Dear community,
First of all, hello from my side. I am considering a potential project but, unfortunately, I have very little experience in this area. I have already found a lot of general information online, but overall, I still lack a solid understanding.
Plan: I would like to build two small houses, each approximately 50sqm (540 sq ft), using timber frame construction on a plot of about 1000sqm (0.25 acres) and use them as residential spaces (primary or secondary residence). The foundation will be a simple concrete slab. For wastewater management, I am thinking about using a biological small-scale sewage treatment system. Electricity would need to be connected (but could be generated independently if necessary). The supply should be largely self-sufficient, using wood from our own forest, homegrown fruit and vegetables, chickens, etc.
In short, the idea is that I will inherit a plot of land. The reasons for this, which might seem somewhat unrealistic at first glance, are beside the point but do exist. Generally, as you can tell, this is not intended to be a fully modern single-family house but rather something more along the lines of a tiny house or DIY project, and it should be actively inhabited for the next 7-8 years. My partner in this project has an architect in the family who would be actively involved, which should also be relevant.
My questions are:
1. Is living in this type of house generally permitted?
2. We are not sure whether the plot is even zoned for building and whether it is connected to utilities. Is it possible to apply for approval as a “self-sufficient cabin” without electricity and with a small sewage treatment system? If not, what options do we have and what would the rough costs be?
3. What does the application process look like if we start with a meadow plot and want to carry out the project there?
4. Assuming the land is zoned for building, is the project feasible and what does the approval process look like?
I want to emphasize that we do not intend to live completely off the grid and will pursue normal employment. Financially, we currently have roughly 80,000 with the option of up to 100,000 through a personal loan (which we would prefer to avoid).
Thank you very much for your answers.
Kind regards and have a nice evening
First of all, hello from my side. I am considering a potential project but, unfortunately, I have very little experience in this area. I have already found a lot of general information online, but overall, I still lack a solid understanding.
Plan: I would like to build two small houses, each approximately 50sqm (540 sq ft), using timber frame construction on a plot of about 1000sqm (0.25 acres) and use them as residential spaces (primary or secondary residence). The foundation will be a simple concrete slab. For wastewater management, I am thinking about using a biological small-scale sewage treatment system. Electricity would need to be connected (but could be generated independently if necessary). The supply should be largely self-sufficient, using wood from our own forest, homegrown fruit and vegetables, chickens, etc.
In short, the idea is that I will inherit a plot of land. The reasons for this, which might seem somewhat unrealistic at first glance, are beside the point but do exist. Generally, as you can tell, this is not intended to be a fully modern single-family house but rather something more along the lines of a tiny house or DIY project, and it should be actively inhabited for the next 7-8 years. My partner in this project has an architect in the family who would be actively involved, which should also be relevant.
My questions are:
1. Is living in this type of house generally permitted?
2. We are not sure whether the plot is even zoned for building and whether it is connected to utilities. Is it possible to apply for approval as a “self-sufficient cabin” without electricity and with a small sewage treatment system? If not, what options do we have and what would the rough costs be?
3. What does the application process look like if we start with a meadow plot and want to carry out the project there?
4. Assuming the land is zoned for building, is the project feasible and what does the approval process look like?
I want to emphasize that we do not intend to live completely off the grid and will pursue normal employment. Financially, we currently have roughly 80,000 with the option of up to 100,000 through a personal loan (which we would prefer to avoid).
Thank you very much for your answers.
Kind regards and have a nice evening
TZ-Aussteiger schrieb:
but rather something along the lines of a tiny house/DIY and should be actively lived in for the next 7-8 years.The question is whether this project might be unnecessarily expensive for a temporary solution.Is the DIY approach a realistic option for you? For example, preparing the foundation slab, possibly assembling a kit, electrical work, plumbing, heating, tiling, and so on. The same goes for your idea regarding the wastewater treatment system. Two times 50m² (540ft²) is not a small area, so it’s not something you can just slot in one afternoon.
For someone like me with little practical experience, this would be an effort I couldn’t manage alongside other things. And as has already been mentioned, the main savings on small projects come from being able to do an entire trade yourself, which you would otherwise hire out for larger projects. Is that realistic for you?
T
TZ-Aussteiger2 Jan 2024 17:32Good evening,
first of all, thank you for the input.
So, if this is not designated as building land, there might be the option to register it as an "organic farm with dog breeding" and try to proceed that way. Do you think this is practically feasible?
One more question for clarification: With a pellet heating system and hot water supplied by photovoltaic panels plus a central exhaust system, would I reach KfW55 standard?
In general, the project doesn’t make sense as it is, so the tiny house topic would be my next consideration.
I will research this further, but as far as I understand, that would be our best option if no building land is available.
Does the type of plot matter here (e.g., an orchard meadow)?
Regards
first of all, thank you for the input.
So, if this is not designated as building land, there might be the option to register it as an "organic farm with dog breeding" and try to proceed that way. Do you think this is practically feasible?
One more question for clarification: With a pellet heating system and hot water supplied by photovoltaic panels plus a central exhaust system, would I reach KfW55 standard?
In general, the project doesn’t make sense as it is, so the tiny house topic would be my next consideration.
I will research this further, but as far as I understand, that would be our best option if no building land is available.
Does the type of plot matter here (e.g., an orchard meadow)?
Regards
O
Oberhäslich2 Jan 2024 17:48I think you might be underestimating the complexity. If it’s in a rural area—as I assume from your description (collecting wood at the forest edge)—it is very unlikely you will get approval for anything related to agriculture. Otherwise, anyone could apply for something and build anything. This is exactly what the building authority is trying to prevent (urban sprawl). The most likely candidates to succeed are farmers who have been operating successfully for years and want to expand. I also see dog breeding as quite problematic in this context, and growing fruits or vegetables for personal use or for a few euros per month (too little land) is definitely not a valid justification. Just as an example: even shepherds have huge difficulties just to set up small shelters for their sheep. They often put them on wheels. You are welcome to check with the building authority, but you should have a solid, well-developed plan rather than a rough idea just to get some kind of habitable structure approved. Building new structures in rural or undeveloped areas is much more strictly controlled than renovating or expanding existing buildings (such as farms or homesteads).
J
jens.knoedel2 Jan 2024 17:54TZ-Aussteiger schrieb:
So, if the land is not designated for building, there is still the option to register a "organic farm with dog breeding" and try your chances that way. These are the options available to you:
Of course, you could start an organic farm with dog breeding. But then we’re talking about a full farm operation, with everything that entails. Agriculture, and so on.
Can you realistically explain that to the building authority for a tiny plot of only 1,000sqm (0.25 acres)? And handle the business registration and operation on top of that?
This has nothing to do with one or two tiny houses. And any potentially costly site development will still be necessary in this scenario.
Personally, I believe that dreams and reality are very likely to diverge here...
So
TZ-Aussteiger schrieb:
Do you think this is practically feasible? I consider that to be unrealistic.
TZ-Aussteiger schrieb:
One more question: With pellet heating and hot water supplied via photovoltaics plus centralized exhaust ventilation, I’ll reach about KfW 55 standard, right? A clear answer as in university: it depends.
At least your budget of €80,000 (about $88,000) will be reduced by at least half with this combination, leaving much less left for the actual house construction.
TZ-Aussteiger schrieb:
the topic of tiny houses would be my next consideration.Before diving too deep into ideas, I would first try to clarify what exactly the property is. For example, whether there is a development plan / zoning plan for the area can often be found online. Unfortunately, there seem to be about 20 different portals with various map information (at least here in NRW, every city seems to have at least one, often two, and there are also about half a dozen different ones at the state level), but usually you can find the development plans by searching for the city or municipality name plus "development plan" / "zoning plan." Otherwise, you can try to gather more information by googling terms related to the cadastre, geodata, geoportal, and so on.It’s surprising how much data is publicly available in general, but sometimes you really have to search for it.
TZ-Aussteiger schrieb:
One more clarification: With a pellet heating system and hot water from photovoltaics plus a central exhaust system, I reach KW55, right?The question that arises is: where should pellets be stored on 50m² (540ft²), and where would you get the roof space for photovoltaics? Just the listed technology alone consumes money and space.