ᐅ Building an End-Terrace House as a Self-Managed Project with a General Contractor
Created on: 27 May 2019 10:48
G
goalkeeper
Hello everyone,
some of you might have already followed one of my threads about us having to or being allowed to build our end-terrace house on our own responsibility – depending on how you look at it. This means that we are buying an end-terrace plot (215 sqm (2315 sq ft)) in a new development area in the Rhein-Neckar district and will be building on it ourselves – but in coordination with our two terrace neighbors.
The municipality, which sold the plots through a local resident model, ideally wanted applicants to apply as a complete housing group with several families and then build accordingly with a general contractor, construction manager, or architect. Of course, that didn’t really work out, so now there are only individual applicants and also homeowners.
After we were awarded the plot, the addresses of the other terrace neighbors were shared to discuss certain matters, such as roof style, whether or not to have a basement, etc. It was immediately clear that everyone preferred to do their own thing. However, we were still able to agree that the housing group will have a gable roof with a pitch of 35 to 40 degrees (within this 5-degree range).
As the end house, we will build without a basement, while the middle house and the other end house will have basements. This obviously presents a challenge as we would have to make a deep foundation or simply skip it, and the middle house would have to support us, as we will start construction first. The current agreement with the middle house is that we will build a deeper foundation at his expense, as supporting our house later on would be considerably more expensive for him.
We are currently close to signing with the construction manager, the notarization appointment for the plot is at the end of June, and we hope to start construction in the fall of this year. Meanwhile, several other freely planned housing groups are being built around us, which might get in the way with their cranes.
I will document the progress here from time to time – such a self-planned terraced house doesn’t come along very often.
some of you might have already followed one of my threads about us having to or being allowed to build our end-terrace house on our own responsibility – depending on how you look at it. This means that we are buying an end-terrace plot (215 sqm (2315 sq ft)) in a new development area in the Rhein-Neckar district and will be building on it ourselves – but in coordination with our two terrace neighbors.
The municipality, which sold the plots through a local resident model, ideally wanted applicants to apply as a complete housing group with several families and then build accordingly with a general contractor, construction manager, or architect. Of course, that didn’t really work out, so now there are only individual applicants and also homeowners.
After we were awarded the plot, the addresses of the other terrace neighbors were shared to discuss certain matters, such as roof style, whether or not to have a basement, etc. It was immediately clear that everyone preferred to do their own thing. However, we were still able to agree that the housing group will have a gable roof with a pitch of 35 to 40 degrees (within this 5-degree range).
As the end house, we will build without a basement, while the middle house and the other end house will have basements. This obviously presents a challenge as we would have to make a deep foundation or simply skip it, and the middle house would have to support us, as we will start construction first. The current agreement with the middle house is that we will build a deeper foundation at his expense, as supporting our house later on would be considerably more expensive for him.
We are currently close to signing with the construction manager, the notarization appointment for the plot is at the end of June, and we hope to start construction in the fall of this year. Meanwhile, several other freely planned housing groups are being built around us, which might get in the way with their cranes.
I will document the progress here from time to time – such a self-planned terraced house doesn’t come along very often.
goalkeeper schrieb:
Due to the rather limited space in the garden, we could probably place a garden shed [...] with internal dimensions of 252 x 172cm (99 x 68 inches) at most.I would definitely charge the favorite neighbor for that as a temporary garden shed.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
G
goalkeeper28 May 2021 14:07Our landscape gardener has now completed sections of the fence as well as the foundation for the Biohort shed.
Meanwhile, the "beloved neighbor" has started to shovel gravel by hand.
We are currently on vacation, but our "neighborhood watch" said that our shared children are faster with the toy excavator.
Meanwhile, the "beloved neighbor" has started to shovel gravel by hand.
We are currently on vacation, but our "neighborhood watch" said that our shared children are faster with the toy excavator.
G
goalkeeper15 Jul 2021 12:49To keep the actual thread “up to date”:
You are absolutely right. He has since added some gravel to fill the height difference between the neighbor’s basement depth (2.90m (9 ft 6 in)) and ours (foundation depth 2.60m (8 ft 6 in)) because, according to the court order, he is no longer allowed to underpin. Then on Saturday, a surveyor came to measure the depth precisely.
According to the new building application (the third one by now), he now plans to set his basement at our 2.60m (8 ft 6 in) level. However, he probably faces a height problem because he won’t be able to comply with the maximum total building height of 11m (36 ft)—judging by the long faces at the excavation site. 🙄
On Monday, the last—or should I say second to last—house in the area will be erected. Now only Bob the Builder and his team with their expertise are missing.
Meanwhile, more and more neighbors are getting annoyed with him because we still have a big pile of soil in our garden, which will have to be put back into the terrace hole that the neighbor unlawfully excavated—and it’s now interfering with the neighbors’ landscaping.
But everyone knows who is to blame. 😉
tomtom79 schrieb:
Nothing has changed at the neighbor’s place so far, it seems.
You are absolutely right. He has since added some gravel to fill the height difference between the neighbor’s basement depth (2.90m (9 ft 6 in)) and ours (foundation depth 2.60m (8 ft 6 in)) because, according to the court order, he is no longer allowed to underpin. Then on Saturday, a surveyor came to measure the depth precisely.
According to the new building application (the third one by now), he now plans to set his basement at our 2.60m (8 ft 6 in) level. However, he probably faces a height problem because he won’t be able to comply with the maximum total building height of 11m (36 ft)—judging by the long faces at the excavation site. 🙄
On Monday, the last—or should I say second to last—house in the area will be erected. Now only Bob the Builder and his team with their expertise are missing.
Meanwhile, more and more neighbors are getting annoyed with him because we still have a big pile of soil in our garden, which will have to be put back into the terrace hole that the neighbor unlawfully excavated—and it’s now interfering with the neighbors’ landscaping.
But everyone knows who is to blame. 😉
G
goalkeeper15 Jul 2021 13:01tomtom79 schrieb:
I would have pushed that thing back into its hole already, especially if it was on my property. He definitely had enough deadlines. However, I can’t just pile material against it in any way that would be useful, so we could start landscaping our garden. His basement is missing here – and creating a slope on our own no longer works at 2.60m (8.5 ft).
Have you had a legal review to determine to what extent it is possible, with proper notice, to require him to fill the hole again in a way that causes no disturbance to the neighbors? After all, everything was done unlawfully, and as you described, no construction work is currently planned to start. Charging rent or something similar for the unusable part of the garden (including the soil mound) might also bring a smile to his face...
Similar topics