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!
Regardless of the overall design and its feasibility: The small niche in the upper bathroom practically demands a shower, doesn’t it? Or is the slope too steep? If the shower were installed there, the rest of the space would be completely free to arrange everything as desired.
H
hanghaus20239 May 2023 17:04kati1337 schrieb:
Regardless of the rest of the design and its feasibility: the small niche in the upstairs bathroom practically BEGS for a shower, doesn’t it?
Or is the sloped ceiling too much there?
If the shower was placed there, the entire remaining space would be free to arrange everything as desired. In my opinion, there is no room for a shower there.
Unfortunately, the original poster didn’t provide any floor plans or details about the roof pitch and knee wall height. How else should one be able to evaluate that?
kati1337 schrieb:
The small niche upstairs just practically screams for a shower, doesn’t it?
Or is the slope too steep there? hanghaus2023 schrieb:
In my opinion, there’s no space for a shower there. What is wrong with your eyesight? There IS a shower (on the back side of the washbasin)!
The slope is on the drain side of the bathtub. Overall, I would actually describe the bathroom more as a contortionist training course.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
Unfortunately, the original poster hasn’t provided a sectional drawing or any information about the roof pitch and knee wall height. How are we supposed to assess that? Well, there is a sloped view mostly of the gable side. Looking at all the drawings together, I would suspect no knee wall or at most a vacuum-cleaner-high knee wall, and a roof pitch over 40° (over 40°). Just because of the very thin interior walls, I would treat the drawings as sketches (which means that after removing the bottlenecks, the usable area will have increased by two or three handfuls of square meters). There is a good reason why I recommend basing plans on proven, functional designs. When it’s just a painted wish list, it’s unfortunately common for an amateur design to exceed the budget again after resolving the bottleneck issues. ;-)
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
schmeissrein schrieb:
Why not build a house on a long, narrow plot that reflects that shape? Exactly what I’m saying..
schmeissrein schrieb:
Why not rotate the house? My point exactly 😉
schmeissrein schrieb:
It’s all a process... That’s what I mean 😀
schmeissrein schrieb:
It feels awkward to keep changing everything over and over, but on the other hand, we learn with each attempt and hopefully get closer to our dream home 🙂 I think it can actually feel great to break free from your own thought patterns sometimes.
However, I still see a lot of room for improvement in the layout of the rooms.
What is the current knee wall height? Where will the 2-meter (6 ft 7 in) headroom line be?
With a 45-degree roof pitch, the knee wall height would be interesting to know.
11ant schrieb:
What are you guys not seeing here?No one is overlooking anything here: it’s about the shower… the bathroom layout is a disaster. Only a worm could wriggle through there… and only one.ypg schrieb:
No one here is ignoring the obvious: it’s about the shower…@11ant I obviously meant the recessed shower area 😀Similar topics