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.
G
goalkeeper8 Nov 2019 08:52In terms of quality, this is already one of the better Hörmann models. The question is, how much additional benefit does the mechanical self-locking feature provide if you no longer need to lock the door when closing it? The extra cost, including the glass (see image), would be around 750 € (approximately 800 USD), assuming you skip the transponder.
We really like the design, though.
We really like the design, though.
We use a fingerprint scanner and rely solely on it. We leave the house without a conventional key. It’s quick and hassle-free, a good decision overall. However, it’s naturally more of a luxury feature. I would choose an automatic lock anyway, since closing the door always means it is locked.
After a few years, the door won’t be scratched by turning key rings because we simply don’t use traditional keys.
After a few years, the door won’t be scratched by turning key rings because we simply don’t use traditional keys.
goalkeeper schrieb:
In terms of quality, this is already one of the better Hörmann models. The question is, how much additional benefit does, for example, the mechanical self-locking provide if you no longer need to lock the door after closing it? The extra cost including the glass (see picture) would be about 750 € (around 800 USD), if you were to leave out the transponder.
We really like it, though. It’s really great! As @guckuck2 already mentioned: there are hardly any scratches or signs of wear, and you can quickly and easily let the door close behind you when going to the car.
Is it made of wood? We paid attention to the tactile feel.
guckuck2 schrieb:
We leave the house without a conventional key.What happens in case of a power outage?G
goalkeeper8 Nov 2019 09:21ypg schrieb:
Is it made of wood? We paid attention to the tactile feel.No... it’s made of aluminum.
At first, we also seriously considered a fingerprint lock—especially since my husband is the king of losing keys... the amount of time we’ve wasted searching is unbelievable.
However, I was made aware of a security concern here in the forum: someone determined could easily lift fingerprints from almost anything to gain quick and efficient access to my house. It’s only truly secure if everyone using the fingerprint access wears gloves except when opening the door.
That made sense to me, so we decided against the fingerprint option. Then we considered a keypad entry, but the door and window specialist advised us against it. I don’t recall the exact reason.
So now we’re sticking with a traditional key and will probably continue to have those wild searching episodes in the future. But the ease of “just letting the key drop in the lock and it’s done” is definitely very convenient.
However, I was made aware of a security concern here in the forum: someone determined could easily lift fingerprints from almost anything to gain quick and efficient access to my house. It’s only truly secure if everyone using the fingerprint access wears gloves except when opening the door.
That made sense to me, so we decided against the fingerprint option. Then we considered a keypad entry, but the door and window specialist advised us against it. I don’t recall the exact reason.
So now we’re sticking with a traditional key and will probably continue to have those wild searching episodes in the future. But the ease of “just letting the key drop in the lock and it’s done” is definitely very convenient.
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