ᐅ Two Options Planned – Your Opinions

Hello,

this is my first post here in this forum, and hopefully not my last.

My partner and I are planning to build a house. Here are the initial plans:

• We want to build a nice 1.5-story single-family house (around 130m² (1,400 sq ft)) with standard features, turnkey except for painting and flooring work. It should meet the KfW 70 energy standard and include underfloor heating, roller shutters, and a solar system for domestic hot water heating. Depending on costs, we might add some extras, but that will depend on the price – calculated price including house, land, and additional building costs – €221,000
• We are also considering a 1.5-story house with a granny flat (roughly 130m² + 65m² (700 sq ft)) where my parents would move in, of course paying appropriate rent. The features would be mostly the same. calculated price including house, land, and additional building costs – €340,000

Maybe some of you have recommendations for a home builder or experience with granny flats, especially who offers good options. So far, we have been somewhat convinced by Town & Country in terms of price.

Now about the land and finances:

• We already have plots in sight (560m² (6,000 sq ft) for about €45,000 plus 360m² (4,000 sq ft) of green space for €1,800), but the area is still quite open in all directions. Does anyone know of good residential areas, ideally small single-family home neighborhoods near Berlin at a fair price?
• Finances: That’s a good question – my partner and I currently earn about €3,600 net per month, which I think is okay, but realistically we know children might come in the future, which could reduce income. Our equity is limited, around €20,000. I’ve already sought advice and heard about many options, with monthly repayments around €600 – which honestly feels like a commitment for the next 90 years – and more realistic repayments of €1,300 for the house with the granny flat.

Looking forward to your opinions, tips, and any other advice.

Best regards

Good morning Leotau,

Did you do some research in the forum before posting?

Because €221,000 for a 130 sqm (1,400 sq ft) turnkey house is impossible. Sad but true.

Especially with ‘T & C’. Read up on that a bit. It’s just a name. Completely different companies operate under it in every city.

If a house is too cheap, either the quality is poor, it’s not properly built according to DIN standards, or they are recovering costs everywhere during construction. Be careful with that.

Based on your expectations, the house would likely cost closer to this (just rough estimates, it could be cheaper if you’re lucky with incidental costs ;-) ):

House: €182,000
Land: €45,000
Additional costs: €35,000
Garage / Carport: €12,000
Extras: €10,000
Living room / Kitchen: €15,000
Flooring / Painting: €10,000

Total: €299,000, and that’s just with a straightforward plot. Costs could add up quickly.

Regarding your financing example: with €220,000 you will never manage with a €600 monthly payment. At 3% interest and at least 2% amortization, you’re looking more at €900–€1,000.

Xtreme1000 schrieb:
Good morning Leotau,

Did you spend some time reading through the forum before posting?!

Because €221,000 for a 130sqm (1,399 sq ft) turnkey house is impossible. Sad but true.

And especially with Town & Country, you should read up on that. It's just the name. Different companies operate under it in each city.
If a house is too cheap, either the quality is not right, it is not built according to applicable standards (such as DIN), or they make up for the low price by charging extra at every stage of the construction. Be very careful.

With your expectations, the house would more likely cost something like this (just rough estimates, it could be cheaper if you get lucky with additional costs):

House: €182,000
Plot: €45,000
Additional costs: €35,000
Garage / Carport: €12,000
Extras: €10,000
Living / Kitchen: €15,000
Flooring / Painting: €10,000

Total: €299,000, and that's only for a straightforward plot. Extra costs can quickly add up.

And regarding your financing example: with €220,000 you will never manage with €600 monthly payments. At 3% interest and at least 2% repayment, it’ll be closer to €900 to €1,000.

Honestly, I only skimmed through the forum before.

I scanned the estimated costs from Town & Country and attached them here.

Town & Country at least offers a fixed-price guarantee (covering up to €15,000), which is somewhat reassuring for building more affordably.
Also, an independent TÜV inspector checks the construction several times during the building phase.

This is a typical breakdown that nobody can make sense of. All figures are just made up on the spot to keep the costs low.

1. The calculation is based on a 112 sqm (1,205 sq ft) house, not 130 sqm (1,399 sq ft).
2. Earthworks: How should they know without knowing your plot? €2,500 is far too low. As a buffer, plan at least €5,000–8,000. This can quickly reach five figures.
3. Painting/Flooring: This is a joke. Absolutely unrealistic. At least if you want something beyond €4.99 laminate and white paint from a hardware store. Depending on the wall quality, you’ll probably need to wallpaper the entire house. €10,000 is a more realistic figure.
4. Outdoor areas: Again, €3,000 is a joke. With that, you can only get about 50 sqm (540 sq ft) of paving. But no garden, fence, terrace, flower beds, perimeter protection, etc. Here too, around €10,000 is more likely.
5. Many incidental costs are missing: soil surveys, registering voluntary helpers with the accident insurance association, possibly portable toilets, debris disposal, depending on what the contractor usually provides. That brings us to point 6.
6. Where are the extras you want? Because 99% of the time, the standard won’t be enough. Sometimes the kitchen only has one free power outlet. Maybe a few spotlights, additional switches, sockets, networking, etc. Plus plumbing, another bathtub, and so on. Different windows, a different floor plan, an additional wall, better insulation—the list goes on.
7. You list €15,000 in personal funds but only have €20,000 total savings? How will you pay for the kitchen? Lamps, decorations, new furniture, garden chairs... and who knows what else. You should keep the €20,000 saved for emergencies—you will need the money.
8. Garage/carport isn’t even included.
9. And all of this is just from a basic offer. We haven’t even gone into the details of a building specification yet. But that would go beyond the scope here. There are experts who review those details. The user Bauexperte offers this as a service.

These were the first points that caught my eye at a glance. I think there will be more comments to come.

Many additional costs are missing. Soil survey, registering voluntary helpers with the accident insurance association, possibly portable toilets, disposal of construction waste. Depending on what the provider includes as standard.

Soil survey and toilets are included according to Town & Country.

Where are the extras you want? Because the standard will 99% not be enough. For example, there might be only one freely usable power outlet in the kitchen. Possibly some spotlights somewhere, additional switches, sockets, network connections, etc. Then plumbing, a different bathtub, and so on. Different windows, a different floor plan, an additional wall, better insulation—the list goes on.

The standard items are included. Of course, I also printed out the Town & Country scope of services; the standard offering doesn’t sound too bad, but of course I lack the expert knowledge.

Thank you for this helpful information!