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.
S
Scout
8 Jan 2020 13:18
Similar-sized living space with a basement, waterproof concrete shell ("white tank"), and reinforced concrete ceilings:

FritzBox in the living room: great on the ground floor, poor on the first floor, no chance in the attic.
--> LAN rules!
A
apokolok
8 Jan 2020 13:19
Usually, a access point in the hallway on the ground floor should be enough.
Still, make sure to run a cable to the hallway on the upper floor as well; it really doesn’t hurt to have it.
G
goalkeeper
8 Jan 2020 13:21
So the ground floor and first floor are clear – does that mean I can skip the access point on the attic floor?
A
apokolok
8 Jan 2020 13:27
I had overlooked the attic floor.
It largely depends on the ceilings.
A wooden ceiling or concrete hollow block probably only requires one access point for the whole house.
If you have concrete with a lot of steel inside, you will likely need an access point on every floor for good reception.
If you use 3 Ubiquiti AC Lite units, you’re looking at around €240 and have a clean solution—this is probably the best approach.
G
goalkeeper
8 Jan 2020 13:30
apokolok schrieb:

If you use 3 Ubiquiti AC Lite units, you’re at around €240 (~$260) and have a solid solution; this is probably the best way to go.

You’re probably right there. However, you have to add another €120-150 (~$130-$160) per LAN outlet, plus the less attractive appearance. That’s why I wanted to avoid it if possible. Maybe I could hide the units for the attic in the loft space.
11ant8 Jan 2020 13:35
I would always prefer a star topology for wireless connections, not least because of signal latency. One access point on the living room floor and another on the kids' room floor should be sufficient; in the bedroom, you can also stream Netflix via LAN.
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