ᐅ Building an End-Terrace House as a Self-Managed Project with a General Contractor
Created on: 27 May 2019 10:48
G
goalkeeper
Hello everyone,
some of you might have already followed one of my threads about us having to or being allowed to build our end-terrace house on our own responsibility – depending on how you look at it. This means that we are buying an end-terrace plot (215 sqm (2315 sq ft)) in a new development area in the Rhein-Neckar district and will be building on it ourselves – but in coordination with our two terrace neighbors.
The municipality, which sold the plots through a local resident model, ideally wanted applicants to apply as a complete housing group with several families and then build accordingly with a general contractor, construction manager, or architect. Of course, that didn’t really work out, so now there are only individual applicants and also homeowners.
After we were awarded the plot, the addresses of the other terrace neighbors were shared to discuss certain matters, such as roof style, whether or not to have a basement, etc. It was immediately clear that everyone preferred to do their own thing. However, we were still able to agree that the housing group will have a gable roof with a pitch of 35 to 40 degrees (within this 5-degree range).
As the end house, we will build without a basement, while the middle house and the other end house will have basements. This obviously presents a challenge as we would have to make a deep foundation or simply skip it, and the middle house would have to support us, as we will start construction first. The current agreement with the middle house is that we will build a deeper foundation at his expense, as supporting our house later on would be considerably more expensive for him.
We are currently close to signing with the construction manager, the notarization appointment for the plot is at the end of June, and we hope to start construction in the fall of this year. Meanwhile, several other freely planned housing groups are being built around us, which might get in the way with their cranes.
I will document the progress here from time to time – such a self-planned terraced house doesn’t come along very often.
some of you might have already followed one of my threads about us having to or being allowed to build our end-terrace house on our own responsibility – depending on how you look at it. This means that we are buying an end-terrace plot (215 sqm (2315 sq ft)) in a new development area in the Rhein-Neckar district and will be building on it ourselves – but in coordination with our two terrace neighbors.
The municipality, which sold the plots through a local resident model, ideally wanted applicants to apply as a complete housing group with several families and then build accordingly with a general contractor, construction manager, or architect. Of course, that didn’t really work out, so now there are only individual applicants and also homeowners.
After we were awarded the plot, the addresses of the other terrace neighbors were shared to discuss certain matters, such as roof style, whether or not to have a basement, etc. It was immediately clear that everyone preferred to do their own thing. However, we were still able to agree that the housing group will have a gable roof with a pitch of 35 to 40 degrees (within this 5-degree range).
As the end house, we will build without a basement, while the middle house and the other end house will have basements. This obviously presents a challenge as we would have to make a deep foundation or simply skip it, and the middle house would have to support us, as we will start construction first. The current agreement with the middle house is that we will build a deeper foundation at his expense, as supporting our house later on would be considerably more expensive for him.
We are currently close to signing with the construction manager, the notarization appointment for the plot is at the end of June, and we hope to start construction in the fall of this year. Meanwhile, several other freely planned housing groups are being built around us, which might get in the way with their cranes.
I will document the progress here from time to time – such a self-planned terraced house doesn’t come along very often.
Escroda schrieb:
Find allies and reach out to opposition groups and the media. Extra3 has covered far less absurd stories before.
Alone, you can only accept and make a decision – "this far and no further" or "close your eyes and push through." I also believe that collective action makes a difference. One person alone has little or no influence.
goalkeeper schrieb:
And yes... actually, all 20 homeowners in this row house area would have to raise their ground levels.What about contamination on the plots? The pictures do look like someone tried to avoid excavation waste disposal and instead dumped thousands of cubic meters of clean fill material over the utility lines, simply placed on the existing site.Escroda schrieb:
Such an underdeveloped development plan,You could have been a bit more cautious when it said "each townhouse owner may basically do whatever they want to the land, as long as they are the first."MayrCh schrieb:
What about contamination on the plots? None. On the contrary, the soil quality is excellent, as confirmed by the justification for the development plan:
As an additional (at least partial) compensation option, soil improvement through topsoil addition was also considered. However, this type of compensation is not applicable for soils whose soil function "natural soil fertility" corresponds to an evaluation class of 3 or 4. The soils around A-City mostly correspond at least to evaluation level 3 regarding the soil function "natural soil fertility" and therefore are hardly improvable.
MayrCh schrieb:
One might become a bit suspicious about "each single detached house owner may do whatever they want with their land, as long as they are the first." And what conclusion would you have drawn as someone looking for "affordable" building land?
The planning is scandalous, and the way the developers are treated only makes it worse. But who has the time, money, and willingness to engage in years of legal disputes with the municipality where they want to continue living?
goalkeeper schrieb:
Since the site development work is fully on schedule If there is a schedule, there must be an execution plan. Has nobody requested it?
Is the embankment of the road structure located on your property?
Was there already a built-up embankment on your property at the time of purchase?
Is there a clause in the purchase contract about tolerating the embankment?
Aside from the fact that I see no reference in the legal basis provided (§ 74 paragraph 2 number 3 State Building Code) to § 5 of the local building regulations, which is vague and unclear, it alone does not entitle anyone to use your property (see Federal Administrative Court 4 CN 5.08). Perhaps a starting point for a specialist lawyer, or at least to strengthen your negotiating position.
Why don’t you simply have excavated material from other construction projects delivered to your site (of course, only with proper certification) and use it for filling?
In the future garden area, you can first push your topsoil onto the still empty plot of the terraced house (which still belongs to the municipality, so get their permission) and later use it as the top layer again.
They will gladly deliver the excavated material to you for free, and maybe you can even negotiate to have the costs for the excavator waived. That way, the filling will only cost you construction time, but at least no money...
In the future garden area, you can first push your topsoil onto the still empty plot of the terraced house (which still belongs to the municipality, so get their permission) and later use it as the top layer again.
They will gladly deliver the excavated material to you for free, and maybe you can even negotiate to have the costs for the excavator waived. That way, the filling will only cost you construction time, but at least no money...
G
goalkeeper27 Jul 2019 08:54Scout schrieb:
Why don’t you just have excavation material from other construction projects delivered and piled up at your site (of course only with an official report)? Our general contractor suggested that as well – however, they don’t yet have a 100% plan on how to proceed, since the exact height hasn’t been determined and no soil analysis has been carried out yet. All of that will be done in the coming weeks, and then we’ll see how to move forward.
Escroda schrieb:
If there is a schedule, there must also be an execution plan. Has no one requested it?
Does the embankment of the road construction lie on your property?
Was there already an embankment piled up on your property at the time of purchase?
Is there a clause in the purchase contract regarding your acceptance of the embankment?
Apart from the fact that I don’t see the connection between the cited legal basis (§ 74 (2) no. 3 State Building Code) and §5 of the local building regulations, which is ambiguous and undefined, it alone does not authorize the use of your property (see Federal Administrative Court 4 CN 5.08). Maybe a point to discuss with a specialized lawyer, or at least to strengthen your negotiation position. We’re still undecided about getting legal advice – as you already noted, we want to avoid a lengthy legal dispute. I’m already in contact with several other homeowners, and we’ll discuss this topic among ourselves.
Scout schrieb:
They will happily deliver the spoil to you for free, This seems to me to be the main reason why municipalities prefer to bury their pipes under spoil rather than digging trenches :-(
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