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.
goalkeeper schrieb:
To revisit your idea of a simplified basement: what can be left out if the basement is used purely as storage space and a mechanical room?
Is a screed and underfloor heating absolutely necessary? Do I have to build interior walls? But how does this affect energy regulations? Wouldn’t the cold from the basement rise to the upper floors on cold days?
What are your thoughts? As far as I know, you still need to comply with energy standards in the basement, specifically energy-saving regulations.
goalkeeper schrieb:
To revisit your idea of a simplified basement: what exactly can be omitted if the basement is used solely for storage and as a utility room? How can anyone judge that without a floor plan?
goalkeeper schrieb:
Do I absolutely need a screed and underfloor heating? Are interior walls really necessary? But what about the energy-saving regulations? Wouldn’t the cold from the basement come up on cold days? Wow... how long have you been here?
If the basement is only a utility area, you won’t need underfloor heating, but what do you want to do with a 60–80 m² (645–860 sq ft) basement?
A basement without interior walls and without screed? I hope that question wasn’t serious.
Don’t tell me you’re going to ask if you can leave out the front door as well.
Energy-saving regulations with a basement are straightforward. KfW55 with basement (without electric heating) costs about €5,000 more just for the additional insulation.
G
goalkeeper7 Aug 2019 11:50Zaba12 schrieb:
Just in case you were going to ask whether you can leave out the front door There’s always some silly comment coming up.
You’ve been following my thread here and surely read that we originally planned to build without a basement, but now we have a plot that is 1.50m (5 feet) too low and will have about 15,000–20,000 (currency) extra cost for the strip foundations.
So what’s wrong with asking for the cheapest possible basement? Unfortunately, I haven’t budgeted a 50,000 € (currency) buffer to build a comfortable basement living space now.
goalkeeper schrieb:
There’s always some stupid comment.
You’ve been following my topic here and surely read that we originally planned to build without a basement, but now have a plot that is 1.50m (5 feet) too deep and will face an additional cost of about 15,000–20,000 for strip foundations.
So what’s wrong with asking for the cheapest possible basement? Unfortunately, I didn’t budget a 50,000 € buffer to build a comfortable living basement now. Of course I have! I also believe a basement is necessary. Anything else would be a waste of money. However, before cutting essential elements, you should reduce the size of the ground floor and upper floor. That’s what we did.
You do know what screed and interior walls are for, right?
What do you expect your basement ceiling and the rest of the house to support if the basement is “empty”?
You need the screed to level the raw floor slab. You can’t add it later because of the 2–3 months drying time.
I already told you: you can leave out underfloor heating.
G
goalkeeper7 Aug 2019 12:05Zaba12 schrieb:
However, before you cut out essential things, you should consider reducing the size of the ground floor and upper floor. What exactly could be reduced? I live on the ground floor and upper floor, and the basement is just for storage. That seems like the wrong approach to me.
Zaba12 schrieb:
What is your basement ceiling and the rest of the house supposed to support if there is a "vacuum" in the basement? Of course, I wasn’t referring to the load-bearing internal walls here – in our small house, these are only the exterior walls and the stairwell walls. The rest are non-load-bearing.
I’m still not 100% convinced about the basement – whether it costs 15k or 50k makes a significant difference to me, even if it might hurt to invest 15k underground. It would hurt more to reduce high-quality living space or to eliminate the mechanical ventilation system than to skip building a basement altogether.
Of course, it is possible to minimize the load-bearing walls within the building structure. However, only a structural engineer can advise you on that. An alternative would be beams, but those are certainly not cheaper.
A partial basement also probably does not result in a huge saving.
A partial basement also probably does not result in a huge saving.
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