ᐅ Prefabricated House or Traditional Solid Construction Companies – Budget
Created on: 13 May 2020 12:56
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Cary2020
Hello everyone. As you can see, I am new here and looking for advice. We are 25 and 27 years old, both employed, and our monthly net income is 3100 € (approximately $3,400). We have no equity saved up (we are already aware of the risks). Now, by coincidence, we have found a plot of land. It’s the only one in the area that meets our expectations (small, no more than 500 m² (6000 sq ft)). It was more or less a “random find.” Although we had agreed that we wanted to build a house someday, we hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. We want to build at the edge of the Harz mountains, in Lower Saxony. That’s the basic info.
Over the past few days, we have spent a lot of time researching the topic but have not reached any concrete conclusions yet. We have had initial phone appointments with banks; even without equity, it’s not impossible, and some very reputable, well-known banks were involved. We have further appointments with first companies and additional banks planned for next week. However, I would also like to connect with “regular” homeowners to get realistic assessments because we probably belong to this group ourselves.
Does anyone have experience with building a house at our income level? Is it feasible not only on paper but also in reality?
Then the big question arises: do we want a traditional solid house (brick and mortar) or a prefab house? Twenty years ago, when my parents built their home, prefab houses had a bad reputation. Nowadays, that seems to have improved significantly. Basically, we are still undecided. We see major advantages with prefab houses in the absence of moisture problems, clearly the price (is that really the case?), and according to experience reports, there is less shoddy workmanship. I’m hoping to learn from your experiences here.
The last point, of course, will be contacting companies. I am a bit hesitant about regional developers and would prefer to get in touch with larger firms like Viebrockhaus (probably quite expensive), Massa Haus, Arge, etc. Here too, I hope to have an initial exchange with you.
As you can see, we are just starting out and would like to bring some orientation to our confusion of thoughts. Thanks in advance for your help.
Over the past few days, we have spent a lot of time researching the topic but have not reached any concrete conclusions yet. We have had initial phone appointments with banks; even without equity, it’s not impossible, and some very reputable, well-known banks were involved. We have further appointments with first companies and additional banks planned for next week. However, I would also like to connect with “regular” homeowners to get realistic assessments because we probably belong to this group ourselves.
Does anyone have experience with building a house at our income level? Is it feasible not only on paper but also in reality?
Then the big question arises: do we want a traditional solid house (brick and mortar) or a prefab house? Twenty years ago, when my parents built their home, prefab houses had a bad reputation. Nowadays, that seems to have improved significantly. Basically, we are still undecided. We see major advantages with prefab houses in the absence of moisture problems, clearly the price (is that really the case?), and according to experience reports, there is less shoddy workmanship. I’m hoping to learn from your experiences here.
The last point, of course, will be contacting companies. I am a bit hesitant about regional developers and would prefer to get in touch with larger firms like Viebrockhaus (probably quite expensive), Massa Haus, Arge, etc. Here too, I hope to have an initial exchange with you.
As you can see, we are just starting out and would like to bring some orientation to our confusion of thoughts. Thanks in advance for your help.
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Einradbrot28 May 2020 10:25K1300S schrieb:
Maybe you shouldn’t present your statements as absolute truth, as they might be taken at face value by those who aren’t well informed.
That Town & Country and Heinz von Heiden are especially great is new to me. They are affordable, yes, but YGWYPF. There are guarantees and insurance policies to protect against insolvency or financial weakness of smaller providers. It’s not ideal, but it prevents financial losses. I’ll refrain from correcting the rest of the claims. E
Einradbrot28 May 2020 10:51Of course, this is not the absolute truth. We are in a forum where opinions and advice are shared. I am retired, so I have devoted a lot of time and interest to the topic of home building and have closely followed around 15 home builds within my circle of friends and neighbors. Even before choosing our own builder, my wife and I visited multiple times, under different names, all the prefabricated home providers at the show villages in Fellbach, Ulm, Günzburg, and Karlsruhe. In general, they are simply too expensive for what is basically a cardboard-like house.
I created a list of all the providers. The worst for us were Danhaus and Scanhaus Marlow. Assembly is quick, but the delivery time is long – for example, Schwörer alone has a waiting time of up to 2 years. I would rather spend 200,000 euros (approximately $220,000) building a solid house with Heinz von Heiden and invest the remainder in quality upgrades, sleeping well without being burdened by debt, than buy an uncustomized base prefabricated house from Schwörer for 400,000 euros (approximately $440,000). Small regional builders are not bad either. They stand out with significantly better customer service but cannot compete on price.
I created a list of all the providers. The worst for us were Danhaus and Scanhaus Marlow. Assembly is quick, but the delivery time is long – for example, Schwörer alone has a waiting time of up to 2 years. I would rather spend 200,000 euros (approximately $220,000) building a solid house with Heinz von Heiden and invest the remainder in quality upgrades, sleeping well without being burdened by debt, than buy an uncustomized base prefabricated house from Schwörer for 400,000 euros (approximately $440,000). Small regional builders are not bad either. They stand out with significantly better customer service but cannot compete on price.
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T_im_Norden28 May 2020 11:08You seriously appeared there under a false name?
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Einradbrot28 May 2020 12:37T_im_Norden schrieb:
You seriously appeared there under a false name?Once with my name, once with my partner’s name, and a few times with our parents involved, it ended up under their name. It’s possible to do that. It’s not illegal after all.M
Matthew0328 May 2020 12:56Einradbrot schrieb:
Once my name, once my partner’s name, a few times it was under our parents’ names. You can do that. It’s not illegal. I thought you were retired? So, did your approximately 85-95-year-old parents present themselves as the prospective buyers? I can just imagine how those sales meetings must have gone.
A bit annoying that in every thread there’s the 336m² (3617 sq ft) bungalow for €231k fixed price and supposedly amazing from Heinz von Heiden… and everything else is way too expensive.
I think most home builders have had different experiences — just the interior finishes alone have cost me more than that amount (all calculated per square meter).
That’s exactly what I just thought. But probably we are wrong, since retirement pension wasn’t mentioned. Maybe EU unemployment benefits…
I think most home builders have had different experiences — just the interior finishes alone have cost me more than that amount (all calculated per square meter).
Matthew03 schrieb:
I thought you were retired? Did your approximately 85-95 year old parents then pretend to be interested in building? I can only imagine how those sales talks went
That’s exactly what I just thought. But probably we are wrong, since retirement pension wasn’t mentioned. Maybe EU unemployment benefits…
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