ᐅ Home Construction 2026 – Cost Estimate

Hello everyone,

My fiancée and I would like to build a house as soon as possible. Here are our requirements and what we have to offer:

• We already own a roughly 800 m² (8600 sq ft) completely flat plot of land (not yet connected to utilities)
• Equity expected to be around 120K (The house we currently live in belongs to my father and is planned to be sold – I will receive one third of the sale)

We would like:

• 140 m² (1507 sq ft) of living space plus a usable basement
• A hipped roof
• Photovoltaic system plus battery storage, if possible
• A total budget of 600K (garden can be developed later)
• Two parking spaces in front of the house

Currently, my fiancée is in teacher training, so we have a net household income of about 4.4K at the moment, which is expected to increase to around 7K in about two years. We plan to have children in approximately 5 to 8 years.

Do you think this is feasible at the moment?

Assuming a trainee salary of 1.4–1.6k, you would have a net income of 3k. You should be able to cover the financing on your own for at least one year, especially if more than one child is planned. Often, teachers initially continue working part-time at 50% until the child is safely enrolled in secondary school.

This means your net income will likely be around 5k in the medium term, and life with children will not get any cheaper.

I would actually recommend waiting until the end of the trainee period, getting married first, and securing a lifetime civil servant status or a permanent position. This greatly improves your conditions with the bank—as the trainee status is only temporary. Otherwise, you will have to manage with a very tight budget.

A loan of 480,000 EUR is quite a commitment given the current interest rates. Do you really have nothing saved up and are you financing everything solely from the sale of your father’s house?
It’s definitely doable... but are you sure your wife will find a job nearby after her teacher training?
I would wait and see on that.

Otherwise... make sure to pay off as much as possible before the kids arrive.
Having two children with both parents working full-time is possible, but challenging.
Childcare costs for daycare, kindergarten, and after-school care can also be quite high. I have colleagues in Bavaria who pay so much that the wife could almost stay at home instead...

And regarding the garden. The idea of “we’ll do it later” is an illusion. You’ll live there for three weeks, and then your wife will already start complaining about the gravel driveway and when the patio will finally be built.
If you want to do it yourselves, plan the budget for it. If you want to have it done by professionals, arrange it as soon as possible...

I’ve been through this myself—spent almost every free second working in the garden for two years. Every weekend, every vacation. And the amount of money you can sink into it is often underestimated, even when doing it yourself...

Of course, we do have some ourselves.
On Friday, I have an appointment at my bank because I still have two building savings contracts worth 130,000 with 1% interest each, and I could also take over one from my parents worth 220,000 with 1% interest. It all depends on when these become eligible for disbursement...

Only one child is desired at most – just for your additional information

Jonirupp00 schrieb:
Only one child is desired at most – just for your information

Oh, that can look very different in six years, and in the end, it might even be twins 😉

I also didn't want children at 30, I was 100% sure. Now I'm in my early 40s and have two...