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.
G
goalkeeper4 Oct 2021 21:10After a long period of no communication between the mid-terrace house and us, we recently received a message stating that his surveyor found our foundation depth to be about 2.30 meters (7 ft 7 in), meaning he cannot build a basement.
He is now willing to accept if our site manager covers the cost of underpinning.
We are feeling a bit taken advantage of and are very uncertain about how to proceed – we actually have no interest in any underpinning, even by our site manager, after all the previous incidents.
This apparently came up after our mayor got involved.
He is now willing to accept if our site manager covers the cost of underpinning.
We are feeling a bit taken advantage of and are very uncertain about how to proceed – we actually have no interest in any underpinning, even by our site manager, after all the previous incidents.
This apparently came up after our mayor got involved.
O
Oetzberger4 Oct 2021 21:24Slowly, what started as a repetitive story is turning into a farce. I admire how you manage to endure it all...
goalkeeper schrieb:
After a long period of no communication between the semi-detached house and us, we recently received a message stating that his surveyor found our foundation depth to be about 2.30m (7 ft 7 in), so he cannot build a basement.
He is now willing to agree if our independent building inspector covers the cost of underpinning.
Right now, we feel a bit taken advantage of and are very undecided on how to proceed – we actually have no interest in any underpinning, even by our inspector, after all the incidents.
Apparently, this came up after our mayor got involved.What would his alternative be?
Winniefred5 Oct 2021 10:56goalkeeper schrieb:
After a long period of no communication between the middle house and us, we recently received a message that their surveyor has determined our foundation depth is about 2.30 meters (7 feet 7 inches), and therefore they cannot build a basement.
They are now willing to agree if our general contractor pays for underpinning.
We feel a bit taken advantage of right now and are very uncertain about how to proceed—honestly, after everything that has happened, we no longer have any interest in underpinning, even if it would be done by our general contractor.
This issue apparently came up after the mayor got involved.But what other options are there? After all, this is at least the solution you wanted from the beginning.
G
goalkeeper5 Oct 2021 11:10The alternative is to build without a basement.
It may now also be the case that underpinning is technically no longer possible, since the foundation is typically excavated down to the excavation depth, and then at least a slope of 50cm (20 inches) or even more must remain. This slope was still there during last year’s excavation, but it was significantly cut back this year, so the basic conditions for safe underpinning might no longer be met. I will clarify this with our general contractor.
I prefer to stay in control – that is absolutely not an option.
We wanted this during the settlement negotiation because we were interested in a speedy construction. He quickly rejected this option back then and did not want the deal as part of the settlement negotiation. Therefore, our willingness to negotiate has by now been somewhat stretched.
It may now also be the case that underpinning is technically no longer possible, since the foundation is typically excavated down to the excavation depth, and then at least a slope of 50cm (20 inches) or even more must remain. This slope was still there during last year’s excavation, but it was significantly cut back this year, so the basic conditions for safe underpinning might no longer be met. I will clarify this with our general contractor.
tomtom79 schrieb:
Maybe the neighbor is just bluffing. Send him your contractor’s contact and hold back.
I prefer to stay in control – that is absolutely not an option.
Winniefred schrieb:
But what other option is there? At least this is the solution you wanted from the start.
We wanted this during the settlement negotiation because we were interested in a speedy construction. He quickly rejected this option back then and did not want the deal as part of the settlement negotiation. Therefore, our willingness to negotiate has by now been somewhat stretched.
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