ᐅ Adding a Bathroom Later in the Attic – What Are the Costs?

nordanney schrieb:

So, a large and expensive house or good credit rating. Then finish it directly as it is intended later.

Oh, no, I misspoke. Overall, the attic floor is 60–65 sqm (645–700 sq ft), including sloped ceilings, with the rest being the bedroom minus a bathroom of about 10 sqm (108 sq ft). That leaves around 22 sqm (237 sq ft) for the bedroom when you also subtract the stair area. It’s only a semi-detached house.

Schorsch_baut schrieb:

or there is just an unclear idea of the space requirements. 🙂

Right now, it basically comes down to whether I should take out an additional $15,000 loan and have everything completed, or save that amount (including a few thousand in interest costs) and then spend $15,000–$20,000 later on the rebuild, or whether the cost will be significantly less or more. Everything is new to me at the moment. I think if I have it done right away, I will need to take out the extra $15,000 loan. I don’t think the builder will allow me to pay for the bathroom myself from my own savings within a year.

If you don’t need it urgently, I wouldn’t have it installed now. Developers are expensive. Have the riser pipes installed, nothing more. Later, you can buy all the sanitary fixtures yourself and include that in the specification. In my opinion, that will be significantly cheaper.

Schorsch_baut schrieb:

or there is only an unclear idea of room layouts. 🙂

... or uncertainty about how long one plans to stay in a neighborhood that is not exclusively affluent. If the Mercedes stays scratch-free, the bathroom will be upgraded later; otherwise, the house will be put back on the market with the saved investment for a second bathroom (?).

Apart from that, the practical question can generally be answered as follows:
1. Bathrooms and kitchens go out of style faster than they become technically obsolete. Delaying bathroom construction makes more sense the more design trends will pass before then. The depreciation in value caused by fashion-related reasons for an early investment is therefore opposed by tied-up liquidity or increased financing efforts.
2. Standing water poses a risk to pipes and the health of the plumbing system users. Blind branches should be completely avoided, meaning even a T-joint for a future branch should only be installed when the upgrade is actually done.

I have certainly already expressed skepticism about acquiring unused capacity when purchasing a home.

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When we built our first house, we faced the same question. The attic was initially unused, but later we planned to add a bathroom there. We had all the plumbing, electrical wiring, and underfloor heating installed, and then just laid inexpensive carpet over it ourselves. The bathroom wasn’t actually built until 15 years later, and dealing with the tradespeople and the dirt they tracked through the entire house every time was more than enough for me….

Costruttrice schrieb:

We faced the same question with our first house. The attic was initially unused, but later a bathroom was planned there. ..

Apart from the tradespeople and the mess, did everything else go smoothly? Was the decision to build it only 15 years later a good one?

11ant schrieb:

... or uncertainty about how long you want to stay in a residential area that isn’t purely high-income. If the car remains unscratched, the bathroom will be added later; otherwise, the house might be put back on the market with the saved investment of a second bathroom (?) ..().....
I have definitely expressed some skepticism about purchasing a home with temporarily unused capacity.

For me, the situation is not easy; the costs are already quite high, so it definitely makes sense to save intelligently wherever possible. Every tip here is valuable. I’m not the type driven by luxury; I want the best value-for-money, weighing what makes sense in the long run. Of course, it’s still a kind of luxury—not living in a rental where you can be evicted and where it’s hardly worth making any improvements or perhaps not allowed to change anything at all. I don’t need a luxury car; rather, I’m planning an electric vehicle plus photovoltaic system within the next few years, which will save money in the long term since I drive many kilometers.
Thanks for the advice about depreciation and standing water; I will definitely take that into account!

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

If you don’t need it right away, I wouldn’t have it built now. Developers are expensive. Just have the riser pipes installed, nothing more. Later, you can buy all the sanitary fixtures yourself and specify that in the tender. I think it will be much cheaper that way.

What I hadn’t considered at all: a full partition wall would also need to be installed in the attic for the bathroom. I don’t even know if this wall must meet any regulations; the drawing where the bathroom is planned shows some really thick walls there, and all the plumbing fixtures are attached directly to that wall.
Regardless, I take from this that it’s probably best to add the bathroom later and just have the pipes run now, avoiding standing water issues.
So in a way, I actually benefit twice financially: the bathroom doesn’t have to be financed with expensive interest, and the property transfer and notary fees are avoided then as well. And I need to research more about what the tender has to do with this; it sounds like there might be some tax deductions... I know absolutely nothing about taxes.
Furthermore, it might even make sense to postpone the garage and photovoltaic system and install them afterwards for the same reasons—just pre-install the necessary electrical conduit and lines for the garage/charging station etc.

All of these tips are really helpful, and I appreciate them. So at least for me, my question here has been very useful 🙂