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.
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.
goalkeeper schrieb:
What exactly is there to reduce? I live on the ground floor and first floor, and the basement is just storage space. I think that’s the wrong approach.
Of course, I didn’t mean the load-bearing interior walls here – for our small house, these are only the exterior walls and the stairwell walls. The rest is non-load-bearing.
I’m still not 100% convinced about the basement – whether 15k or 50k makes a significant difference for me, even if it might hurt to invest 15k underground. It would hurt more to reduce quality living space or to omit the controlled ventilation system than not to build a basement.I’m not trying to convince you to be pro-basement here, since you’ll probably need your budget later to cover other things anyway. This is just the beginning, without really having started yet.Well, the building services could at least be installed in the basement, such as the washing machine, freezer, etc.
In theory, you can just run things down the stairs for now, but the screed needs to be installed.
Light wells, at least small ones, should be included.
Everything else (electrical / heating / drywall partitions / doors) can theoretically be done later.
However, you should already plan and prepare certain things now and have them installed.
The energy saving regulations could be an issue; you might need to install a door in front of the stairs, and the ceiling will have to be insulated.
I’m telling you, if it really costs around 35,000 more in that area, the basement is definitely worth it for a house of that size! There’s so much stuff you have, which is justified to keep, but you also like to have it tucked away sometimes.
In theory, you can just run things down the stairs for now, but the screed needs to be installed.
Light wells, at least small ones, should be included.
Everything else (electrical / heating / drywall partitions / doors) can theoretically be done later.
However, you should already plan and prepare certain things now and have them installed.
The energy saving regulations could be an issue; you might need to install a door in front of the stairs, and the ceiling will have to be insulated.
I’m telling you, if it really costs around 35,000 more in that area, the basement is definitely worth it for a house of that size! There’s so much stuff you have, which is justified to keep, but you also like to have it tucked away sometimes.
G
goalkeeper7 Aug 2019 15:23apokolok schrieb:
I’ll let you know if it actually ends up being around 35k more.So it’s not just 35k but a total of 50k extra. I don’t think it will be that drastic though. Our previous contractor’s offer for the basement was 44k including everything – but that was only with "sand soil." However, the excavation depth was three meters (10 feet); now it’s only 1.50m (5 feet).
Our general contractor is currently on vacation and will provide us with a detailed quote including and excluding the basement soon after – then we’ll also know to what extent we can use the excavation material to fill the garden.
Our new development should be finished by October 1st, so we can start right away. All applications for utility connections and, very importantly, temporary construction power, are currently being processed or are already underway.
We lived for 38 years in a house whose basement had no screed, whose bare walls were painted white, and where electrical cables ran on the surface, with one ceiling light per room in the basement. Neither I at the workbench nor the jars of cherries and pears on the shelf nearby were bothered by it.
A partial basement will not save you any money here, not even a little. Just take the ground floor from #52
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/attachments/Reihenendhaus-mit-gue-in-Eigenregie-bauen-336541-1-jpeg.36757/
with the following modifications:
Mirror the wall between the stairs and the cloakroom, including the door on the other side of the staircase # Extend the kitchen wall up to that point # Remove the partition wall between the toilet and cloakroom. At the bottom of the plan is the utility room, at the top an open multipurpose room, either divided by slats or left undivided. The utility room door will possibly be a standard hinged door; for the multipurpose room, use a balcony door from a DIY store as @Nordlys did for the attic access as a cost-effective solution. No window under the terrace to avoid having a light well in front of the sliding door above.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
A partial basement will not save you any money here, not even a little. Just take the ground floor from #52
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/attachments/Reihenendhaus-mit-gue-in-Eigenregie-bauen-336541-1-jpeg.36757/
with the following modifications:
Mirror the wall between the stairs and the cloakroom, including the door on the other side of the staircase # Extend the kitchen wall up to that point # Remove the partition wall between the toilet and cloakroom. At the bottom of the plan is the utility room, at the top an open multipurpose room, either divided by slats or left undivided. The utility room door will possibly be a standard hinged door; for the multipurpose room, use a balcony door from a DIY store as @Nordlys did for the attic access as a cost-effective solution. No window under the terrace to avoid having a light well in front of the sliding door above.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
goalkeeper schrieb:
Do I absolutely need a screed and underfloor heating? Is it necessary to build interior walls? But how does that work with the energy saving regulations? Wouldn't the cold from the basement rise up on cold days then?
Basically, it’s as 11ant described. However, I wouldn’t do it exactly like that nowadays.
If it were mine, I would invest the money in the slab including floor insulation. That means a concrete slab, roofing felt insulation, polystyrene, and screed. This provides solid insulation against the cold from below.
Then the structural engineer will likely require walls or columns at certain points. Those have to be built. I would only do the essentials here. Once you know that, choose a 10 to 12 sqm (about 108 to 129 sq ft) room to separate for the technical equipment, ideally arranged so that pipe runs are short. I would partition this room with drywall. Since the heating is inside and insulated from below, this room will stay warm. Put the washing machine and all connections in there.
For the rest, I wouldn’t install any heating but would include connections at the heating system for possible future expansion. (What kind of heating system will you install anyway?)
The same goes for the electrical installation. Only the stairwell light and possibly a light for the path to the utility room should be wired together on a two-way switch. More lights or sockets can be added later – surface-mounted cables aren’t a problem in the basement.
I would coat the screed with a sealant. We did the same in our garage to prevent dust and dirt from penetrating the concrete. It’s inexpensive and easy to apply with a paint roller.
Done. If there’s any small budget left, you could consider planning a light well. But that’s a luxury and not necessary.
kaho674 schrieb:
Done. If there’s still a small amount of money left, you could consider planning a light well. But that’s a luxury and not necessary. What would you still use the basement for, Katja? The garden is too small to create a slope for a second emergency exit. I would try to arrange the rooms to fit within three floors.
This is all a calculation example. Of course, having an option for a finished basement can make the house easier to sell, but if that means restricting your lifestyle because the loan payments become too high, I would also reconsider borrowing money for something you don’t really need. And honestly, the attic is cozy. Much nicer than a basement. If the money is available, then yes!
The best solution would probably be to include an underground garage there—priceless in this setup.
kaho674 schrieb:
Then the structural engineer will probably come and require walls or columns at specific points. Not necessarily. A 7-meter (23 feet) external dimension can still be managed well without load-bearing walls.
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