ᐅ Single-Family Home – New Construction Project from Day One – And the Planning Begins
Created on: 7 Feb 2020 22:54
D
DaSch17
Hello dear community,
For the past few weeks, I have been following this forum and have already gathered some valuable tips for our own planning.
I would like to use this thread to keep you updated from the very first day of planning until moving in. I hope to receive some valuable advice from the community and that this thread can also serve as a guide for other first-time homebuilders.
Now, a bit about our building project:
As mentioned, we are still quite early in the process...
It all started, as it probably does for most, with requesting a catalog from a prefabricated house company. In our case, it was FingerHaus around mid-December.
This was followed by a phone call with a sales representative from the mentioned company and arranging a first consultation. This appointment is scheduled for Sunday, 09.02.2020.
Since then, we have been intensively working on budget planning, possible floor plans and building plots, as well as ideal typical living space layouts.
So far, we have not purchased a plot yet. However, we are in contact with a municipality that is currently planning an expansion of a new residential area. Fortunately, this allowed us to help decide the size, location, and shape of our future plot. Our desired plot is reserved for us.
Key details of our planned single-family home:
– Location: Southwestphalia, Siegen-Wittgenstein district
– Living area: 179 sqm (1,925 sq ft)
– Concrete slab foundation
– Gable roof
– 1.5 stories with gable roof
– Single garage with extended length for tools/storage room
Our budget:
– Plot including property transfer tax: 70,000 EUR
– Construction costs: 470,000 EUR
– Additional construction costs including earthworks: 70,000 EUR
Our schedule:
– By May 2021: Selection of the construction company
– By July 2021: Contract signing, building permit / planning permission application
– By July 2023: Completion of construction work
– By October 2023: Completion of owner-performed work (painting and flooring) and move-in
We understand that the start of construction depends on the delivery time of the prefab house company, which can vary between 6 and 24 months.
We have now selected 8 different companies with whom we want to conduct initial meetings:
– FingerHaus
– Hanse Haus
– SchwörerHaus
– Bien-Zenker
– Schäfer Haus (contact via family)
– Büdenbender Haus
– WeberHaus
– a local developer
After these initial talks, we want to proceed with more detailed discussions with 4 of these providers.
–––––––––––––––––––
What should we pay attention to during the initial meetings? What is particularly important? Should we disclose our budget to the sales representatives?
For the past few weeks, I have been following this forum and have already gathered some valuable tips for our own planning.
I would like to use this thread to keep you updated from the very first day of planning until moving in. I hope to receive some valuable advice from the community and that this thread can also serve as a guide for other first-time homebuilders.
Now, a bit about our building project:
As mentioned, we are still quite early in the process...
It all started, as it probably does for most, with requesting a catalog from a prefabricated house company. In our case, it was FingerHaus around mid-December.
This was followed by a phone call with a sales representative from the mentioned company and arranging a first consultation. This appointment is scheduled for Sunday, 09.02.2020.
Since then, we have been intensively working on budget planning, possible floor plans and building plots, as well as ideal typical living space layouts.
So far, we have not purchased a plot yet. However, we are in contact with a municipality that is currently planning an expansion of a new residential area. Fortunately, this allowed us to help decide the size, location, and shape of our future plot. Our desired plot is reserved for us.
Key details of our planned single-family home:
– Location: Southwestphalia, Siegen-Wittgenstein district
– Living area: 179 sqm (1,925 sq ft)
– Concrete slab foundation
– Gable roof
– 1.5 stories with gable roof
– Single garage with extended length for tools/storage room
Our budget:
– Plot including property transfer tax: 70,000 EUR
– Construction costs: 470,000 EUR
– Additional construction costs including earthworks: 70,000 EUR
Our schedule:
– By May 2021: Selection of the construction company
– By July 2021: Contract signing, building permit / planning permission application
– By July 2023: Completion of construction work
– By October 2023: Completion of owner-performed work (painting and flooring) and move-in
We understand that the start of construction depends on the delivery time of the prefab house company, which can vary between 6 and 24 months.
We have now selected 8 different companies with whom we want to conduct initial meetings:
– FingerHaus
– Hanse Haus
– SchwörerHaus
– Bien-Zenker
– Schäfer Haus (contact via family)
– Büdenbender Haus
– WeberHaus
– a local developer
After these initial talks, we want to proceed with more detailed discussions with 4 of these providers.
–––––––––––––––––––
What should we pay attention to during the initial meetings? What is particularly important? Should we disclose our budget to the sales representatives?
haydee schrieb:
Forget the 5k with the construction power supply. In our case, the utility company required a monthly inspection by an electrician to check if the distribution board was still functioning. My goodness, don’t even ask how much the inspection cost. The electrician charged for so much time that it would have been faster to walk over from the neighboring town and do the check yourself.Oh dear, the $5,000 really hurts... I can’t deny that^^
So, for us it was quite a hassle. Mainly because of the extremely overpriced inspection fee every month. No one understood why we were so keen to get rid of the cheap construction power.
If this inspection is not required for you (the supplier only informed us about this when setting up the meter, which was new for us. Friends who built at the same time did not have this issue), it will be significantly cheaper.
If this inspection is not required for you (the supplier only informed us about this when setting up the meter, which was new for us. Friends who built at the same time did not have this issue), it will be significantly cheaper.
I will definitely check with our utility provider. Thanks for the tip!
My amateur master plan was to have the photovoltaic system installed in the same week as the scaffolding appointment anyway (since the scaffolding would still be up), and then quickly get the electrical system up and running so that hopefully most of the power could already come from the photovoltaic system...
My amateur master plan was to have the photovoltaic system installed in the same week as the scaffolding appointment anyway (since the scaffolding would still be up), and then quickly get the electrical system up and running so that hopefully most of the power could already come from the photovoltaic system...
Alessandro schrieb:
We have exactly the same stove.
So, you need to allow at least another 0.5 meter (1.5 feet) towards the living room if you want a flush wall.
The stove itself is only about 1 meter (3.3 feet) long, but you also need to plan for the chimney pipe behind it. That takes up another 0.3 to 0.5 meter (1 to 1.6 feet).
Plan ahead so that you have a passage width to the living room of at least 2 meters (6.6 feet) including the stove.
If you have a wood, laminate, vinyl, or carpet floor, you also need a spark guard made of tiles or a glass panel.
This should extend 0.3 meter (1 foot) on each side and 0.5 meter (1.6 feet) in front.
In this photo, you can see the edge. Here, the stove was set back about 3 cm (1.2 inches) towards the living room to prevent cracks caused by the expansion of the two different materials.
We didn’t know you had to do this either, so I want to give you a heads-up.
Hello Alessandro, your living area really looks amazing. Do you happen to have a floor plan? How much total living space do you have? Best regards
Construction power was costly due to the long rental period of the temporary power box and the very high electricity consumption for building drying. So, hopefully much cheaper for a timber house.
Regarding connection costs, our general contractor’s “experience value” was around 9k, but that was back in 2018, and prices seem to have gone up significantly since then. Maybe check directly with the local utility company?
Earthworks always benefit from a generous buffer since they can be quite unpredictable. And then you might suddenly be short by 10k…
Hopefully there will still be some left over because we leveled a similar-sized plot with a 3.5m (11.5 ft) height difference as much as possible without needing a retaining wall.
Of course, if you need or want a retaining wall, the situation looks quite different.
Outdoor landscaping is a broad area and naturally varies if you do it yourself. For us:
- 10k for the terrace
- 10k for paving entrance, pathways around and leading to the house
- 10k for terrace roofing
- 12k for the driveway
- 2k for the house entrance roof
- 6k for garden work done in-house plus various “small stuff”
Regarding connection costs, our general contractor’s “experience value” was around 9k, but that was back in 2018, and prices seem to have gone up significantly since then. Maybe check directly with the local utility company?
Earthworks always benefit from a generous buffer since they can be quite unpredictable. And then you might suddenly be short by 10k…
Hopefully there will still be some left over because we leveled a similar-sized plot with a 3.5m (11.5 ft) height difference as much as possible without needing a retaining wall.
Of course, if you need or want a retaining wall, the situation looks quite different.
Outdoor landscaping is a broad area and naturally varies if you do it yourself. For us:
- 10k for the terrace
- 10k for paving entrance, pathways around and leading to the house
- 10k for terrace roofing
- 12k for the driveway
- 2k for the house entrance roof
- 6k for garden work done in-house plus various “small stuff”
Regarding the temporary power distribution box, we also had a monthly functionality test. The electrician from our construction contractor charged $60 per month for the rental of the box and $100 per month for the inspection. Over a 10-month period of use, the costs added up significantly.
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