Hello everyone,
this is my first post, so I would like to briefly introduce myself/us.
We are a family of four (33, 30, 5, 1) currently living in a 95m² (1,022 sq ft) 4-room condominium with a private 100m² (1,076 sq ft) garden in Cologne.
While the size of our apartment is sufficient for us, it is becoming a bit tight now with our second child, especially since I actually need my own home office. With four rooms, that is not possible.
Besides, we want to have our own place. The topic of “new build” never really came up before because our entire social circle (family/friends/neighbors/colleagues) has always focused on existing properties, and certain prejudices (too time-consuming, too risky, too expensive, too complicated, etc.) also led us to only look for existing homes.
So we have been searching for a house (terraced house, semi-detached house, etc.) for about a year.
We quickly realized that even in the less expensive districts of Cologne, a reasonably acceptable house costs at least 400,000 euros, rather 500,000 euros. When you add purchasing incidental costs and renovation expenses, you end up with about 700,000 euros, which is well over our budget.
Also, the high additional purchase costs (around 50,000 euros) bother me. On the one hand, this is the amount banks expect as equity, and on the other, I don’t really feel these fees are deserved by most real estate agents; they just demand them in my opinion.
In the past few weeks, I happened to have a conversation with someone who recently built a new home with a modular house provider (Allkauf Haus), which got things rolling. The acquaintance had positive experiences and suggested I look into it as well. I was skeptical because I couldn’t really identify with modular houses “made of wood” (timber frame construction). However, the comparatively affordable prices sparked our interest. We thought this might be our chance to realize our (affordable) dream home.
We actually visited the modular home exhibition in Frechen near Cologne to get a proper introduction to modular homes. There were many impressive houses, but when we inquired about prices, the range was between 2,000 - 3,500 euros/m² (186 - 325 USD/sq ft), which quickly dampened our initial enthusiasm. At those prices, you could also build conventionally using solid construction without all the reservations about modular homes and timber frame construction.
The last house on the tour was also the Allkauf Haus. We gave their salespeople a chance to convince us, and I have to admit they did a very good job. The salesperson was available on short notice and advised us for about two hours, and—just as expected—everything sounded great, easy, and straightforward. They said we just had to sign quickly to secure some bonus offers, etc.
Of course, we don’t have a plot yet, but they wanted us to sign anyway. They said Allkauf Haus could help us find one, and if we didn’t find a suitable plot, we could cancel the contract without problems. Even now, I can’t understand why anyone would commit contractually to a provider and a modular home without a plot and therefore without a specific development plan, etc. I see the significant advantages of this approach only on the seller’s side.
Nevertheless, I must admit that Allkauf Haus is very competitively priced (at least at first glance) compared to other providers at the modular home exhibition. Of course, there must be reasons for this, but the question is whether the potential “downsides” would be relevant to us or not...
Now, a few more details:
We planned an Allkauf Haus KfW40 single-family house without a basement, including a granny flat on the upper floor, thus benefiting from double KfW subsidies. The yet-to-be-purchased plot was budgeted at 150,000 euros (up to 40 km (25 miles) from Cologne). The single-family house with the granny flat on the upper floor is planned to have about 200m² (2,153 sq ft) of living space and to cost around 225,000 euros excluding interior finishing but including materials. The interior finishing was deliberately omitted because we want to do a lot of it ourselves (sweat equity) and have many helpers and skilled craftsmen/friends available:
Plot: 150,000 euros
Plot incidental costs: 13,000 euros
Building incidental costs: 80,000 euros (e.g., foundation slab, civil engineering, connections, etc.)
Allkauf Haus Gen. 4 including materials for interior finishing: 225,000 euros
Labor for drywall + all trades: 30,000 euros
Outdoor facilities: 30,000 euros
TOTAL: approx. 530,000 euros; minus subsidies approx. 475,000 euros.
If I consider only the house costs, the price without subsidies comes to just over 1,800 euros/m² (167 USD/sq ft), which sounds affordable but not unrealistic. With subsidies, it’s even only 1,560 euros/m² (145 USD/sq ft), which of course sounds great at first.
Compared to an existing property, we see the following advantages:
- New build (new is really new...) with significantly less need for repairs
- Energy efficiency
- Floor plan planning
- Modern construction methods, appearance, and technology
- Subsidies and lower additional purchase costs
- Larger living space
Disadvantage: Location outside of Cologne
Please forgive me for these beginner questions, but I wanted to first explain our motivation and way of thinking, and then initiate the next steps with your advice.
Financial situation:
- 4,600 euros monthly income (currently 1 income) plus 2 child benefits
- 15,000 euros equity (yes, very little; invested elsewhere)
- Budget: 530,000 euros including ALL COSTS
What we will NOT do upfront:
- Sign a contract with Allkauf Haus without first having a plot and without comparing prices with other modular home providers and regional general contractors!
What we plan to do:
- Gather information and compare offers from modular home providers suitable for us
- Obtain and compare offers for solid (masonry) construction
What bothers us about our current condominium:
- Living room is too narrow and dark at 6.10 m x 3.78 m (20 ft x 12 ft) (ground floor, area built up around us, 2 windows, southeast orientation)
- No laundry room
- No home office
What we want:
- Our own spacious detached single-family house with granny flat
- Large living/dining area (approx. 45-50m² (484 - 538 sq ft)) plus kitchen
- Bright rooms (floor-to-ceiling windows, southwest orientation of living room and garden)
- Larger entrance/reception area with gallery (open ceiling)
- Bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, laundry room, dressing room, office, guest room (combining possible)
- 2 garages
- At least 200m² (2,153 sq ft) garden
Our questions:
1. What are general experiences with Allkauf Haus (including reliability)?
2. What is the difference compared to Massa Haus (Okal Haus, Allkauf Haus, Massa Haus basically belong together)?
3. Depending on the answer to 2), would Massa Haus be a better choice if we plan to do all interior finishing ourselves?
4. Can you confirm that Allkauf Haus and Massa Haus are the most affordable modular home providers on the market?
5. Would it be possible to build a new solid construction house within the same budget?
6. If yes to 5): Does this also apply to building a KfW40 house to benefit from subsidies and with 200m² of living space?
7. Is it possible to realize the room requirements mentioned above with, for example, 150m² (1,615 sq ft) of living space instead of 200m²?
8. Do you agree with the arguments in favor of a new build?
9. In your opinion, is our budget/income sufficient to realize our wishes?
Thank you very much to everyone!
Best regards
silverminer
this is my first post, so I would like to briefly introduce myself/us.
We are a family of four (33, 30, 5, 1) currently living in a 95m² (1,022 sq ft) 4-room condominium with a private 100m² (1,076 sq ft) garden in Cologne.
While the size of our apartment is sufficient for us, it is becoming a bit tight now with our second child, especially since I actually need my own home office. With four rooms, that is not possible.
Besides, we want to have our own place. The topic of “new build” never really came up before because our entire social circle (family/friends/neighbors/colleagues) has always focused on existing properties, and certain prejudices (too time-consuming, too risky, too expensive, too complicated, etc.) also led us to only look for existing homes.
So we have been searching for a house (terraced house, semi-detached house, etc.) for about a year.
We quickly realized that even in the less expensive districts of Cologne, a reasonably acceptable house costs at least 400,000 euros, rather 500,000 euros. When you add purchasing incidental costs and renovation expenses, you end up with about 700,000 euros, which is well over our budget.
Also, the high additional purchase costs (around 50,000 euros) bother me. On the one hand, this is the amount banks expect as equity, and on the other, I don’t really feel these fees are deserved by most real estate agents; they just demand them in my opinion.
In the past few weeks, I happened to have a conversation with someone who recently built a new home with a modular house provider (Allkauf Haus), which got things rolling. The acquaintance had positive experiences and suggested I look into it as well. I was skeptical because I couldn’t really identify with modular houses “made of wood” (timber frame construction). However, the comparatively affordable prices sparked our interest. We thought this might be our chance to realize our (affordable) dream home.
We actually visited the modular home exhibition in Frechen near Cologne to get a proper introduction to modular homes. There were many impressive houses, but when we inquired about prices, the range was between 2,000 - 3,500 euros/m² (186 - 325 USD/sq ft), which quickly dampened our initial enthusiasm. At those prices, you could also build conventionally using solid construction without all the reservations about modular homes and timber frame construction.
The last house on the tour was also the Allkauf Haus. We gave their salespeople a chance to convince us, and I have to admit they did a very good job. The salesperson was available on short notice and advised us for about two hours, and—just as expected—everything sounded great, easy, and straightforward. They said we just had to sign quickly to secure some bonus offers, etc.
Of course, we don’t have a plot yet, but they wanted us to sign anyway. They said Allkauf Haus could help us find one, and if we didn’t find a suitable plot, we could cancel the contract without problems. Even now, I can’t understand why anyone would commit contractually to a provider and a modular home without a plot and therefore without a specific development plan, etc. I see the significant advantages of this approach only on the seller’s side.
Nevertheless, I must admit that Allkauf Haus is very competitively priced (at least at first glance) compared to other providers at the modular home exhibition. Of course, there must be reasons for this, but the question is whether the potential “downsides” would be relevant to us or not...
Now, a few more details:
We planned an Allkauf Haus KfW40 single-family house without a basement, including a granny flat on the upper floor, thus benefiting from double KfW subsidies. The yet-to-be-purchased plot was budgeted at 150,000 euros (up to 40 km (25 miles) from Cologne). The single-family house with the granny flat on the upper floor is planned to have about 200m² (2,153 sq ft) of living space and to cost around 225,000 euros excluding interior finishing but including materials. The interior finishing was deliberately omitted because we want to do a lot of it ourselves (sweat equity) and have many helpers and skilled craftsmen/friends available:
Plot: 150,000 euros
Plot incidental costs: 13,000 euros
Building incidental costs: 80,000 euros (e.g., foundation slab, civil engineering, connections, etc.)
Allkauf Haus Gen. 4 including materials for interior finishing: 225,000 euros
Labor for drywall + all trades: 30,000 euros
Outdoor facilities: 30,000 euros
TOTAL: approx. 530,000 euros; minus subsidies approx. 475,000 euros.
If I consider only the house costs, the price without subsidies comes to just over 1,800 euros/m² (167 USD/sq ft), which sounds affordable but not unrealistic. With subsidies, it’s even only 1,560 euros/m² (145 USD/sq ft), which of course sounds great at first.
Compared to an existing property, we see the following advantages:
- New build (new is really new...) with significantly less need for repairs
- Energy efficiency
- Floor plan planning
- Modern construction methods, appearance, and technology
- Subsidies and lower additional purchase costs
- Larger living space
Disadvantage: Location outside of Cologne
Please forgive me for these beginner questions, but I wanted to first explain our motivation and way of thinking, and then initiate the next steps with your advice.
Financial situation:
- 4,600 euros monthly income (currently 1 income) plus 2 child benefits
- 15,000 euros equity (yes, very little; invested elsewhere)
- Budget: 530,000 euros including ALL COSTS
What we will NOT do upfront:
- Sign a contract with Allkauf Haus without first having a plot and without comparing prices with other modular home providers and regional general contractors!
What we plan to do:
- Gather information and compare offers from modular home providers suitable for us
- Obtain and compare offers for solid (masonry) construction
What bothers us about our current condominium:
- Living room is too narrow and dark at 6.10 m x 3.78 m (20 ft x 12 ft) (ground floor, area built up around us, 2 windows, southeast orientation)
- No laundry room
- No home office
What we want:
- Our own spacious detached single-family house with granny flat
- Large living/dining area (approx. 45-50m² (484 - 538 sq ft)) plus kitchen
- Bright rooms (floor-to-ceiling windows, southwest orientation of living room and garden)
- Larger entrance/reception area with gallery (open ceiling)
- Bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, laundry room, dressing room, office, guest room (combining possible)
- 2 garages
- At least 200m² (2,153 sq ft) garden
Our questions:
1. What are general experiences with Allkauf Haus (including reliability)?
2. What is the difference compared to Massa Haus (Okal Haus, Allkauf Haus, Massa Haus basically belong together)?
3. Depending on the answer to 2), would Massa Haus be a better choice if we plan to do all interior finishing ourselves?
4. Can you confirm that Allkauf Haus and Massa Haus are the most affordable modular home providers on the market?
5. Would it be possible to build a new solid construction house within the same budget?
6. If yes to 5): Does this also apply to building a KfW40 house to benefit from subsidies and with 200m² of living space?
7. Is it possible to realize the room requirements mentioned above with, for example, 150m² (1,615 sq ft) of living space instead of 200m²?
8. Do you agree with the arguments in favor of a new build?
9. In your opinion, is our budget/income sufficient to realize our wishes?
Thank you very much to everyone!
Best regards
silverminer
I am familiar with houses where the upper floor includes a "flat" with two rooms, a small kitchen, and a bathroom, but it is used as two children's bedrooms with a kids' bathroom and a laundry room. Such a layout can definitely be designed as a separate unit.
If the rooms for the laundry/kitchen and children's bathroom are already desired, it is likely possible to secure funding through smart architectural planning. However, if you can or want to live without these rooms, funding might be used up quickly. Just one bathroom alone costs around 15,000–20,000 euros.
If the rooms for the laundry/kitchen and children's bathroom are already desired, it is likely possible to secure funding through smart architectural planning. However, if you can or want to live without these rooms, funding might be used up quickly. Just one bathroom alone costs around 15,000–20,000 euros.
Of course, that exists. In an existing house, many things are handled differently, for example during renovations.
It’s about the financial support. But some people simply have a different sense of ethics.
It’s not as simple as: ground floor 100 m² (1,076 sq ft), upper floor 100 m² (1,076 sq ft), with the children’s rooms and parents’ area on the upper floor, and then calling the two children’s bedrooms with a shared bathroom a “granny flat” or separate unit while thinking, let’s see what happens when the kids move out. In 20 years, you can rebuild, but taking solidarity without giving any in return, I consider morally wrong.
And you yourself say: a bathroom costs money, the additional 40 m² (430 sq ft) also cost more… usually this barely covers the expenses.
It’s about the financial support. But some people simply have a different sense of ethics.
It’s not as simple as: ground floor 100 m² (1,076 sq ft), upper floor 100 m² (1,076 sq ft), with the children’s rooms and parents’ area on the upper floor, and then calling the two children’s bedrooms with a shared bathroom a “granny flat” or separate unit while thinking, let’s see what happens when the kids move out. In 20 years, you can rebuild, but taking solidarity without giving any in return, I consider morally wrong.
And you yourself say: a bathroom costs money, the additional 40 m² (430 sq ft) also cost more… usually this barely covers the expenses.
RomeoZwo schrieb:
If rooms like a laundry kitchen and a children’s bathroom are desired anyway, clever architectural design can probably secure the funding. And yet, everything has to exist twice, which inevitably requires more space.
The most problematic aspect, in my opinion, is the separation of the second dwelling unit or the separate entrance. Either you are “lucky” and have a sloped lot where a second door is enough, or you have to create some kind of enclosed staircase.
But a staircase for a second dwelling unit directly contradicts this wish:
silverminer schrieb:
- Large entrance/reception area with gallery (open ceiling) Tassimat schrieb:
And still, everything has to exist twice, which inevitably requires more space.If you want it anyway, it doesn’t have to exist twice. On the ground floor, a bedroom with a bathroom and washing machine connection (which doesn’t have to be used), on the upper floor a bathroom, two rooms, and a kitchen (used as a laundry room).
If a laundry room and a children’s bathroom are already on the list of requirements for the house, it’s not duplication, just arranged differently than usual.
I agree with @ypg regarding the moral concerns. Although with my own moral “honesty” (declaring the “true” market value and the resulting taxes when transferring/purchasing within the family) on one side, and the tax benefits from the government on the other, I sometimes feel quite taken advantage of!
S
silverminer2 Nov 2020 15:11As I mentioned, I was just thinking out loud about the idea of a granny flat. We came up with it because my partner actually considered it for his mother. However, she ended up wanting her privacy within the same house. After that, we brought up the topic ourselves proactively.
Allkauf House pointed out that each separate "dwelling" must include all necessary rooms, meaning it’s basically not possible to use it as a single-family home.
If you try to find loopholes, that’s not the intention of the designer or seller, and you have to have a clear conscience, which is actually our main concern here. But since we are rethinking the subject, I am mentioning all options—nothing more, nothing less.
If it’s not a real option, then we’ll just forget about it, and that’s that.
Allkauf House pointed out that each separate "dwelling" must include all necessary rooms, meaning it’s basically not possible to use it as a single-family home.
If you try to find loopholes, that’s not the intention of the designer or seller, and you have to have a clear conscience, which is actually our main concern here. But since we are rethinking the subject, I am mentioning all options—nothing more, nothing less.
If it’s not a real option, then we’ll just forget about it, and that’s that.
silverminer schrieb:
After that, we brought up the topic ourselves proactively. All good! It’s always beneficial to share ideas and listen to counterarguments. That’s what a forum is for.
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