would be best.

Once you have that, get back in touch and we’ll continue. Karsten

What is your budget and what is the income amount? Then we can give an opinion.

Considering the age gaps between the children, I believe that—even if they are all the same gender—the desire for individual bedrooms is likely. In a single-income household, I expect the financial reality will lead to a needs-based house without any luxury features. That means parking on the street, no show staircase, no open space or gallery, and no Dutch gable, but probably a kids’ bathroom.

So, to my delight, finally no "Jette with a hipped roof and Tuscan bay window" 🙂

Three children plus an in-law unit are two factors that don’t suggest a large number of suitable model house floor plans. In my guess, your “son-in-law” is a local or regional builder—whether a mason or a carpenter—and it won’t hurt if you’re not too “set” on this. That won’t stop at least one person from insisting that with three children making noise, your bedroom walls absolutely must be made from sand-lime brick. But we haven’t reached that stage yet ;-)

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Think carefully about your space requirements. This will determine the approximate size of your house.

This helps initially to find a suitable plot size and to get a rough estimate for the house size.

I recently came across the floor plan of the Ytong kit house "Innovationshaus 240." It features 160 m² (1,722 sq ft) plus a 53 m² (570 sq ft) granny flat. The upper floor might need to be reconsidered a bit. And, of course, an actual plot of land would need to be evaluated. But this is just a starting point.