Hello everyone,
We are currently planning the construction of our house and many questions keep coming up.
Our plot (approximately 770 m² (8,293 ft²)) is on a slope, which, based on quite a bit of reading, leads us to consider building our house with a basement, as we would rather not have to dig the house into the hill and look out onto an earth wall. I have attached some excerpts from the development plan.
The plot is rather elongated (about 20 m (66 ft) wide and 40 m (131 ft) deep) and slopes upward from the street. According to the Geoportal Hessen, we have an elevation difference of about 3 m (10 ft) over the 40 m (131 ft) depth.
Our first thought was: "Well, then we’ll just build with a basement." However, after examining the specific height specifications from the development plan, the eaves height of 5 m (measured from the street’s road surface edge, the highest point, measured vertically in front of the building center) might cause an issue. With the 5 m eaves height limit, wouldn’t we have to embed about half of the basement underground?
Our idea was that the basement (lower ground floor) would be level with the street at the front, allowing direct access from there, and at the back, the living area (ground floor) would have level access to the garden.
How do you assess the dimensions and requirements in the development plan?
Over the weekend, we visited a model home exhibition in Bad Vilbel and spoke with a representative from Fingerhaus, who suggested a kind of compact basement with access only from the outside, not from inside the house. Does anyone know this type of basement or have experience with it? Would it also be possible to build a “regular” basement in that case?
We roughly calculated the costs:
House (turnkey) according to Fingerhaus (Type Sento B): about 300,000€
Foundation + walls: about 20,000€
Additional features: about 50,000€
Basement + incidental building costs: about 80,000€
Do you consider these figures roughly realistic?
Can anyone recommend building companies from the Mittelhessen (Central Hesse) region? Can construction companies provide cost estimates based on the available data, or do we first need a soil survey and precise height measurements?
So many questions, but you have to start somewhere.
Thank you very much in advance for any tips or answers!
We are currently planning the construction of our house and many questions keep coming up.
Our plot (approximately 770 m² (8,293 ft²)) is on a slope, which, based on quite a bit of reading, leads us to consider building our house with a basement, as we would rather not have to dig the house into the hill and look out onto an earth wall. I have attached some excerpts from the development plan.
The plot is rather elongated (about 20 m (66 ft) wide and 40 m (131 ft) deep) and slopes upward from the street. According to the Geoportal Hessen, we have an elevation difference of about 3 m (10 ft) over the 40 m (131 ft) depth.
Our first thought was: "Well, then we’ll just build with a basement." However, after examining the specific height specifications from the development plan, the eaves height of 5 m (measured from the street’s road surface edge, the highest point, measured vertically in front of the building center) might cause an issue. With the 5 m eaves height limit, wouldn’t we have to embed about half of the basement underground?
Our idea was that the basement (lower ground floor) would be level with the street at the front, allowing direct access from there, and at the back, the living area (ground floor) would have level access to the garden.
How do you assess the dimensions and requirements in the development plan?
Over the weekend, we visited a model home exhibition in Bad Vilbel and spoke with a representative from Fingerhaus, who suggested a kind of compact basement with access only from the outside, not from inside the house. Does anyone know this type of basement or have experience with it? Would it also be possible to build a “regular” basement in that case?
We roughly calculated the costs:
House (turnkey) according to Fingerhaus (Type Sento B): about 300,000€
Foundation + walls: about 20,000€
Additional features: about 50,000€
Basement + incidental building costs: about 80,000€
Do you consider these figures roughly realistic?
Can anyone recommend building companies from the Mittelhessen (Central Hesse) region? Can construction companies provide cost estimates based on the available data, or do we first need a soil survey and precise height measurements?
So many questions, but you have to start somewhere.
Thank you very much in advance for any tips or answers!
Hausi1909 schrieb:
I might be missing something here...Where exactly is the plot described with elevations and references in the text section of the development plan (or where can it be found – please provide the name, not a link)?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
Hausi19092 Mar 2020 13:4811ant schrieb:
Where exactly is the plot described with elevations and citations from the text section of the development plan (or where can it be found – please provide the name, not a link)?I attached those as images in my initial post. Here again is the surveyor’s result regarding the elevations. Is that sufficient for you?
Not exactly, because only building heights were mentioned – not the restrictions on terrain modeling.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
Hausi19092 Mar 2020 19:1111ant schrieb:
Not exactly, because only building heights were mentioned there – not the restrictions on terrain modeling. In my initial post, I also mentioned the slope, but never mind. We need to figure out how to make the best of it now. In my opinion, it shouldn’t matter whether it’s split-level or not. The eaves height limits us at the back in terms of height.
We just had another conversation with a different building consultant, who also clearly told us that it will be difficult not to dig into the terrain at the back with this development plan. I also brought up the split-level option.
For now, we want to try applying for an exemption. The building consultant put us in touch with a local architect who seems to be very well connected with the community. Through the architect, we will explore our options and get a sense of how they assess our chances.
Thank you very much for your constructive comments, tips, and experiences!
H
Hausi190913 Jan 2021 12:45Hello everyone,
this has taken a bit longer than we initially hoped.
We have now decided on an architect to handle the planning up to the building permit / planning permission application.
We will need to apply for an exception / exemption because our eaves height will likely be about 50 - 80cm (20 - 31 inches) higher than what is specified in the development plan.
We have received the first drafts from the architect, which I would like to share with you.
Overall, the house is still a bit too large since we have only budgeted about €400,000 for the turnkey house.
We would really like to have a roof terrace, which the architect has included in the plans.
Do you think €400k for the turnkey house (excluding additional costs — we have roughly €100,000 set aside for those / upgrades)
is realistic if the living area is reduced by about 20 sqm (215 sq ft)?
Is a roof terrace as expensive per square meter as the enclosed living space, or even more costly?
Our concern was that due to the development plan (max eaves height 5m / max ridge height 9.5m) and the sloping site with about 3.5m (11.5 ft) elevation difference
along the length of the plot from the street (which is the reference point for the eaves height), we would have to dig very deeply into the garden at the back.
However, this does not seem to be quite as dramatic when looking at the site sections — what do you think?
We also want to try shifting the house slightly towards the northeast because there is a path running directly along the southwest side of our property,
and between our terrace and the path, there is only about 3m (10 ft) distance. We are concerned that this distance is too small and it might feel like we are always being watched or overheard.
Does anyone have experience with this?
Regarding the floor plan: We are basically satisfied with the layout. However, we would like to save some hallway space
and use the gained area in the rooms or save it overall, so the house can be a bit smaller.
One idea was possibly to use a different staircase design or remove the lobby and place the stairs directly adjacent to the entrance area.
So far, we haven't found a good solution for this.
We have completely moved away from the split-level option. We saw it in two other houses and it did not appeal to either of us.
I/we are very much looking forward to your comments, suggestions, and tips 🙂
Thanks in advance!
this has taken a bit longer than we initially hoped.
We have now decided on an architect to handle the planning up to the building permit / planning permission application.
We will need to apply for an exception / exemption because our eaves height will likely be about 50 - 80cm (20 - 31 inches) higher than what is specified in the development plan.
We have received the first drafts from the architect, which I would like to share with you.
Overall, the house is still a bit too large since we have only budgeted about €400,000 for the turnkey house.
We would really like to have a roof terrace, which the architect has included in the plans.
Do you think €400k for the turnkey house (excluding additional costs — we have roughly €100,000 set aside for those / upgrades)
is realistic if the living area is reduced by about 20 sqm (215 sq ft)?
Is a roof terrace as expensive per square meter as the enclosed living space, or even more costly?
Our concern was that due to the development plan (max eaves height 5m / max ridge height 9.5m) and the sloping site with about 3.5m (11.5 ft) elevation difference
along the length of the plot from the street (which is the reference point for the eaves height), we would have to dig very deeply into the garden at the back.
However, this does not seem to be quite as dramatic when looking at the site sections — what do you think?
We also want to try shifting the house slightly towards the northeast because there is a path running directly along the southwest side of our property,
and between our terrace and the path, there is only about 3m (10 ft) distance. We are concerned that this distance is too small and it might feel like we are always being watched or overheard.
Does anyone have experience with this?
Regarding the floor plan: We are basically satisfied with the layout. However, we would like to save some hallway space
and use the gained area in the rooms or save it overall, so the house can be a bit smaller.
One idea was possibly to use a different staircase design or remove the lobby and place the stairs directly adjacent to the entrance area.
So far, we haven't found a good solution for this.
We have completely moved away from the split-level option. We saw it in two other houses and it did not appeal to either of us.
I/we are very much looking forward to your comments, suggestions, and tips 🙂
Thanks in advance!
Hausi1909 schrieb:
Overall, the house is still a bit too large, as we have only budgeted around €400,000 for the turnkey home.
We would really like a roof terrace, which the architect has planned accordingly. I would remove the word "a bit." Choosing an architect rather than just a draftsman is important, not least because a) they can talk you out of having a huge smoking balcony for your child, and b) they can manage the eaves heights from both sides so you don’t have to simply raise them by "50 to 80 cm (20 to 31 inches)"—or rather, want to. I’m counting on the reasonableness of the authorities here.
The house is seriously too large. If you're not double-income earners in band A14, this is beyond your means—and at the very least, it offers endless space where it’s not needed. You really should develop your sense of scale. And yes, the suspicion is correct: per square meter, a roof terrace easily costs at least as much as fully enclosed living space.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics