ᐅ Building an End-Terrace House as a Self-Managed Project with a General Contractor

Created on: 27 May 2019 10:48
G
goalkeeper
Hello 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.
G
goalkeeper
2 Feb 2020 01:00
User0815 schrieb:

Painter's fleece and fine textured wallpapers have similar requirements: both need a good Q3 or even Q4 level finish so you don’t see any imperfections. For classic textured wallpaper, Q2 is sufficient.


I am aware of that. However, the plaster already applied is very smooth. The plasterer will also do the painting – so they will surely know what is feasible and what is not.
danixf schrieb:

I’m not very familiar with this. So far, every time I’ve been on site during construction, I’ve only seen waterproof membranes. What exactly was done in your case?


I can’t really say exactly anymore.
G
goalkeeper
7 Feb 2020 10:42
The interior plastering is completed. Next week, plumbing and ventilation work will begin, and the utility connections will be installed.

Unfinished room with raw concrete, two windows, visible cables, hole in the floor.


Attic living space in shell construction with wooden beams, sloped walls, windows and cables on the floor.


Unfinished construction room with shell walls, cables on the floor and building materials on the left.


Unfinished renovation room with window front, spiral metal staircase and scattered tools.
kaho6747 Feb 2020 11:53
As I see, there are beer bottle elevators to the left and right of the bed. Very good!
G
goalkeeper
11 Feb 2020 10:00
Just finished a longer phone call with our general contractor regarding completion and the start of owner-performed work: as of now, the screed will be installed on March 9, and at the beginning of May we can start with our floor coverings – after that, the interior doors will be installed, and that would be it.

Moving in then at the beginning of June – that would be ideal.
kaho67411 Feb 2020 10:02
What kind of flooring are you planning to install? Are you doing all of it yourself?
H
halmi
11 Feb 2020 10:03
Do you do the painting and flooring yourselves? Because four weeks is quite ambitious for that. We have now painted the entire house twice and installed the flooring on the upper floor, so you don’t need to worry about that for now.