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

D-Zug88 schrieb:

I'm not quite sure what to make of the Lichthaus – Town & Country is rather mid to lower segment in terms of building structure and quality, right?

I don’t really know what you don’t understand: Town & Country is what you can afford. And it was only mentioned as an example of regional general contractors.
You’re in a German-speaking forum here, not a Tübingen-specific building forum or the Yellow Pages.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

That’s all I know.

Then get to know them! I already asked yesterday if you had gotten started yet. How do others do it? Do they ask here? No. They drive around new housing developments. On weekends, there are always people who have just moved in working in their gardens, whom you can ask. Or they tinker with their shell construction.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

It would be more helpful for us to have 4, 5, or 6 good construction companies within our budget for a solid masonry build,

Most of them are, of course, regional or nationwide companies.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

The budget and the points mentioned are where it all starts. I don’t have money for a custom design if in the end it’s just a standard house with slight modifications (okay fine, but then please with a proper overall package – one person, one contact who keeps everything organized and no 100 site-related posts).

No one is advising otherwise.
That’s exactly why a general contractor is recommended. Why do I get the feeling you’re not really taking any advice? Advice is repeated here and you keep asking again. And you’re still chasing your tail instead of starting at the front, while you continue planning the specifications before knowing anything about the house itself.
Your questions about additional building costs will very likely be answered in the subforum for construction costs. Of course, you can keep asking here for regional general contractors – maybe you’ll get an answer sometime. But unless someone from Tübingen is here, it might take a while. The forum has a search function and several subforums. You just have to use them.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

I would really like to know exactly what the additional construction costs are, this item causes us to come up with a new possible house price every day.

"And if you haven’t died yet, you’re still calculating today" (that’s how your building dream ends in a fairy tale). You urgently need to get your fear under control, as it is an expensive enemy: while you wait to start until you can estimate construction costs within $10,000, time (and inflation) passes and your house will have become $20,000 more expensive. If you take it a step further and wait until you identify $10,000 in saving potential, this can even rise to $50,000 (not always, but more likely than the “one” solution appears in your dreams). This phenomenon is the main reason why I named my building information blog “Build Now”: the approach “build when all fears have vanished” is a costly mistake for most future homeowners. Bark beetle, Corona, Putin—the list of next-to-next disruptions never ends. What you have, you have (and Villabajo manages once again to be last out of two). Think of the Schober and his horse groomers.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

A buddy is a painter, the other lays tiles

With a Susi-S, please. A paving buddy would be more helpful, as he would come after the handover of the general contractor’s trades. Depending on the scope of self-performed or outsourced trades, building with a general contractor turnkey contract (regardless of the plaster quality) is a questionable approach.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

I’m not quite sure what to make of the Lichthaus -

The Lichthaus is a good example (roughly “your” size) of a bestseller in the category “catalog house” / “standard design house.” You would have needed several other examples to reach a comparable number of average customers who chose such a model.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

- Town & Country is rather mid to lower segment in terms of building quality, right? [...] Town & Country (sounds to me like a solid version of Massa Haus and Living Haus)

Town & Country is more like “Heinz von Heiden meets Ratiopharm,” I would say. The conservative saver buys the A3 under the name Golf.

Arauki11 schrieb:

Storage is nice but financially not advisable, so remove or postpone.

For photovoltaics, there are currently “inclusive” deals that add these as bonuses to the existing scope of work descriptions. These are typically fig leaves to formally (and usually technically pointlessly) satisfy stricter building regulations. Homeowners who didn’t really want these get something without extra cost that they can basically ignore without pain. For serious use, these units are regularly undersized and more like the included “first max. 30 cm (12 inches) of excavation.” So you either accept them “pro forma” as included in the contract scope unchanged—or if you like Habeck’s new clothes, then please from the start in a meaningful configuration.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

Kern-Haus (drops out, I don’t want non-load-bearing drywall partitions)

Kern-Haus is out for me too, but your reason is not. Why that’s nonsense I explained in “Lightweight walls in solid houses?” Also read the sister article “Plan change: from concrete to wooden ceiling.” Yes, yes, grandma and her “good butter.” We used to have an emperor. Persistent prejudices are not even removed by Dr. Beckmann’s stain remover.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

I don’t have money for custom planning if in the end it’s just a standard house with slight modifications

So you would be ready to kill Schrödinger’s cat just so you can finally record the certain correct answer to whether it’s still alive? — I immediately want to empty Café Korten because I don’t really believe that!

If it turns out during the preliminary inquiry that a proven design is better than the current draft, should the architect ignore that just to “justify” the effort spent on the prior tinkering? Do you work professionally in political consulting?

D-Zug88 schrieb:

It would be more helpful for us to have 4, 5, 6 good construction companies within our budget for a solid construction that

No. Four to six yes, but you should not skip the crucial decision-making step (or do you consider it “more efficient” to reduce the candidate pool to the wrong half without knowing which is wrong?).

ypg schrieb:

I don’t know what you don’t understand: Town & Country is what you can afford. And it’s only mentioned here as an example of regional general contractors.
You’re in a German-language forum here, not a Tübingen building forum or the Yellow Pages.

Town & Country is roughly the league where he belongs—but not specifically with this provider. And he is indeed here in a forum that (in the form of the “experiences with construction companies” section) offers a wealth of discussed companies, although I agree that currently I do not recall explicit Tübingen-based firms there.

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11ant schrieb:

And here he is indeed in a forum that (in the form of the section Experiences with Construction Companies) offers a wealth of already discussed companies,

In the subforum you mentioned, almost exclusively nationwide companies can be found. The regional listing is incorrect, sorted alphabetically rather than by postal code – if I remember correctly. That’s no good! It’s not the best option, to put it mildly.
Unfortunately, the original poster is not using the mentioned forums for information on construction costs / ancillary building costs or liquidity planning.
A forum can help provide information – but business dealings or getting a real sense of things can almost only be done on site.
The question here is closed – but unfortunately, it cannot be seen elsewhere. I hope he is currently talking on the phone with another homebuyer he met today.

ypg schrieb:

Almost all the posts in the subforum you mentioned are about national or regional topics. The local section is incorrectly sorted alphabetically, not by postal code as far as I remember. So you can forget about that! It’s definitely not the best option, or in other words, not great pages.
Unfortunately, the original poster isn’t really using the mentioned forums for construction costs / additional building costs or cash flow planning.
A forum can provide information – for business or to get an idea of something – but most of that can only be done locally.
This question has been answered here, but unfortunately you won’t find it anywhere else. I hope he is currently talking on the phone with another builder he met today.

Of course, this week we will visit a new development area—if we can take time off—and ask homeowners who they are building with, what their experiences are, etc.

I will also take on the subforum about additional building costs. Thanks for the tip.

I will have a look at the finance subforum, too.

Arauki11 schrieb:

That’s already great and even more fun when you do it together with friends. If you can actually do the tiling yourself, that’s a considerable saving or allows you to implement special features. Often it’s enough to know someone you can call on when needed.

Work is important because it pays for your house. Family will likely have to take a back seat often, but working together with your spouse makes sense and can be enjoyable; that’s what we always did while our consistently young neighbors kept asking why we didn’t just have it done.
In my opinion, anyone not willing to accept this should probably avoid building a house or have a sufficiently large budget. We already had one child during our first build. It couldn’t be helped because we wanted the house—that was a price we were willing to pay.

What I just happened to read: a battery storage system is nice but financially not advisable, so better to skip it or add it later.

Finding the “right” builder is not easy. I don’t personally know Town & Country, but I believe they build houses as well as other companies. They use the same materials, have good or less good employees—just like other firms. The problem lies in the specifications and whether you will be satisfied with them. Beyond a certain upgrade level, it probably doesn’t make sense to build with them anymore. Ultimately, you need to carefully review the performance description of the building contract; that is your bible.
So far, the rule of thumb is about €3000 per square meter (approximately $320 per square foot) plus additional costs, which already gives you a rough idea if it fits your budget.

Very good!

Who else could tell you this so far? For example, the basement was apparently planned too large; regarding additional costs, there’s a lot written in this thread and the forum is full of it. But you won’t find exact figures down to the last dollar here.
Here, you can only get general rules of thumb that you can partly influence yourself. For example, when building our house, we decided against installing a heat pump for various reasons; instead, we use infrared heating and a fireplace, plus an air conditioning system that can also be used occasionally for heating. There are so many variables that affect the price of a house, and what works for me might seem absurd to the next person. For instance, we wanted to build with lightweight aggregate blocks (Liapor), but suddenly bricks appeared on site and we were told the masonry company had to be changed, there was no other way. They had already started, so what do you do then? Today, the house stands as a KfW40+ standard building, and how would I even know which blocks were used?
So, Massa Haus or Town & Country could also be options for you; there are plenty of experience reports here. You will only get a price when you know the direction you want to go. Have you reliably clarified that with your friends already?

Also very good, but I often read here that many things like that are outsourced. Those costs add up, so I preferred to install an air conditioning system with the money saved this way.

In your list of builders, I read some isolated “disparagements,” but that is always too general because whether a build goes smoothly depends on many factors. My general contractor was top rated, had regional references, and worked exclusively with small, regional companies. We would never build with him again; now it’s more of an inside joke. Others are very satisfied with Town & Country or Massa Haus. From what I read from you, a shell or semi-finished house might also fit.
Choose a suitable floor plan (from Town & Country or elsewhere online) that could be adjusted here together to fit your possible needs, then go to Köhler or whoever it was and say you adapted the plan from Town & Country or similar.
Add your desired specifications, and you will get a price.
To clarify: Controlled ventilation? Insulation standard (I recommend at least KfW40)? Heating system? And carefully examine his performance description here. Then you will get further and more concrete information or realize it might not be feasible.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have also been hesitant about insulation, but without a basement it becomes more interesting again. Interesting heating combination, by the way. I never really thought about that before.

ypg schrieb:

I don’t know what you don’t understand: Town & Country is what you can afford.

A more direct statement couldn’t have caused more confusion. It doesn’t matter anyway.

11ant schrieb:

So you’d be willing to kill Schrödinger’s cat just to record the certain answer to whether it is alive? — I need to empty Café Korten now, because I don’t believe that at all!

Huh, what? I can see you really enjoy wordplays. For me, this is a very serious topic and, yes, I have a lot of respect for it. It’s too cryptic for me, but it makes me smile sometimes.

11ant schrieb:

Town & Country is more like “Heinz von Heiden meets Ratiopharm,” I would say. The conservative saver buys the A3 under the name Golf.

Again, huh? I’m not interested in Ibuprofen but want an expert assessment of Town & Country, for example.

11ant schrieb:

Town & Country is about the right level for him—not necessarily this specific provider.

That sounds clearer to me, but why? Because Town & Country has such a low performance description? Carpet included as standard? Ideal Standard basin instead of something else?

11ant schrieb:

The Lichthaus is a good example (about “your” size) of a bestseller from the category “catalog house” / “standard model.” You would need several other examples to reach a comparable number of customers like the average person who chose such a model.

Thanks, that makes sense and I can keep reading.

11ant schrieb:

And if you haven’t died yet, you’ll be calculating to this day” (that’s how your building dream ends in the fairy tale)

That’s probably true. I’ll keep reading in the subforum, thanks for the tip.

ypg schrieb:

No one advises you to do that either.
That’s why the advice is to go with a general contractor (GC). Why do I get the feeling that you don’t take any advice at all?

I do. The GC will be the choice—goodbye free planning.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

Also here – huh? I don’t want ibuprofen, but an expert assessment from Town & Country, for example.

You will find what you need here
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/search/1911372/?q=Town+%26+country&c%5Btitle_only%5D=1&o=date

D-Zug88 schrieb:

Of course, this week – if you can take time off – we will visit a new development area and ask who people are building with, how their experiences are, etc.

During the week, the homeowners are generally at work. You will hardly meet anyone there.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

If I choose the general contractor, free planning will be over.

Could you please explain your frustration? I find your expectations rather unrealistic, especially considering you said you’re just at the beginning.
It may be that some outdated ideas remain in people’s minds. But with just a few hours of browsing, you should be able to understand the situation and structure of the general contractor’s offer and avoid getting frustrated.

@D-Zug88 You can use the "quote" function multiple times in a single post.

D-Zug88 schrieb:

Thanks for the tips – I’ve been hesitant about insulation so far, but without a basement it actually becomes more interesting. Interesting heating system combination, by the way. I had never thought about it that way before.

I don’t want to advertise the system I chose here, but just to explain that there are more workable options than you might think, and you can live comfortably in all of them. For example, I prefer to avoid maintenance-intensive or high-risk technology, I definitely want thick wooden plank flooring, and there are only two of us; I had a great approach to insulation, and technically you can also purchase it as a second choice that is just as effective, similar to how you can choose stylish parquet flooring.
Strictly following the motto: "Necessity is the mother of invention," building a house offers many ways to adjust or shift costs.
Everyone has their own preferences, but I had a house built in 1990 with 36 cm (14 inches) brick walls, and now, contrary to our original plan, I’m using brick again, but with 14 cm (5.5 inches) wood fiber insulation plus wood cladding and additional insulation measures, which resulted in KfW 40 standard. I would definitely do it the same way again, also because such a house does not cool down as much and therefore requires considerably less effort to heat up again.