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.
Overall, I like both bathrooms, but there are a few minor details that I find a bit "disturbing," although they might be explained by installation reasons:
- Guest bathroom: Why is there a narrow strip of tiles on the right and also a partially cut tile on the left? Is the section on the right on the floor and the tile on the left more than one full tile width? I would have distributed it evenly in that case.
- Main bathroom: I would have aligned the floor tiles with the wall tiles in some way. Okay, the shower might be a factor here?! But the narrow strip in front of the shower also looks a bit awkward, as does the other narrow strip.
However, a) you might have to see it in person, b) you only notice this if you specifically look for small details, and c) it may simply be due to the conditions on site or because nothing else was feasible. It’s just something I noticed!
- Guest bathroom: Why is there a narrow strip of tiles on the right and also a partially cut tile on the left? Is the section on the right on the floor and the tile on the left more than one full tile width? I would have distributed it evenly in that case.
- Main bathroom: I would have aligned the floor tiles with the wall tiles in some way. Okay, the shower might be a factor here?! But the narrow strip in front of the shower also looks a bit awkward, as does the other narrow strip.
However, a) you might have to see it in person, b) you only notice this if you specifically look for small details, and c) it may simply be due to the conditions on site or because nothing else was feasible. It’s just something I noticed!
G
goalkeeper30 Apr 2020 10:36Your points are absolutely valid and are on our list for the handover. However, I can only explain the cut tiles at the shower entrance by the possibly required slope.
As for why the tiler cut the tiles on both sides in the guest bathroom, it can only be because the room is 1.25 m (4 ft) wide and the tiles are only 30 cm (12 inches) wide. A strip of 5 cm (2 inches) would probably have looked more modest.
As for why the tiler cut the tiles on both sides in the guest bathroom, it can only be because the room is 1.25 m (4 ft) wide and the tiles are only 30 cm (12 inches) wide. A strip of 5 cm (2 inches) would probably have looked more modest.
User0815 schrieb:
and would have also tiled the floor offset.A shift by half a grout joint would of course also be an alternative.cschiko schrieb:
I would have distributed it evenly then.I agree. But also in line with the postscriptcschiko schrieb:
It’s just something I noticed!https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
G
goalkeeper30 Apr 2020 13:51At the time when the notification procedure was submitted, we had formally expressed our concerns to the building authority in writing, since the basement depth exceeds our foundation by 30cm (12 inches).
The building regulations office, as the responsible authority, of course saw no reason to halt construction because all requirements of the development plan were met and the documentation was complete – HOWEVER, it was strongly emphasized that the structural stability of our building and the ground conditions must be taken into account. The architect and the person responsible for the structural safety report were also informed of this again by phone.
Our neighbor apparently sees this letter as a free pass for anything – his response to our message was simply to send the very same document as a PDF without any comment, even though we already have it.
However, this only has legal relevance in terms of building regulations – private law aspects that also need to be considered are simply being ignored.
Fortunately, I have a good relationship with our building authority – they have, or will, clearly point out again that he cannot just do whatever he wants. I have, of course, provided them with our letter as well. It seems he listens to or believes what the building authority says.
He actually has another foundation-related issue with his other neighbor. In that case, the insulation of the basement slab is placed at 2.90m (9.5 feet) and is apparently laid in loose gravel. This would simply spill out sideways.
Therefore, professionals would be needed to handle this gap in construction – which unfortunately do not seem to be available here.
The building regulations office, as the responsible authority, of course saw no reason to halt construction because all requirements of the development plan were met and the documentation was complete – HOWEVER, it was strongly emphasized that the structural stability of our building and the ground conditions must be taken into account. The architect and the person responsible for the structural safety report were also informed of this again by phone.
Our neighbor apparently sees this letter as a free pass for anything – his response to our message was simply to send the very same document as a PDF without any comment, even though we already have it.
However, this only has legal relevance in terms of building regulations – private law aspects that also need to be considered are simply being ignored.
Fortunately, I have a good relationship with our building authority – they have, or will, clearly point out again that he cannot just do whatever he wants. I have, of course, provided them with our letter as well. It seems he listens to or believes what the building authority says.
He actually has another foundation-related issue with his other neighbor. In that case, the insulation of the basement slab is placed at 2.90m (9.5 feet) and is apparently laid in loose gravel. This would simply spill out sideways.
Therefore, professionals would be needed to handle this gap in construction – which unfortunately do not seem to be available here.
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