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.
You can’t really say that in general. It also depends heavily on the projector itself. There are several calculators online where you can enter different models, and each time you get a different value.
If you’re unsure, have several boxes installed for recessed lights in your ceiling and connect them with an empty conduit as well. That way, you’ll have enough options. There is also space for an electrical outlet inside the recessed light box.
If you’re unsure, have several boxes installed for recessed lights in your ceiling and connect them with an empty conduit as well. That way, you’ll have enough options. There is also space for an electrical outlet inside the recessed light box.
G
goalkeeper23 Oct 2019 21:02We deliberately decided against recessed lighting in the living room and only have one fireplace.
However, the exact spot of the fireplace would be a good position, since the projector would then not necessarily hang above the couch and people's heads.
However, the exact spot of the fireplace would be a good position, since the projector would then not necessarily hang above the couch and people's heads.
After 12 years of using a projector, I completely gave up on it in the new house. It was annoying to always hear a faint hum from the fan, expensive lamps, then my old projector no longer had HDMI, the room always had to be quite dark, and so on. Now I simply have a 75-inch TV mounted on the wall; by now, there are even 80- and 85-inch models available for 2,000 euros, which is about what the projector cost.
Alternatively, there is the laser projector from Xiaomi, which only needs 30cm (12 inches) of distance from the wall.
Alternatively, there is the laser projector from Xiaomi, which only needs 30cm (12 inches) of distance from the wall.
goalkeeper schrieb:
We deliberately decided against recessed lights in the living room and only have one light fixture.
However, that would actually be a good spot for the fixture because the projector wouldn’t have to hang right above the couch and people’s heads.I’m not referring to recessed lights but rather to a junction box for spotlights. You won’t see it after painting is done.
If you install 2 or 3 of those, you will have several position options available.
G
goalkeeper23 Oct 2019 21:10tomtom79 schrieb:
After 12 years of using a projector, I completely gave up on it in the new house. The quiet fan noise was always annoying, the lamps were expensive, then my old projector no longer had HDMI, it always had to be quite dark, and so on. Now I simply have a 75-inch (190 cm) TV mounted on the wall; these days there are even 80- and 85-inch (203 cm and 216 cm) models for around 2000 euros, which is about what the projector cost me.
Alternatively, the Xiaomi laser projector only needs about 30 cm (12 inches) of wall distance.I understand. However, a reasonable projector for around 1000 euros can achieve a diagonal size of over 130 inches (330 cm) — so the 85-inch (216 cm) TV can’t really compare. We usually sit more than 5 meters (16 feet) away from the media wall, so bigger is better. My current 65-inch (165 cm) screen at about 2.5 meters (8 feet) is already too small for me.
As mentioned before, the distance of the projector depends on the choice of the projector itself. So you need to decide which device you want in advance.
I also wouldn’t just have a conduit embedded in concrete. I would have a large flush-mounted box embedded as well. This way, you can properly hide the cables if needed. Also, there is space to push the cables back a few centimeters (inches), and so on.
I did the same with our ceiling outlet. Inside, there is now a keystone connected to the installation cable, with a short LAN cable attached to it.
There might also be HDMI outlets combined with a power socket, so you only need short connection cables to the projector.
I also wouldn’t just have a conduit embedded in concrete. I would have a large flush-mounted box embedded as well. This way, you can properly hide the cables if needed. Also, there is space to push the cables back a few centimeters (inches), and so on.
I did the same with our ceiling outlet. Inside, there is now a keystone connected to the installation cable, with a short LAN cable attached to it.
There might also be HDMI outlets combined with a power socket, so you only need short connection cables to the projector.
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