ᐅ Estimated Construction Costs for a Single-Family Home in the Tübingen Area

Hello everyone,

I’ll briefly describe our situation. We have reserved a plot of land for a single-family house. We would like to build a solid (whether Liapor or another type of "masonry," we are not really sure) structure on it. The plot is flat and square, measuring 417 m² (4490 sq ft).

We are allowed to build 2 full stories with SD, PD, FD, although only one SD is an option (maximum ridge height 9.5 m (31 ft), maximum wall height 6.10 m (20 ft)).

So far, we have received offers ranging from €3500/m² (local large contractor) to €2800/m² from, for example, Fingerhaus (probably excluded due to timber frame).

Now to our dream house:
- KfW 55 standard
- solid construction method (type not clear, will depend on budget; do Liapor and “masonry stone-on-stone” not differ much in cost?)
- 140 m² (1507 sq ft) living area
- 1.5 stories with a “high” knee wall
- basement (utility cellar, which can be finished later, connections for heating and electricity installed)
- house dimensions (determined by room requirements? 11 x 9 m (36 x 30 ft)? 11 x 10 m (36 x 33 ft)? Building area ratio of 0.4 is sufficient)
- including photovoltaic system with battery storage
- turnkey delivery

- Basement: technical room + laundry (15 m² (161 sq ft)) + large hobby room (approx. 30 m² (323 sq ft)) + fitness room (15 m² (161 sq ft)) + cellar (10 m² (108 sq ft)?) + hallway / stairs (? m²) = 70 m² (753 sq ft) + x
- Ground floor: living & dining area + kitchen (approx. 45 m² (484 sq ft)) + pantry (3 m² (32 sq ft)?) + guest room (>12 m² (129 sq ft)) + shower bathroom (4 m² (43 sq ft)?) + hallway / stairs (? m²) = 64 m² (689 sq ft) + x
- Upper floor: child 1 (16 m² (172 sq ft)) + child 2 (16 m² (172 sq ft)) + master bedroom + dressing room (20 m² (215 sq ft)) + bathroom (14 m² (151 sq ft)) + hallway + stairs (? m²) = 66 m² (710 sq ft) + x

Calculating room and floor area requirements (without the unknown x for stairs and hallways/entrance) we come to approximately 130 m² (1399 sq ft).

Our specific questions are,

a) Which “solid construction” companies do you generally recommend in the Tübingen area?
b) How much area should roughly be allowed for hallways and entrance / stairs? Yes, it depends on the floor plan, but we would like to estimate the total space requirements.
c) What rough price range should we expect in €/m² (living area) + €/m² (basement) for Liapor or other masonry? We do not want to consider additional costs like kitchen and garage here, but they are naturally included in the overall budget.

We hope you can help us. Please feel free to ask questions—I’ll respond promptly.

Have a nice evening!

I noticed from your username that you have already started a thread about your reserved plot of land. Or is this about a different property? If not, please avoid splitting your questions and continue in your original thread. It’s smarter to keep questions about a single plot together.

At least, if there are two main topics, you should show the plot itself here.
Because with 417 sqm (4489 sq ft) in total and the desire for

D-Zug88 schrieb:

11x9? 11x10?

there won’t be much garden space left.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

- 140 sqm living area

That’s definitely less than 11x9.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

If you calculate the space requirements (without the unknowns like stairs and hallways), we get 130 sqm.

But you won’t get your dream house without stairs and hallways — so you should add at least 10 sqm (108 sq ft) per floor, plus an additional buffer. The "X" here refers to a theoretical draft with some planning margin in the design.
However, I ask you: how do you get 130 sqm? Including your unknowns, I arrive at about 240 sqm when rounded up.
Are you aware that you don’t get a basement for free?
Is the basement supposed to have living quality after the finishing?

D-Zug88 schrieb:

b) How many square meters of living area should be roughly allocated for hallways, stairs, and entrance areas? Yes, it depends on the floor plan, but we would like to estimate the total space requirement.

Well, I mentioned 10 sqm (108 sq ft), but it's quite common for hallways including closets to be around 12-15 sqm (129-161 sq ft), plus the stairs themselves take up additional space.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

b) What price range can we expect roughly in €/sqm of living space

That depends on the region. You already know a local construction cost, which is a good starting point; you might want to ask others, for example in local directories.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

1.5 storeys with a "high" knee wall

I always wonder why that is appealing. Either about 100cm (40 inches) of knee wall for decent roof windows, or full ceiling height for proper vertical windows.

kbt09 schrieb:

I always wonder why this is considered appealing. Either about 100cm (40 inches) knee wall for proper roof windows or full ceiling height for proper vertical windows.

And then the attic as a basement substitute. Check!

D-Zug88 schrieb:

Now about our dream house:
- KfW 55 standard
- solid construction method (type unclear, defined by budget or are Liapor and “brick by brick” basically the same?)

The EH55 standard is now required by the Building Energy Act and is no longer supported by KfW funding. You picked up a stone-related term and apparently associate it with a strict timber-frame construction method. Go back to the beginning and study keywords like basement rule, stone mantra, and other essentials. It makes no sense to pick random parameters just to start fixing things arbitrarily. There are many explanations here on how to proceed more intelligently—you just need to read them.

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ypg schrieb:

I noticed from your username that you already started a thread about your reserved plot. Or is this a different plot? If not, please don’t split your questions but continue in your original thread. A smarter approach is to keep all questions about one plot together.
At least, if there are two main topics, you should also show the plot itself here.
Because with 417 sqm (4,485 sq ft) squared and your wishes,
there won’t be much garden left.
That’s definitely less than 11 x 9 meters (36 x 29.5 ft).

Without stairs and hallways, you won’t get your dream house, so you should add at least 10 sqm (108 sq ft) per floor for those. Then plus x. Here, x stands for a theoretical design buffer in the plans.
But I have to ask: how do you come up with 130 sqm (1,400 sq ft)? Including your unknowns, I count roughly 240 sqm (2,583 sq ft) rounded up.
You do realize a basement doesn’t come for free, right?
Is the basement meant to be finished as living space after construction?

Well, I mentioned 10 sqm (108 sq ft), but it’s not uncommon for corridors including cloakrooms to be around 12 to 15 sqm (130 to 160 sq ft), plus the stairs themselves.

That depends on your region. You probably have a regional construction cost benchmark; I’d start with that and maybe ask another expert. Yellow Pages?

ypg schrieb:

I noticed from your username that you already started a thread about your reserved plot. Or is this a different plot? If not, please don’t split your questions but continue in your original thread. A smarter approach is to keep all questions about one plot together.
At least, if there are two main topics, you should also show the plot itself here.
Because with 417 sqm (4,485 sq ft) squared and your wishes,
there won’t be much garden left.
That’s definitely less than 11 x 9 meters (36 x 29.5 ft).

Without stairs and hallways, you won’t get your dream house, so you should add at least 10 sqm (108 sq ft) per floor for those. Then plus x. Here, x stands for a theoretical design buffer in the plans.
But I have to ask: how do you come up with 130 sqm (1,400 sq ft)? Including your unknowns, I count roughly 240 sqm (2,583 sq ft) rounded up.
You do realize a basement doesn’t come for free, right?
Is the basement meant to be finished as living space after construction?

Well, I mentioned 10 sqm (108 sq ft), but it’s not uncommon for corridors including cloakrooms to be around 12 to 15 sqm (130 to 160 sq ft), plus the stairs themselves.

That depends on your region. You probably have a regional construction cost benchmark; I’d start with that and maybe ask another expert. Yellow Pages?

This is a different plot — the previous one was a semi-detached house that we decided against due to unclear neighbor conditions. I understand that “no stairs, no house” and that’s why I’m asking if there are any standard reference values (I estimated 10 sqm (108 sq ft) per floor, which apparently is too low).

Utility basement (unfinished) (see above in the description)
242/3 No. 9
Of course, I’m aware that a basement costs money!

That’s why I deliberately differentiated between “living area,” i.e., ground floor and upper floor, plus “basement area.”
130 --> that’s the sum of the room sizes (is that wrong, or do I misunderstand the living space regulations??) —

Basically, I just wanted to figure out the external dimensions a house would need to cover the space requirements we want as living plus usable space...

ypg schrieb:

And then the attic as a basement substitute. Check!

No, not a basement substitute. I clearly stated that we want to build with a basement.

11ant schrieb:

The EH55 standard is now required by the Building Energy Act and is no longer supported by the KfW. You caught a stone-related term and seem to associate it with prefabricated panel construction. Start over and educate yourself with keywords like basement rules, stone mantra, and other essentials. Selecting random parameters just to begin somewhere is nonsense. There are many places explaining how to proceed wisely — you just need to read them.

I know that EH55 is the minimum standard of the Building Energy Act. I am also aware of the KfW situation.

I’m familiar with different “stone” types — I find the approach by companies like Hauser interesting but don’t have any experience with lightweight expanded clay concrete (LECA) prefabricated walls.

General statements like “brick by brick is too expensive” I’d like to understand better but have hardly found much information so far. One builder uses a self-developed block called “Duo Therm,” another chooses aerated concrete, another limestone sand brick. As a layperson, you can hardly compare these.

I grew up in houses built with traditional brick or limestone sand brick.

What’s new to me are these Liapor walls used by, for example, Hauser. I find the concept interesting, but how can I compare such a wall to a traditional solid masonry house? Anyone can promise a lot.