ᐅ Estimated Construction Costs for a Single-Family Home in the Tübingen Area
Created on: 2 Apr 2025 21:54
D
D-Zug88
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’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!
D-Zug88 schrieb:
310,000 including land - Then let’s get started: how much does the land cost?
Google tells me 450€/sqm (450 €/square meter)
187,650€
And then subtract the additional purchase costs.
Google says 7%
Additional purchase costs = 13,200€
So 201,000€.
680,000€
- 201,000€
= 479,000€
39,000€ for incidental construction costs + 10,000€ for materials for exterior landscaping (planned as DIY) leaves 430,000€ for the house.
Searching locally for an affordable general contractor or even the Lichthaus 152 starting at 340,000€ makes it possible. Add around 50,000€ to the catalog price for required extras and upgrades, then you’re at 390,000€. This leaves 40,000€ as a buffer. Possibly some of that can remain, so you can outsource paving work, and you might still have a carport including a storage room for the children’s bicycles. For the next few years, you probably won’t need a punching bag or a weight bench, since the tasks at the house will be yours to handle. At 37 years old, you should be able to manage quite a bit. You might even consider joining the local sports club—there are usually some skilled tradespeople there you can get to know.
Kitchen and lighting rarely get financed and should be saved for in the coming months.
Next, I would review the 680,000€ budget to see if there is room for adjustment or if it was calculated too tightly. There is a subforum here with a questionnaire for that.
One thing I want to add here: I’m quite skilled with DIY and plan to handle quite a bit myself (fence, terrace, flooring inside the rooms; a friend is a painter, another lays tiles), so I agree with you on that. However, I am also very busy professionally, and family time needs to be considered. Of course, during the construction phase, Dad will put in a lot of effort and will do so, and yes, not everything has to be finished immediately. I’m calculating very conservatively with the idea that it’s better to have more than you need. The question is how conservative is appropriate to avoid under-planning the house.
I’m not quite sure what to make of Lichthaus – Town & Country seems to be more of a mid-to-lower segment in terms of building quality and construction standards?
What would actually help us more is to have 4, 5, or 6 good construction companies within our budget who specialize in solid masonry construction, have good regional or reliable subcontractors, correct any mistakes that occur, maintain a solid financial cushion, and provide professional and reliable planning. Oh, and they should have several years of construction experience and offer a proper warranty. These are the points where I don’t want to cut corners; then the project might have to be somewhat smaller.
It all starts with the budget and those criteria. I don’t have money for a fully custom design if it ends up being a standard house with minor modifications anyway (that’s fine, but then it should come as a proper overall package – one main contact who manages everything well and not a hundred separate subcontractors on site).
Köhler (I’ve had two meetings so far; we’re looking at about 3500 per square meter with a basement, but the discussions have been excellent, so I still see potential with them. They also gave me useful tips on what to watch out for in the further steps, etc.)
Häuser? (I already liked their concept two years ago; an appointment is scheduled for May)
Heinz von Heiden? (Has a bad reputation)
Viebrockhaus? (Unknown)
A stone house? (Unknown)
Fermo? (Probably too expensive)
Lechner? (Unknown)
Speidel (ruled out, apparently not a full package solution)
Kern-Haus (ruled out, I don’t want drywall for non-load-bearing walls)
U-Haus (unknown)
Keitel-Haus? (Unknown)
Talbau Haus? (Unknown)
Town & Country (to me sounds like the solid construction version of Massa Haus and Living Haus)
That’s about all I know.
Sorry, I made a typo with Köhler; the actual number was higher, but I don’t think it matters much as there’s too little data to draw conclusions from.
I’d really like to know exactly what the additional construction costs are because this item causes our estimated house price to change every day.
Sure, moving doesn’t cost 2,000 €, but I prefer to plan for it anyway (again, a “conservative” buffer). We don’t need a new high-gloss kitchen with soft-close drawers and flux capacitor... a normal kitchen is fine, and yes, a used one will do! Here again I prefer to be conservative and calculate the worst-case scenario.
We do this everywhere, and in the end, we arrive at an amount x which I subtract from the possible 680. That gives the house price. And that number keeps getting tighter because many conservative items are included.
I’m not quite sure what to make of Lichthaus – Town & Country seems to be more of a mid-to-lower segment in terms of building quality and construction standards?
What would actually help us more is to have 4, 5, or 6 good construction companies within our budget who specialize in solid masonry construction, have good regional or reliable subcontractors, correct any mistakes that occur, maintain a solid financial cushion, and provide professional and reliable planning. Oh, and they should have several years of construction experience and offer a proper warranty. These are the points where I don’t want to cut corners; then the project might have to be somewhat smaller.
It all starts with the budget and those criteria. I don’t have money for a fully custom design if it ends up being a standard house with minor modifications anyway (that’s fine, but then it should come as a proper overall package – one main contact who manages everything well and not a hundred separate subcontractors on site).
Köhler (I’ve had two meetings so far; we’re looking at about 3500 per square meter with a basement, but the discussions have been excellent, so I still see potential with them. They also gave me useful tips on what to watch out for in the further steps, etc.)
Häuser? (I already liked their concept two years ago; an appointment is scheduled for May)
Heinz von Heiden? (Has a bad reputation)
Viebrockhaus? (Unknown)
A stone house? (Unknown)
Fermo? (Probably too expensive)
Lechner? (Unknown)
Speidel (ruled out, apparently not a full package solution)
Kern-Haus (ruled out, I don’t want drywall for non-load-bearing walls)
U-Haus (unknown)
Keitel-Haus? (Unknown)
Talbau Haus? (Unknown)
Town & Country (to me sounds like the solid construction version of Massa Haus and Living Haus)
That’s about all I know.
D-Zug88 schrieb:
One thing I want to add here: I’m quite skilled with DIY and plan to handle quite a bit myself (fence, terrace, flooring inside the rooms; a friend is a painter, another lays tiles), so I agree with you on that. However, I am also very busy professionally, and family time needs to be considered. Of course, during the construction phase, Dad will put in a lot of effort and will do so, and yes, not everything has to be finished immediately. I’m calculating very conservatively with the idea that it’s better to have more than you need. The question is how conservative is appropriate to avoid under-planning the house.
I’m not quite sure what to make of Lichthaus – Town & Country seems to be more of a mid-to-lower segment in terms of building quality and construction standards?
What would actually help us more is to have 4, 5, or 6 good construction companies within our budget who specialize in solid masonry construction, have good regional or reliable subcontractors, correct any mistakes that occur, maintain a solid financial cushion, and provide professional and reliable planning. Oh, and they should have several years of construction experience and offer a proper warranty. These are the points where I don’t want to cut corners; then the project might have to be somewhat smaller.
It all starts with the budget and those criteria. I don’t have money for a fully custom design if it ends up being a standard house with minor modifications anyway (that’s fine, but then it should come as a proper overall package – one main contact who manages everything well and not a hundred separate subcontractors on site).
Köhler (I’ve had two meetings so far; we’re looking at about 3500 per square meter with a basement, but the discussions have been excellent, so I still see potential with them. They also gave me useful tips on what to watch out for in the further steps, etc.)
Häuser? (I already liked their concept two years ago; an appointment is scheduled for May)
Heinz von Heiden? (Has a bad reputation)
Viebrockhaus? (Unknown)
A stone house? (Unknown)
Fermo? (Probably too expensive)
Lechner? (Unknown)
Speidel (ruled out, apparently not a full package solution)
Kern-Haus (ruled out, I don’t want drywall for non-load-bearing walls)
U-Haus (unknown)
Keitel-Haus? (Unknown)
Talbau Haus? (Unknown)
Town & Country (to me sounds like the solid construction version of Massa Haus and Living Haus)
That’s about all I know.
Sorry, I made a typo with Köhler; the actual number was higher, but I don’t think it matters much as there’s too little data to draw conclusions from.
Arauki11 schrieb:
I think there’s still a lot of “radicalism” behind this at the moment.
I’d really like to know exactly what the additional construction costs are because this item causes our estimated house price to change every day.
Sure, moving doesn’t cost 2,000 €, but I prefer to plan for it anyway (again, a “conservative” buffer). We don’t need a new high-gloss kitchen with soft-close drawers and flux capacitor... a normal kitchen is fine, and yes, a used one will do! Here again I prefer to be conservative and calculate the worst-case scenario.
We do this everywhere, and in the end, we arrive at an amount x which I subtract from the possible 680. That gives the house price. And that number keeps getting tighter because many conservative items are included.
N
nordanney6 Apr 2025 15:38D-Zug88 schrieb:
And it’s getting tighter and tighter because many conservative items are included.And always plan for a buffer of 10% of the construction costs. Just to be safe. Something unplanned always comes up.nordanney schrieb:
And always plan for a 10% buffer on construction costs. Just to be safe. Something unplanned always comes up.Which specific costs are you referring to – the possible purchase price of the house as well? Or more the additional construction-related costs?N
nordanney6 Apr 2025 15:52Only the construction costs. Excluding additional expenses, etc.
For our commercial clients, this is even mandatory. No financing without a buffer.
And for private clients, it is highly recommended.
For our commercial clients, this is even mandatory. No financing without a buffer.
And for private clients, it is highly recommended.
D-Zug88 schrieb:
I have to add one thing here: I’m skilled with hands and can—and plan to—do quite a bit myself (fencing, terrace, flooring inside the rooms; a friend is a painter, another lays tiles) That’s already a great start and it’s even more enjoyable when done with friends. If you can actually install the tiles yourself, that can save you a significant amount of money or allow you to do special custom work. Often it’s enough just to have someone like that on call whom you can contact if needed.
D-Zug88 schrieb:
But I’m also very busy with work and want to have time for my family. Work is important since, after all, it pays for your house. Your family will often have to come first, but working together with your partner makes sense and is enjoyable; that’s how we did it, while our mostly young neighbors asked why we didn’t just hire it out. In my opinion, anyone unwilling to do that should either avoid building a house themselves or have a sufficiently large budget. We already had a child during our first build—and it couldn’t have been done otherwise, because we wanted this house, and that was part of the cost.
D-Zug88 schrieb:
Including photovoltaic panels with battery storage I just happened to read about this. Battery storage is nice but not financially advisable right now, so I would drop it or consider it later.
Finding the “right” building company is not easy. I don’t know Town & Country personally, but I believe they build houses just as well as other companies. They use the same materials and have good or less good workers just like any other firm. The issue lies in the features and whether you will be satisfied with them. Beyond a certain upgrade level, it may not make sense with them. Ultimately, you have to carefully check the respective scope of services—that is your bible.
So far, the rough estimate is around €3000 per square meter plus additional costs, and you can roughly assess yourself whether that suits your budget.
D-Zug88 schrieb:
I calculate very conservatively, thinking it’s better to have something than to need it—but how conservative is right to avoid underplanning the house? Very good!
D-Zug88 schrieb:
I would just like to know exactly what the additional building costs really are. This item causes our possible final house price to change every day. Who could have told you that yet? For example, the basement was still apparently planned too large and excessive; you’ll find quite a bit on additional costs in this thread and the forum is full of it. But you won’t get the exact euro amount here.
People here can only give you rules of thumb, which you still partly control yourself. In our case, for example, we didn’t install a heat pump for various reasons. Instead, we use infrared heating and a fireplace, plus a climate control unit, which we also use for occasional heating. There are so many variables for a house price, and what makes sense to me could seem nonsense to someone else. For example, we wanted to build with lightweight expanded clay aggregate blocks (Liapor), but suddenly bricks were on site, and we were told the masonry company had to be changed; there was no other way. What do you do then when they’ve already started? Today the house is still the same, certified KfW40+ standard, and you wouldn’t even notice what kind of bricks were used.
Therefore, companies like Massa Haus or Town & Country can also be options for you; there are plenty of user reports here. You only get a price once you know where things are headed. Have you already reliably arranged things with your friends?
D-Zug88 schrieb:
Sure, moving doesn’t cost €2000, but I like to include it anyway (again, a kind of “conservative” buffer). Also very sensible. Though I often read here that such things are simply outsourced. But these costs add up, and for some of the money saved that way, I preferred to install a climate control system.
In your list of building companies, I see some “negative remarks,” but that’s usually too general because many factors influence whether a build goes smoothly. My general contractor was top-rated, had regional references, and used only small local businesses. We would never work with them again; we now often joke about it. Others are very satisfied with Town & Country or Massa Haus. From what I read from you, a shell house (shell construction) might also suit you.
Find a suitable floor plan (from Town & Country or elsewhere online), which we can adjust here to fit your needs within your budget. Then take it to that Köhler or whoever it was and tell them exactly that you adapted it from Town & Country or something similar. Add your desired features, and then you have a price.
Things to clarify: controlled residential ventilation? Insulation standard (I recommend at least KfW40)? Heating system? Plus their scope of services, which we can review together here. Then you’ll be further and better informed—or will realize if it might not work out.