ᐅ Land purchased, ideas ready—what’s next?

Hello dear forum community!

First of all, a big compliment to everyone for answering and discussing so many questions with such dedication. I have already spent a lot of time reading up in the past few days.

About my situation:
My wife and I have already purchased our "dream plot" in a new development in Cologne (70% financed).
Now we want to take the next step in 2013 or 2014 (depending on financial feasibility) and build, or have it built.
Like most, I have gone through many questions: solid construction or prefab. I’m open to both and basically want to decide on the perfect house for us that fits the price-performance ratio. Whether stone or wood doesn’t matter to me then.
We have fairly concrete ideas about the appearance of the house and the interior layout.
We have a 660 m² (7,100 sq ft) plot and plan a 180–200 m² (1,940–2,150 sq ft) house in a Mediterranean style with a basement. The fittings will be high-end, but not luxury or anything like that.
Some of the interior finishing will probably be done by ourselves, since my wife has a total of eight (!!) uncles who all work professionally in various trades. ;-)

My question:
What is the best way to proceed now?
On Sunday, we will visit a model home exhibition to get more information.
However, it is clear that every prefab house manufacturer promotes itself as the best.
Does it make sense to first find an architect and involve them in all further planning, or are there consultants who take on this task?
Architects working for prefab manufacturers are only loyal to their employer, and in a worst-case scenario, we might get the short end of the stick.
In short: who can tell me that we are not negotiating ourselves into trouble... ;-)?
Should one acquire more knowledge independently, or can one rely on objective services?

I would appreciate it if someone could provide me with information on this.

Best regards

Rethgif

When you have so many craftsmen in the family who, at best, also cover different trades and offer their help, it almost naturally suggests hiring an architect to design the house from scratch and contract the trades separately.

Hello,

Rethgif schrieb:

First of all, a big compliment to everyone for answering and discussing so many questions here with such dedication.

The forum operator is always happy to receive compliments 🙂

Rethgif schrieb:
Regarding my situation:
My wife and I have already purchased our "dream plot" in a new development near Cologne (70% financed).
Now we want to take the next step in 2013 or 2014 (depending on financial feasibility) and build, or have a house built.

Widdersdorf?

Rethgif schrieb:

Like most, I have been considering the options: solid construction or prefabricated house. I am open and basically want to decide on the perfect house for us that fits the value for money. Whether it is brick or wood doesn’t matter to me. We already have quite clear ideas about the exterior look and the interior layout.

Value for money is hardly comparable between prefab and solid construction; in addition, high-quality prefabricated houses are always significantly more expensive.

Rethgif schrieb:

We have a 660 m² (7100 sq ft) plot and plan a 180-200 m² (1900-2150 sq ft) house in Mediterranean style with a basement. The fittings will be upscale, but not luxury.
Some of the interior work will probably be done by ourselves, as my wife has a total of eight (!!) uncles who all work professionally in various trades. ;-)

The topic of family craftsmen might have been settled with your last post. In my opinion, they might be able to help with tiling, interior doors, flooring, and painting. These are trades that can usually be done over a few weekends and justify a longer trip with decent hospitality 🙂

Rethgif schrieb:

My question is:
What is the best way to proceed now?
On Sunday we will visit a model home exhibition to get more information.
However, it is clear that every prefab house manufacturer there will promote themselves as the best.

If you go to W´tal, you will find plenty of solid construction providers; if you go to Frechen, you will encounter mostly prefab house suppliers. By the way: every crowd praises its own kind 🙂 Go to the new development where your plot is located—or any other one—and talk to homeowners on site, preferably on weekends. This way you get honest and unfiltered information about different suppliers.

Rethgif schrieb:

Does it make sense to find an architect first and involve them in all further planning, or are there consultants who take on this task? Architects working for prefab house manufacturers are only loyal to their employer and in the worst case, we might be disappointed.
In short: Who can tell me that we are not negotiating ourselves into trouble... ;- 🙂?
Should we acquire more knowledge ourselves, or can we rely on objective services?

It is always important—as I have found throughout my life—to use the expertise available. The architect for the floor plans, a lawyer for contracts, and expert knowledge for the construction specifications. What others have studied or worked on for years, you cannot catch up with in a short online crash course. Also, half-knowledge read somewhere is often very dangerous, as you can see here in many cases!

First decide what is important to you:
- Close support by an architect – then you should work with an architect.
- A prefabricated house – don’t be intimidated by the term; “prefab” ideally means that the house is assembled in the factory before it is installed on site—this still does not mean ready to move in immediately. With prefab houses, which provider you choose matters a lot, otherwise certain mortgage lenders might refuse financing.
- Or rather a house built with solid construction.

Without this decision, it won’t work; you’ll get distracted—because within these groups there are enough details you need to carefully review and consider. Last but not least, it is also a matter of your budget.

Best regards

Thanks first of all for the detailed response. I will continue to think it over and get back to you later.

Do people usually hire their own architect only when they want to build a solid masonry house, or can you also use the designs from your own architect to have a prefabricated house built?

Bauexperte schrieb:

Widdersdorf?

Yes, we will go with Prima Colonier. ;-)

Bauexperte schrieb:

The issue of craftsmen from the family probably became irrelevant with your last post. In my opinion, they might be able to help with tiles, interior doors, flooring, and painting work. These are trades that can easily be done over a few weekends and — with proper catering — justify the longer trip :-)

Yes, that’s exactly how I imagine it.

Hello,

Rethgif schrieb:
Do people typically hire their own architect only when they want to build a solid (traditional) house, or can you also have a prefab house built using designs from your own architect?

In most cases, it’s probably more common for solid (traditional) houses. However, I can’t think of any logical reason why you wouldn’t be able to design a prefab house with an architect and the appropriate contractors.

If you hire an architect, plan with them, and then approach prefab house manufacturers, it might backfire because many of these manufacturers have quite specific requirements... so your dream home might not be feasible with some of them.

Best regards

By the way, thanks in advance for the tip about Wuppertal. So, the plan for the weekend has changed from going to Frechen to going to Wuppertal instead. The exhibition there is even bigger, and the mix of prefabricated and solid construction makes sense. 😎