ᐅ Approach to Prefabricated Houses

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate advice from more experienced homebuilders or experts.

1. Initial Situation:
A family with three children, husband is the sole earner, late 30s, net income approximately 6,200 Euro per month, working in a lifetime civil servant position. We have to move to Baden-Württemberg for professional reasons and would like to invest in homeownership. Our rough budget is between 500,000 and 600,000 Euro all-inclusive, with about 40,000 Euro in equity.

We would primarily like to buy. However, we have been watching the market for some time and found it basically “dead.” So now Plan B could be building.

2. Planning / Calculation
Since plots of land are rare and I simply have no idea whether our budget can cover a house with our requirements, I want to first make a rough calculation to understand what price range for land might be feasible for us. Desired are a master bedroom and three children’s rooms on the upper floor, plus a study in the basement, though budget constraints might turn the finished basement into an unfinished basement and move the study to the ground floor—let’s see...

In my naivety, I approached several manufacturers (we have already visited two prefab housing parks) to make such a rough calculation. But no luck: price lists are only available from very few manufacturers. Usually, you only hear about price per square meter (1,500–1,600 Euro for standard models, 1,800 Euro for custom designs). And if you get a base price, it remains completely unclear how much additional costs for special requests might be.

I had expected to approach buying a house basically like buying a car: choose manufacturer and model, then tick boxes on the “extras list” and add it all up. Of course, changes will happen later, but this would at least give a rough guideline.

My current status is that I created an Excel spreadsheet with 13 houses from various manufacturers that could “fit” based on external parameters and visually. I was able to get base prices for some. I will highlight three examples (deliberately very different, since the plot and building options are still unknown):

• 1) Weberhaus CityLife 600, 197 m² (2,120 sq ft) living area, hipped roof, price 263,000 Euro (completion stage unknown, without basement, price found online)
• 2) Hanse Haus Cubus 183, 183 m² (1,970 sq ft) living area, flat roof, price 347,000 Euro (turnkey including a finished basement, price according to Hanse employee)
• 3) Kern-Haus Bauhaus Futura, 183 m² (1,970 sq ft) living area, flat roof, price 279,900 Euro (turnkey, Soul specification, without basement, according to manufacturer price list)

Now it’s your turn. I can calculate the “total budget minus plot price and additional construction costs.” What I am missing is the variable x for special features/upgrades. I understand that no one can give me an exact figure. But I need a rough idea to have any chance of calculating and seriously looking at the land market. Are we talking about 10,000–20,000 Euro or 80,000–120,000 Euro?

Does anyone have a good tip on how to best get relevant information? Can a manufacturer’s employee provide such details? Is there maybe even a catalog listing special features with prices?

The only thing I found like this is a brochure from Danwood, which lists special features with pictures—but it also lacks pricing information.

Thank you very much!

Well, the optional features will range between €10,000 and €200,000. It depends on what you want (KNX, controlled ventilation, particularly large natural stone tiles or expensive hardwood flooring, exclusive bathroom fittings, etc.)—overall, with your budget, you can build the house you want with decent finishes, as long as the land isn’t excessively expensive.

Do you need a basement? (From your post, I gather that it’s mainly for a home office.) It’s significantly cheaper to place the office on the ground floor/first floor (or even the attic, if there’s no flat roof) and simply build a slightly larger house.

However, the most important factor is the plot of land, since the type of house (building permit/planning permission) and the orientation of the rooms depend on it.

I understand that, but this leads us in circles. If I don’t have a rough idea of how much of the total budget will go toward the house itself, I can’t buy a plot of land. From what I can see, the prices for land range between 90,000 euros for the less attractive ones and 150,000 euros, each plus additional costs. Of course, it can be much more expensive, but that’s not necessary for us.

A basement is a must for us. The only question is whether to have a living basement or not. But having no basement at all is unfortunately not an option.

Regarding the fittings and finishes, at first thought, the following come to mind: solid wooden staircase, sliding doors in the living area leading to the garden, walk-in shower, probably higher-quality fixtures, open kitchen with a wide induction cooktop, tiles in the bathroom/toilet/kitchen, otherwise parquet flooring and laminate in the children's rooms. The flooring shouldn’t push the costs into unreasonable price ranges. My parents-in-law recently installed parquet for 45 euros per m² (about $46 per sq ft), which would be perfectly fine.

If no one here can give me a rough guideline, the question remains: where can I get this information? Do manufacturers provide price lists?

With good suppliers, you can easily arrange a preliminary sampling, so you know exactly what to expect. Otherwise, it’s impossible to say because each manufacturer calculates differently.

I would reconsider the expensive, damp storage room, but on the other hand, the budget probably allows for it.

I would prefer to leave the discussion about basements out of this for now. I will take the suggestion into consideration and keep it in mind. Ideally, there is a living basement anyway, as the more secluded my home office is, the better.

Thank you for the information about the so-called pre-selection process. I will make sure to ask about that specifically. Can the staff at the prefab home centers also guide me through this?

In addition to the three manufacturers mentioned, I also have Bien-Zenker, Haas, Fingerhaus, Schwörerhaus, and [I]Fingerhut Haus[/I] on my list. Would they, including Fingerhaus, be considered part of the category of "good providers"?

So, we have already gone through these prefabricated house comparisons and are now building a solid house with a basement through a local builder, as the price is much closer to what we had in mind. We only did preliminary selections with two providers. The one we liked best was Keitel-Haus. Especially for sanitary fittings, I would add quite a bit extra. Concealed fixtures (around €300 each), walk-in showers (around €1000 each), different doors (about €50 extra each), parquet flooring (for 120 sqm (1290 sq ft), a total surcharge of just €700 compared to laminate), double leaf door (€500). The solid wood staircase was included, the kitchen is open (but it’s hard to give any price indications here… €10,000 to €25,000 is very possible) and so on. As you can see, it’s not easy to give price figures. But as already mentioned, a reputable company will allow you to do a trial selection. A reputable company will also show you their production site so you can see how your future house is being built. Keitel-Haus offers all of this, and their employees are really very competent and friendly.

In the end, we are building solid, which makes the bank happy, as we were told that solid houses with basements are still rated as more valuable here, and the resale value is incomparable to a prefabricated house. We also don’t want to give up the basement (a house without a good utility or living basement is not really a house here!) and are within our budget (Keitel-Haus, Bien-Zenker, and Luxhaus all cost about the same without a basement).

So if you’re not set on prefabricated houses, you might want to ask a construction company in your region.