ᐅ Single-family home of 170-180 sqm – which home builders do you recommend?

Hello everyone,

We (31m, 30f) are currently planning to build a single-family house in Hesse with about 175-185 sqm (3 (children’s) bedrooms + office planned, on a slab foundation). We will soon visit an architect to have a floor plan drawn up, which we will use to request quotes from home builders.

At the moment, we prefer a prefabricated house, where part of the trades (mainly flooring, painting, and plumbing installation) will be subcontracted to local craftsmen.

Current net monthly income:
M: ~4000€ net
F: ~4000€ net

We have one child so far; parental leave is planned for one year only, after which both will return to full-time work (family lives nearby).

The plot will be fully financed from our own equity (about 200,000€ all in). Additional equity amounting to about 60,000€ is invested in stocks/ETFs and will not be touched initially.

Our budget for the pure house price without additional costs, landscaping, land, etc., is approximately 550,000-600,000€ with a monthly payment of about 3000€.

Two couples we know have built with Büdenbender and Keitel-Haus, so we definitely want to check those out. Are there any other recommendations within our desired budget?

Best regards,
Dennis

gtown1994 schrieb:

Are there any other recommendations within our desired budget?

You should look for an architect who can plan exactly according to your needs.

gtown1994 schrieb:

We will soon visit an architect to have a floor plan drawn up, which will serve as a basis for obtaining quotes from home builders.

For this purpose, that would be an unnecessary expense. Besides the third child, are there any other reasons for a custom design (e.g., sloped site)?

gtown1994 schrieb:

At the moment, a prefabricated house is preferred, with some of the trades (mainly flooring, painting, and sanitary installation) contracted out to local craftsmen.

So it’s rather a semi-prefabricated house, also called a turnkey shell. Why not go directly to a manufacturer like Steiner, especially considering the focus on local contractors?
I wouldn’t consider Büdenbender at all for a semi-prefabricated house; from their self-perception and marketing positioning, they are more of a premium manufacturer. And as I mentioned today in another thread, I would only mention Keitel-Haus with some reservations under the conditions you described.

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I would recommend starting the planning process with an independent architect regardless. We are currently building with Keitel-Haus. The people we have dealt with so far have been flexible and responsive to our wishes. The range of options during the selection process was limited – in terms of design, it stays within a standard range (for example, maybe six different window sill options and three shutter colors, etc.). If you have individual requests, they will charge a significant extra fee.

We also contacted Büdenbender, who estimated the cost for the house at over 4,000 euros per square meter (approximately 372 dollars per square foot). We never even received a concrete offer from them.

11ant schrieb:

And Keitel-Haus – as I already mentioned in another thread today – I would only mention them with reservations under the above-mentioned conditions.

What do you mean by that? Are there other aspects? We also inquired with Kitzlinger Haus, who quoted a similar price per square meter. Their outcome is well known. As for Büdenbender, at this point, I would probably also have some reservations.

Take the one for whom your wishes are an everyday matter.
Small carpentry companies sometimes build "turnkey" homes using local tradespeople.
We had a relatively small house builder, and their standard package included most of the tradespeople we would have chosen ourselves.

haydee schrieb:

Go for the one where your wishes are standard practice.
Small carpentry companies sometimes build "turnkey" with local tradespeople..

We have had good experience with that.
Many custom requests cost extra. The target price per square meter (square foot) doesn’t allow much room for negotiation.