ᐅ House Construction Planning: Solid Brick and Mortar House or Prefabricated House? With or Without a Basement?
Created on: 1 Jun 2021 18:18
R
RomanoD.
Hello everyone,
We have been researching house building for a year now and have been feeling quite uncertain throughout the process.
Basically, we need to be mindful of the budget when building.
However, we would prefer a traditional masonry house, preferably with a basement.
We honestly don’t know where to really start to find a clear direction for ourselves.
For a year now, we have been struggling with different bits of information and still don’t know which way to go.
The house should be a smart home with all related features (definitely no wireless).
It should also be possible to retrofit if, for example, a power outlet or something similar is forgotten during construction.
We basically want a basement to keep the technology, heating system, and storage space separate from the living areas.
We won’t need an attic then.
We also want a modern open-plan living, dining, and kitchen area on the ground floor, along with a guest room.
The upper floor should have the bedroom, a walk-in closet, a large bathroom, and two offices (we will not have children).
The garage should be accessible from inside the house (either through the basement or an extension).
The house will be built in the Saxony-Anhalt region.
The total usable floor area, including bathrooms and basement, should be between 200 and 300 square meters (2,150 - 3,230 square feet).
We have many wishes, but we really don’t know where to start and currently have more questions than answers.
We are looking for an online community where we can exchange ideas and experiences with others.
Is this the right place for that?
If not, does anyone know where we might be better off?
Best regards, Maxi and Romano.
We have been researching house building for a year now and have been feeling quite uncertain throughout the process.
Basically, we need to be mindful of the budget when building.
However, we would prefer a traditional masonry house, preferably with a basement.
We honestly don’t know where to really start to find a clear direction for ourselves.
For a year now, we have been struggling with different bits of information and still don’t know which way to go.
The house should be a smart home with all related features (definitely no wireless).
It should also be possible to retrofit if, for example, a power outlet or something similar is forgotten during construction.
We basically want a basement to keep the technology, heating system, and storage space separate from the living areas.
We won’t need an attic then.
We also want a modern open-plan living, dining, and kitchen area on the ground floor, along with a guest room.
The upper floor should have the bedroom, a walk-in closet, a large bathroom, and two offices (we will not have children).
The garage should be accessible from inside the house (either through the basement or an extension).
The house will be built in the Saxony-Anhalt region.
The total usable floor area, including bathrooms and basement, should be between 200 and 300 square meters (2,150 - 3,230 square feet).
We have many wishes, but we really don’t know where to start and currently have more questions than answers.
We are looking for an online community where we can exchange ideas and experiences with others.
Is this the right place for that?
If not, does anyone know where we might be better off?
Best regards, Maxi and Romano.
Deliverer schrieb:
Everything is possible. However, most of it depends on the plot of land and the budget. We don’t have information on either.First, take the land search seriously. Most people are strongly influenced by personal wishes and external factors when it comes to their dream property.
At the same time, talk to your mortgage lender. Your dream house, including additional costs, will easily exceed 550,000 (about 600,000) — more likely around 600,000 (about 660,000). However, this estimate does not include the land and utility connection costs. Once the bank approves the house and financing amount, buy the land.
After the plot is secured, what you can build depends on the zoning plan (planning permission/building permit). It might also be the case that your dream property requires connection to district heating. Therefore, discussions here without having a plot are completely pointless, except to give you a rough idea of the costs.
Deliverer schrieb:
Everything is possible. Most of it depends on the plot of land and the budget. We don’t know either of those.I'll try to describe it better this time:
Budget: Planning a total expenditure including loan of €600,000 (only the house itself with partial DIY work on cable installation and programming for smart home preparation of cables and connections for future technology to be able to upgrade the smart home to a high standard after construction)
The garden is to be completely designed as a DIY project.
A bit more detailed:
We want a "wish"
A house in city villa style (basement, ground floor, upper floor)
Including a garage with door into the house
Basement: Room for technical equipment and several storage rooms which can be used alternatively, for example as a utility room (clothes chute from the top floor directly to the washing machine), technical shaft from basement to upper floor for all cables.
Ground floor: Open plan living, dining, and kitchen area, large hallway, guest room, and bathroom with shower on the ground floor
Upper floor: Large hallway, bedroom with walk-in closet and large bathroom with bathtub and shower, 2 offices with space for desks, office equipment, and a couch for a cozy corner.
Outdoor areas should be gradually built by ourselves over time in order to intentionally spend vacation and free time there.
The house’s technical infrastructure should only be prepared initially, partly as DIY.
The final smart home setup including network distribution, audio and video distribution will be done step by step as DIY work.
At move-in, the house should be designed as follows: built-in furniture wherever you would otherwise have cupboards, finished walls and floors, as well as kitchen and bathrooms completed. The smart home should be partly done as DIY work so that sockets, switches, and lighting function. (Expect more than less here.)
All cabling for audio, video, and network should be completed. The high-end components like speakers, amplifiers, and related technology will be acquired and programmed gradually by ourselves after moving in.
The total walkable area of the house, including usable and living space, basement, and garage should be 250 sqm (approximately 2,690 sq ft).
Does anyone have an idea of an approximate “gut-feeling price” to achieve this?
We honestly have no realistic clue about the financial scope of this project.
Since we plan to retrofit and program the technology ourselves, significant costs should be saved.
For the heating and ventilation system alone, I assume based on my research about €150,000.
What’s missing are the estimated costs for the building itself as well as cables, floors, walls, bathroom, and kitchen.
Possibly the built-in furniture as well, but we have an estimated price of about €50,000 for the house size excluding the kitchen. (Standard built-in furniture for the entire house: wardrobe, living room, bathroom, guest room, walk-in closet.)
If we allocate €200,000 for the building without fittings, what would be a reasonable price to expect for a 250 sqm house?
And how much for a normal, nice but not luxurious fit-out? Two bathrooms, kitchen, floors, walls...?
Holzhäuschen8 Jun 2021 15:562500€/m² (232€/ft²) for the living area; I’m not sure about the basement/garage costs.
If the living area is 200m² (2153ft²), that amounts to 500,000€, plus your 200,000€. On top of that, add the basement and the garage.
We are also doing the garden landscaping ourselves (DIY), but that involves a lot of work, and the materials also cost money.
I think you don’t really have an idea of how much even the simplest sanitary equipment costs. Here in Brandenburg, two small bathrooms (2m² (22ft²), 8m² (86ft²)) including piping came to just under 12,000€.
We visited the bathroom showroom and tried to stick to the budget, but (also due to incomplete information from the salesperson) we ended up about 10,000€ more. We have now reduced that to 5,000€ extra, but it’s still no luxury – no built-in fittings, no high-end rain shower, only for the toilets did we spend a bit more.
We are handling all this now, and everything is more expensive than expected and desired.
From what I’ve read here in the forum so far, 600,000€ will already be tight for such a large house.
You didn’t even consider undergasse’s point – do you know that as a private person you don’t have access to the software and so on? That also puts the DIY approach in that area at risk.
If the living area is 200m² (2153ft²), that amounts to 500,000€, plus your 200,000€. On top of that, add the basement and the garage.
We are also doing the garden landscaping ourselves (DIY), but that involves a lot of work, and the materials also cost money.
I think you don’t really have an idea of how much even the simplest sanitary equipment costs. Here in Brandenburg, two small bathrooms (2m² (22ft²), 8m² (86ft²)) including piping came to just under 12,000€.
We visited the bathroom showroom and tried to stick to the budget, but (also due to incomplete information from the salesperson) we ended up about 10,000€ more. We have now reduced that to 5,000€ extra, but it’s still no luxury – no built-in fittings, no high-end rain shower, only for the toilets did we spend a bit more.
We are handling all this now, and everything is more expensive than expected and desired.
From what I’ve read here in the forum so far, 600,000€ will already be tight for such a large house.
You didn’t even consider undergasse’s point – do you know that as a private person you don’t have access to the software and so on? That also puts the DIY approach in that area at risk.
untergasse43 schrieb:
Sonos is top-level multiroom for you? Okay.
Strong. I, among other things, have been professionally involved with Control4 since 2010. Are you a dealer? Because if not, as an end customer you won’t even get access to the equipment or especially the software. And what are you planning exactly? Just out of curiosity... MoIP or HDBaseT central?
RomanoD. schrieb:
How much should you roughly calculate for a building without interior fittings at 250 sqm (2700 sq ft)? For a house with standard fittings, without luxury extras, in most parts of Germany, expect about 2,000 €/sqm (186 USD/sq ft). More realistically now around 2,200 €/sqm (205 USD/sq ft) = 550,000 € (607,000 USD) just for the house
+ additional costs 50,000 € (55,000 USD)
+ basement 70,000 € (77,000 USD)
= House without extras like smart home features, home cinema, etc., you are looking at around 670,000 € (740,000 USD).
On top of that, there are the land and development costs. I tried to hint at that earlier.
untergasse43 schrieb:
Sonos is multiroom at the highest level for you? Okay. No XD, that’s just the current setup and it’s going to be replaced with passive systems ^^
I only listed what we have right now.
I’m satisfied with it, but for the house planning, we want something different.
Since we want to use Control4 here and have everything centralized.
At the moment, it’s more centralized from the living room distributed to three TVs.
But in the house, it shouldn’t be like that anymore.
Since we’re renting right now, this was a good start to use multiroom TV and audio.
In the house, of course, it should be properly centralized, connected gradually after building the house with the cabling pre-installed beforehand—to upgrade the most expensive parts bit by bit.
untergasse43 schrieb:
Great. Among other things, I’ve been professionally involved with Control4 since 2010. Are you a dealer? Because if not, as an end user you won’t get access to the hardware or especially the software. And what do you have in mind? Just out of interest... MoIP or HDBaseT centralized? No, I’m not a dealer, but I know where to get the gear.
(a company from Berlin)
I just know that this system is the direction I’m thinking of.
Since I’m aware we’re talking about expensive equipment, the plan is to upgrade gradually and not buy everything at once 🙂
If you’re already mentioning Crestron, I get what level of knowledge you’re coming from.
Certainly, you know more than I do, but I’ve been involved enough to feel confident to keep going.
The smart home we have now was also self-built.
And the new one is just one step further 🙂
At least there are always ways to get the devices you want.
There’s a home theater company in Berlin specializing in this stuff where you can just buy the equipment, and if you really get stuck, they help you for a fee 🙂
Since this is a hobby with a lot of passion behind it, I’ll definitely tackle it myself.
Even if I can’t throw around a bunch of technical terms, I at least have enough knowledge and enthusiasm to push it through.
Doesn’t mean I know everything inside out 🙂
Knowledge is really just knowing where to find information or who to ask.
At least by doing it myself, I want to save costs that I can spend on the technology in the end.
And if I need paid help here and there, that’s not a big deal.
It’s supposed to grow gradually, so I don’t need to spend a million all at once XD ^^
H
Hausbautraum208 Jun 2021 16:18RomanoD. schrieb:
Budget: Planning what we want to spend including loan €600,000Just for orientation again.
My brother-in-law is just starting to build, but in Bavaria:
180 sqm (1,938 sq ft) living space + basement
- Turnkey: €580k
- Additional costs: €50k
= €630k > €600k
This is not 200 sqm (2,153 sq ft) living space, there is no KNX system, no garage or other paving work included, no kitchen or furniture, no solar system or anything elaborate, and of course no plot of land.
This clearly doesn’t add up at all.
So first, find a good plot of land and then align wishes and budget accordingly!
Similar topics