ᐅ Realistic Cost Estimate: Single-Family Home with Challenging Site Access
Created on: 20 Jan 2023 10:50
S
schmeissrein
Hello everyone,
I have been following this forum for a while and first of all, a big thank you to everyone who shares their advice here and sometimes also speaks hard truths. I didn’t originally want to create a new thread but intended to form an opinion based on other discussions. However, you convinced me that this building project is too individual for that. So here is our plan:
- Building a new single-family house in the far north of Germany (Schleswig-Flensburg region).
- Plot size is over 1000sqm (10,764 sq ft).
- Total square meters are not so important as long as the layout works.
- Basement is not planned.
What we would like:
- Open-plan kitchen-living area of at least 36m² (388 sq ft).
- Guest room (at least 10m² / 108 sq ft) and small guest bathroom with shower on the ground floor, so that in old age, with disability, or a broken leg, the ground floor can be used independently and possibly serve as a bedroom.
- Utility room / storage room / pantry with heat pump of at least 8m² (86 sq ft) (KfW 40 standard would be great, of course).
- Upper floor with three rooms (1 office, 1 master bedroom, 1 child’s room) each at least 14m² (151 sq ft) and one bathroom. Our dream would be a “walk-in” (what a silly word – aren’t all showers walk-in?) shower to avoid having to clean those limescale-rusty, annoying shower enclosures.
- We could contribute labor for garden landscaping and painting/wallpapering; otherwise, we would prefer a turnkey build.
As for the house style, regionally typical Frisian houses or captain’s houses (with all the “cute” features like small gables, etc.) are in consideration, or also not completely unimaginative “normal” single-family houses. We are not afraid of Bauhaus-style concrete marvels either, but those tend to be more expensive. In terms of fittings, no “gold-plated faucets” and no smart home – but decent and presentable.
The big BUT: the plot is not connected to utilities, and the distance to the street is about 65m (213 ft), of which 50m (164 ft) is a paved driveway and paved parking area that would have to be dug up (across another property). The connection costs and incidental construction costs worry us quite a bit. Does anyone have experience with such a “mammoth connection” for a relatively small building project? What realistic costs should we expect for both?
We would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this project, thank you very much in advance!
I have been following this forum for a while and first of all, a big thank you to everyone who shares their advice here and sometimes also speaks hard truths. I didn’t originally want to create a new thread but intended to form an opinion based on other discussions. However, you convinced me that this building project is too individual for that. So here is our plan:
- Building a new single-family house in the far north of Germany (Schleswig-Flensburg region).
- Plot size is over 1000sqm (10,764 sq ft).
- Total square meters are not so important as long as the layout works.
- Basement is not planned.
What we would like:
- Open-plan kitchen-living area of at least 36m² (388 sq ft).
- Guest room (at least 10m² / 108 sq ft) and small guest bathroom with shower on the ground floor, so that in old age, with disability, or a broken leg, the ground floor can be used independently and possibly serve as a bedroom.
- Utility room / storage room / pantry with heat pump of at least 8m² (86 sq ft) (KfW 40 standard would be great, of course).
- Upper floor with three rooms (1 office, 1 master bedroom, 1 child’s room) each at least 14m² (151 sq ft) and one bathroom. Our dream would be a “walk-in” (what a silly word – aren’t all showers walk-in?) shower to avoid having to clean those limescale-rusty, annoying shower enclosures.
- We could contribute labor for garden landscaping and painting/wallpapering; otherwise, we would prefer a turnkey build.
As for the house style, regionally typical Frisian houses or captain’s houses (with all the “cute” features like small gables, etc.) are in consideration, or also not completely unimaginative “normal” single-family houses. We are not afraid of Bauhaus-style concrete marvels either, but those tend to be more expensive. In terms of fittings, no “gold-plated faucets” and no smart home – but decent and presentable.
The big BUT: the plot is not connected to utilities, and the distance to the street is about 65m (213 ft), of which 50m (164 ft) is a paved driveway and paved parking area that would have to be dug up (across another property). The connection costs and incidental construction costs worry us quite a bit. Does anyone have experience with such a “mammoth connection” for a relatively small building project? What realistic costs should we expect for both?
We would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this project, thank you very much in advance!
schmeissrein28 Apr 2023 09:09WilderSueden schrieb:
How many rooms and how many square meters do you have now? Probably significantly less than in the house. It all adds up simply because you have more rooms and space. We currently have about 88m² (947 sq ft) spread over three rooms (one of which is an open-plan kitchen and living area). Plus a utility room and a garden shed. We are also storing furniture offsite that doesn’t fit here. What we have includes: a fully furnished living room, guest room, office, bedroom, children’s room, and shelving for the utility room/pantry. What we still need are bathroom furniture (which can be quite expensive) and, depending on how much the walk-in closet is “blessed” with sloping ceilings, the furniture for that. The latter doesn’t need to be perfect right away. I could also imagine adapting the existing Pax system myself for that purpose; it wouldn’t be the first time.
schmeissrein9 May 2023 15:14I’ll just say hello again 😀 We’ve turned and reconsidered your objections from every angle, and at the risk of someone saying “now it’s something completely different again, make up your mind”—friends, this is all a process... We simply couldn’t get used to facing/driving up to a sad gable-less eaves side, so we’ve come to the conclusion—why not rotate the house? The gable side seems much nicer and nicely symmetrical, the less attractive eaves side can face the carport, and we save the cost of an expensive gable—you get what you wanted 😀 The gable now faces west. Why not build a house on a long, narrow plot that reflects that shape?
The kids’ rooms have gained size, and there is one less room upstairs. We didn’t want to give up the guest room, but it is now a bit smaller. There is even a window in the upstairs hallway now, yay! What still gives us some headaches is the cramped, awkward bathroom upstairs. Otherwise, we’re ready to face the next wave of criticism 😀 Many thanks to everyone who patiently goes through this with us. It feels frustrating to keep changing everything over and over, but on the other hand, we learn more with each attempt and hopefully get closer to our dream house 🙂
The kids’ rooms have gained size, and there is one less room upstairs. We didn’t want to give up the guest room, but it is now a bit smaller. There is even a window in the upstairs hallway now, yay! What still gives us some headaches is the cramped, awkward bathroom upstairs. Otherwise, we’re ready to face the next wave of criticism 😀 Many thanks to everyone who patiently goes through this with us. It feels frustrating to keep changing everything over and over, but on the other hand, we learn more with each attempt and hopefully get closer to our dream house 🙂
Oh, the thing with the gables is simply one of those mirror neuron setups, where the house is supposed to have a "face" from both the garden side and the driveway side. Ah, now I get it ;-)
If there were awkward spots while tracing the design, was an actually functioning plan modified, or was it just made up on the spot?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
If there were awkward spots while tracing the design, was an actually functioning plan modified, or was it just made up on the spot?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
schmeissrein9 May 2023 15:4011ant schrieb:
Oh, the thing with the gables is basically one of those mirror neuron effects, where the house is supposed to have a "face" from both the garden side and the driveway side. Ah, now I get it ;-)
Were any awkwardnesses caused by tracing, was an actually working design modified, or is this just a rough, on-the-fly draft? That’s probably the psychology behind it, yes. Nothing here was traced; this is our rough preliminary draft made freely, which the draftsman will then rationalize (window sizes and positions etc. are all just sketched for now). By the way, the left side of the plan is north, so the open living space faces southwest/northeast. The software gives me an area of 156 m² (1680 sq ft), but I don’t fully trust that—our draftsman will do a proper calculation. For example, the idea that window sizes should preferably be multiples of 12.5 cm (5 inches) and so on hasn’t been considered here!
H
hanghaus20239 May 2023 16:18The awkward corner in the bathroom is a result of the staircase. If you swap the utility room and the toilet on the ground floor, the staircase will move more toward the center. I don’t like the idea of dividing the bay window on the upper floor at all. My suggestion without the bay window offers better use of space. See post #20
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
The awkward corner in the bathroom is a result of the staircase. If you swap the utility room and the toilet on the ground floor, the staircase will move more towards the center. I think this is a consequence of the common approach to design the upper floors based on the ground floor layout...
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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