ᐅ Stopping or pausing a home construction project? Costs too high
Created on: 23 Nov 2021 12:06
C
Coffee82
Good morning,
My husband and I want to build a house.
We already have the plot of land. We are now facing an unpleasant situation.
We planned the house roughly with an architect, which went very quickly.
No building permit / planning permission has been applied for yet, and no detailed execution plan has been made.
The architect provided a cost estimate that surprised us a lot.
Of course, we had previously asked acquaintances, friends, and family members about the costs of their construction projects.
Obviously, we only considered recent projects.
The architect’s estimate is more than double what we initially expected—around 4500-5000€/sqm (420-465 USD/sqft).
After this, we consulted a few others locally and two from a bit further away. Everyone seems to agree on the construction costs.
I’m not allowed to share the documents here, but there is really nothing unusual. It’s a KW40+ house with 198 sqm (2132 sqft) of living and usable space, plus a double garage attached to the left side of the house. Of course, no basement.
The specifications given to the architect were average and typical. No marble floors, no smart home features. A simple house like my uncle’s, just new.
It looks like the house will cost around 1 million euros. On top of that, of course, there are additional costs such as fees for the architect, landscaping, etc. Together with the land, the total is so high that we neither can finance it nor afford to pay it.
Unfortunately, the architect had to do quite some work before he could estimate the costs.
Now we are worried that if we cancel the project, the architect will want 15,000 to 20,000 euros for the work he has already done.
What would you do in our place?
Best regards,
Coffee82
My husband and I want to build a house.
We already have the plot of land. We are now facing an unpleasant situation.
We planned the house roughly with an architect, which went very quickly.
No building permit / planning permission has been applied for yet, and no detailed execution plan has been made.
The architect provided a cost estimate that surprised us a lot.
Of course, we had previously asked acquaintances, friends, and family members about the costs of their construction projects.
Obviously, we only considered recent projects.
The architect’s estimate is more than double what we initially expected—around 4500-5000€/sqm (420-465 USD/sqft).
After this, we consulted a few others locally and two from a bit further away. Everyone seems to agree on the construction costs.
I’m not allowed to share the documents here, but there is really nothing unusual. It’s a KW40+ house with 198 sqm (2132 sqft) of living and usable space, plus a double garage attached to the left side of the house. Of course, no basement.
The specifications given to the architect were average and typical. No marble floors, no smart home features. A simple house like my uncle’s, just new.
It looks like the house will cost around 1 million euros. On top of that, of course, there are additional costs such as fees for the architect, landscaping, etc. Together with the land, the total is so high that we neither can finance it nor afford to pay it.
Unfortunately, the architect had to do quite some work before he could estimate the costs.
Now we are worried that if we cancel the project, the architect will want 15,000 to 20,000 euros for the work he has already done.
What would you do in our place?
Best regards,
Coffee82
Myrna_Loy schrieb:
The average new single-family home in the USA has 235 sqm (2,528 sq ft) of living space.The average is probably skewed because fewer people settle for just a basic detached house 🙂https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Mike29 schrieb:
if the planned overtime is canceledWell, that really depends on the job. I don’t work on an assembly line, and there’s always something to do. So there’s probably a reason why overtime is compensated with the general salary agreement (GSA) in my case...P
pagoni202029 Nov 2021 23:1511ant schrieb:
Not all Americans are named Ewing or Carrington, and you shouldn’t take the Scandinavia shown in ZDF heart-warming movies too literally ;-)In Scandinavia, people generally live quite simply; you’ll find less luxury and extravagance. Often, people live in beautiful houses that would be considered holiday homes in other countries. Most of the frills discussed here are hardly found there… and yet, they still live 😱pagoni2020 schrieb:
In Scandinavia, people generally live quite simply; you encounter less luxury and showiness. Often, people live in beautiful houses that would be considered vacation homes in many other countries. Exactly. But in the "Scandinavia" portrayed in ZDF’s feel-good dramas, people live on estates that make a ranch like Ponderosa seem like just a "small plot."
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Myrna_Loy schrieb:
The average new single-family home in the USA has about 235 square meters (2,528 square feet) of living space. In Germany, the average new build is around 140 square meters (1,507 square feet) of living area.
My grandparents’ house, with about 280 square meters (3,014 square feet), is actually one of the smaller homes in their middle-class suburb. When my parents moved to Germany, they had to store almost all their furniture because it didn’t fit into the “smaller” rooms. You don’t have to be part of the Kennedys to have a lot of living space. That’s why mudrooms, laundry rooms, walk-in closets, and so on comfortably fit into typical floor plans. Watching building documentaries, it’s no surprise at all that they can afford such houses. They build a lot using chipboard panels.
But I love the American bungalows with porches all around. I always wanted one, but you can hardly afford it. At some point, I’ll just build a miniature version in front of my entrance so at least I can have a little bit of that.