ᐅ Building an End-Terrace House as a Self-Managed Project with a General Contractor
Created on: 27 May 2019 10:48
G
goalkeeperG
goalkeeper27 May 2019 10:48Hello everyone,
some of you might have already followed one of my threads about us having to or being allowed to build our end-terrace house on our own responsibility – depending on how you look at it. This means that we are buying an end-terrace plot (215 sqm (2315 sq ft)) in a new development area in the Rhein-Neckar district and will be building on it ourselves – but in coordination with our two terrace neighbors.
The municipality, which sold the plots through a local resident model, ideally wanted applicants to apply as a complete housing group with several families and then build accordingly with a general contractor, construction manager, or architect. Of course, that didn’t really work out, so now there are only individual applicants and also homeowners.
After we were awarded the plot, the addresses of the other terrace neighbors were shared to discuss certain matters, such as roof style, whether or not to have a basement, etc. It was immediately clear that everyone preferred to do their own thing. However, we were still able to agree that the housing group will have a gable roof with a pitch of 35 to 40 degrees (within this 5-degree range).
As the end house, we will build without a basement, while the middle house and the other end house will have basements. This obviously presents a challenge as we would have to make a deep foundation or simply skip it, and the middle house would have to support us, as we will start construction first. The current agreement with the middle house is that we will build a deeper foundation at his expense, as supporting our house later on would be considerably more expensive for him.
We are currently close to signing with the construction manager, the notarization appointment for the plot is at the end of June, and we hope to start construction in the fall of this year. Meanwhile, several other freely planned housing groups are being built around us, which might get in the way with their cranes.
I will document the progress here from time to time – such a self-planned terraced house doesn’t come along very often.
some of you might have already followed one of my threads about us having to or being allowed to build our end-terrace house on our own responsibility – depending on how you look at it. This means that we are buying an end-terrace plot (215 sqm (2315 sq ft)) in a new development area in the Rhein-Neckar district and will be building on it ourselves – but in coordination with our two terrace neighbors.
The municipality, which sold the plots through a local resident model, ideally wanted applicants to apply as a complete housing group with several families and then build accordingly with a general contractor, construction manager, or architect. Of course, that didn’t really work out, so now there are only individual applicants and also homeowners.
After we were awarded the plot, the addresses of the other terrace neighbors were shared to discuss certain matters, such as roof style, whether or not to have a basement, etc. It was immediately clear that everyone preferred to do their own thing. However, we were still able to agree that the housing group will have a gable roof with a pitch of 35 to 40 degrees (within this 5-degree range).
As the end house, we will build without a basement, while the middle house and the other end house will have basements. This obviously presents a challenge as we would have to make a deep foundation or simply skip it, and the middle house would have to support us, as we will start construction first. The current agreement with the middle house is that we will build a deeper foundation at his expense, as supporting our house later on would be considerably more expensive for him.
We are currently close to signing with the construction manager, the notarization appointment for the plot is at the end of June, and we hope to start construction in the fall of this year. Meanwhile, several other freely planned housing groups are being built around us, which might get in the way with their cranes.
I will document the progress here from time to time – such a self-planned terraced house doesn’t come along very often.
G
goalkeeper3 Jun 2019 12:19Today we unfortunately learned that our middle terrace neighbor will not be purchasing the plot after all – too many compromises.
He wanted to build with a basement, while we planned a slab-on-grade foundation. However, since we are starting first, there is a rule in Baden-Württemberg granting the neighbor the right to require us to install deeper foundations at our expense, which technically would have been the ideal and “cheapest” solution—if you can call around €15,000 (about $16,000) cheap.
Now we are wondering what will happen if the new middle terrace neighbor is only found after our construction has begun. On one hand, underpinning is always significantly more expensive and, according to our construction supervisor, not ideal because different soil types would then be present, causing the slab foundation to settle unevenly. This could eventually cause our house to lean slightly.
Does anyone know for sure whether in Baden-Württemberg one must always agree to underpinning?
He wanted to build with a basement, while we planned a slab-on-grade foundation. However, since we are starting first, there is a rule in Baden-Württemberg granting the neighbor the right to require us to install deeper foundations at our expense, which technically would have been the ideal and “cheapest” solution—if you can call around €15,000 (about $16,000) cheap.
Now we are wondering what will happen if the new middle terrace neighbor is only found after our construction has begun. On one hand, underpinning is always significantly more expensive and, according to our construction supervisor, not ideal because different soil types would then be present, causing the slab foundation to settle unevenly. This could eventually cause our house to lean slightly.
Does anyone know for sure whether in Baden-Württemberg one must always agree to underpinning?
G
goalkeeper3 Jun 2019 13:46Zaba12 schrieb:
Sounds interesting. I'll subscribe to you I would prefer something more relaxing...
goalkeeper schrieb:
However, it was finally agreed that the group of houses will be built with a gable roof with a pitch between 35° and 40°. There is some flexibility within these 5 degrees. How is that supposed to work? Are the houses staggered? If not, wouldn’t that look odd?
The local council really caused you trouble here. Many have already mentioned it, but this type of construction is really suited for a developer.
goalkeeper schrieb:
Does anyone know for sure whether foundation underpinning always requires consent in Baden-Württemberg? You already quoted the Neighbor Law in your other thread, which states that consent must be given. There might even be a special circumstance where underpinning could be prevented, but I have no idea what that could be. That would also be a very significant interference with the neighbor’s property rights.
Similar topics