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

Created on: 27 May 2019 10:48
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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.
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ypg
2 Nov 2019 01:55
Gray-white reminds me of the 90s.
Regarding your question: I would also keep it varied. Feel free to experiment a bit.
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Yosan
2 Nov 2019 03:33
We have basically the same tiles in both bathrooms but with different "highlights" (borders and similar features), so the bathrooms do not look exactly the same.
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goalkeeper
2 Nov 2019 07:51
I understand – it’s really a matter of personal taste. The tile specialist thought it would look better to have a consistent color scheme throughout the house. Since we are covering the floors entirely in natural oak (Parador Modular One), fully grey/white bathrooms would fit well.

The tiles with mosaic are from the same series – just that some are grey and others beige.

But what about those stainless steel tile trims? Are they purely for aesthetics, or do they offer any added value? With about 35 meters (115 feet) needed and a net price of €17.40 per meter (€5.30 per foot), the cost adds up quickly.
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guckuck2
2 Nov 2019 07:52
Appearance only. Aluminum is cheaper but also looks different. Ask to see samples.
tomtom792 Nov 2019 09:23
An even cheaper option is aluminum U-profiles, which are available in 3m (10 feet) lengths and cost around 10 euros each. I used these back in my old apartment and later in the secondary flat in my house.

Combined with mosaic tiles, you can avoid cutting tiles and install whole pieces instead.

White bathroom tiles with black mosaic border; shower fixture bottom right.


Bathroom: towel radiator on the left, white cabinet on the right, basket with hairdryer.
kaho6742 Nov 2019 09:26
I really don’t like metal edges. Fortunately, my partner doesn’t either. So, we decided on plastic edges matched to the tile color. We were lucky that the shade was very similar.