ᐅ Hillside House in the Southwest Palatinate – Our Home Construction 2.0
Created on: 9 Sep 2022 18:13
K
kati1337
Good evening everyone
I’m starting a small collection thread here for photos and progress updates on our second building project.
We’ve already moved to the Palatinate region to be closer to the construction site. Now we’re watching eagerly and happily as our (hopefully final) dream home takes shape near family.
One big challenge still ahead of us is the facade design. I really love the Nordic style with brickwork and mullioned windows. That won’t be possible here for two reasons: firstly, no one here can do bricklaying, and secondly, it would stand out too much. We will be going with a rendered facade. How to design the colors of the facade and windows to still create some country house / cottage charm is currently still a work in progress mentally.
Otherwise, I’m sharing our plans here and how it will eventually be built.
The support pillar marked near the kitchen island could be removed for a small extra cost, so that will be gone.
The room for “garden equipment” under the garage will get a partition wall for structural reasons.
It won’t be fully finished living space like in the house, but underfloor heating will be installed, along with a lockable door and a window. It’s meant to store garden tools but also some of the building services equipment, since the utility room (HAR) is quite small, and maybe be used as a party room.
We had three construction companies in the final selection. In the end, we chose the “doer” – a builder recommended to us here by friends and family. No website, no smartphone, but he is on site every day himself working in overalls. He has a very good reputation in this area and now rarely builds single-family homes. We were a bit lucky through personal connections and a very friendly initial phone call to get our foot in the door. So far we are very satisfied with this choice.
I’m starting a small collection thread here for photos and progress updates on our second building project.
We’ve already moved to the Palatinate region to be closer to the construction site. Now we’re watching eagerly and happily as our (hopefully final) dream home takes shape near family.
One big challenge still ahead of us is the facade design. I really love the Nordic style with brickwork and mullioned windows. That won’t be possible here for two reasons: firstly, no one here can do bricklaying, and secondly, it would stand out too much. We will be going with a rendered facade. How to design the colors of the facade and windows to still create some country house / cottage charm is currently still a work in progress mentally.
Otherwise, I’m sharing our plans here and how it will eventually be built.
The support pillar marked near the kitchen island could be removed for a small extra cost, so that will be gone.
The room for “garden equipment” under the garage will get a partition wall for structural reasons.
It won’t be fully finished living space like in the house, but underfloor heating will be installed, along with a lockable door and a window. It’s meant to store garden tools but also some of the building services equipment, since the utility room (HAR) is quite small, and maybe be used as a party room.
We had three construction companies in the final selection. In the end, we chose the “doer” – a builder recommended to us here by friends and family. No website, no smartphone, but he is on site every day himself working in overalls. He has a very good reputation in this area and now rarely builds single-family homes. We were a bit lucky through personal connections and a very friendly initial phone call to get our foot in the door. So far we are very satisfied with this choice.
Hello friends and fellow travelers
We haven’t been on the forum for a while because we were traveling around Cornwall.
Now we’re back and moving in 3 days.
Today we visited the house to see what’s been done – I was in phone contact with the builder, and he said everything is almost finished, and he wasn’t exaggerating. There’s still one door missing that was forgotten during the measurements (but only in the basement area), a few baseboards here and there, the washbasins – since he wanted to review together with us exactly how and where they will be mounted – and the bathtub faucet, because the one from the wholesaler arrived damaged.
Of course, there’s still a lot missing on the outside, but we can move in for now.
Here are a few pictures from today.
More photos, including the more exciting ones, will follow after the move =)
We really like the entrance area with the mosaic decoration. Right now I can’t take a good photo because there’s stuff and packaging on it.
The transition between the stairs and the parquet looks a bit odd at the moment. But it will look much better once the cardboard protecting the actual stairs is removed. Then the top step won’t look so “lost” among the other wood colors.
And the best part last: Internet is working. 180 Mbps down, 90 Mbps up, 9 ms ping on the phone over Wi-Fi.
We haven’t been on the forum for a while because we were traveling around Cornwall.
Now we’re back and moving in 3 days.
Today we visited the house to see what’s been done – I was in phone contact with the builder, and he said everything is almost finished, and he wasn’t exaggerating. There’s still one door missing that was forgotten during the measurements (but only in the basement area), a few baseboards here and there, the washbasins – since he wanted to review together with us exactly how and where they will be mounted – and the bathtub faucet, because the one from the wholesaler arrived damaged.
Of course, there’s still a lot missing on the outside, but we can move in for now.
Here are a few pictures from today.
More photos, including the more exciting ones, will follow after the move =)
We really like the entrance area with the mosaic decoration. Right now I can’t take a good photo because there’s stuff and packaging on it.
The transition between the stairs and the parquet looks a bit odd at the moment. But it will look much better once the cardboard protecting the actual stairs is removed. Then the top step won’t look so “lost” among the other wood colors.
And the best part last: Internet is working. 180 Mbps down, 90 Mbps up, 9 ms ping on the phone over Wi-Fi.
C
Costruttrice27 Aug 2023 15:16How great, @kati1337, I'm happy for you that you'll be moving in very soon!
And the few little things will be quickly taken care of, it's almost perfect already!
If the first stair step still bothers you later, you could possibly replace it with hardwood flooring. But I'm sure it will look different once the entire staircase is exposed; then you can clearly see where the stairs begin.
And the few little things will be quickly taken care of, it's almost perfect already!
If the first stair step still bothers you later, you could possibly replace it with hardwood flooring. But I'm sure it will look different once the entire staircase is exposed; then you can clearly see where the stairs begin.
Thank you all.
Yes, the internet situation has been a huge relief now. We spent a year struggling with mediocre mobile internet. LTE, but only one cell tower too far away. The worst was when we had a complete network outage for 12 days while both my husband and I had to work. We switched to a different network, but that tower was even farther away. The connection was stable but extremely slow. Video calls were hardly possible. It was embarrassing, but our employers were understanding.
In the long run, I don’t want to have to deal with that. I’m glad LTE is now just a backup.
Otherwise, last night (yes, on a Sunday 😳 ) the builder called about the progress and what still needs to be done. He asked about cleaning. I had pretty much given up on that. My plan was to mop the floors, move in, and then clean everything. But he said he could arrange something for us. His wife does this kind of work, or the team from the interior fitter. I was initially hesitant — I told him so — because for our first house we booked a final cleaning through a service platform, but in the end I paid over €300 and it still wasn’t clean. There were stains all over the kitchen cabinets even though I told them to leave those out. The company made lots of excuses — new employee and so on. So I didn’t want to do that again.
But my builder said that if his people do it, it would be properly cleaned afterwards. I talked it over with my husband, and we agreed. It also takes the stress off us. He mentioned a price of €400-500 for the cleaning.
I think you can’t complain about that for 270 m² (about 2,900 sq ft) including window cleaning.
Yes, the internet situation has been a huge relief now. We spent a year struggling with mediocre mobile internet. LTE, but only one cell tower too far away. The worst was when we had a complete network outage for 12 days while both my husband and I had to work. We switched to a different network, but that tower was even farther away. The connection was stable but extremely slow. Video calls were hardly possible. It was embarrassing, but our employers were understanding.
In the long run, I don’t want to have to deal with that. I’m glad LTE is now just a backup.
Otherwise, last night (yes, on a Sunday 😳 ) the builder called about the progress and what still needs to be done. He asked about cleaning. I had pretty much given up on that. My plan was to mop the floors, move in, and then clean everything. But he said he could arrange something for us. His wife does this kind of work, or the team from the interior fitter. I was initially hesitant — I told him so — because for our first house we booked a final cleaning through a service platform, but in the end I paid over €300 and it still wasn’t clean. There were stains all over the kitchen cabinets even though I told them to leave those out. The company made lots of excuses — new employee and so on. So I didn’t want to do that again.
But my builder said that if his people do it, it would be properly cleaned afterwards. I talked it over with my husband, and we agreed. It also takes the stress off us. He mentioned a price of €400-500 for the cleaning.
I think you can’t complain about that for 270 m² (about 2,900 sq ft) including window cleaning.
J
Jurassic13528 Aug 2023 09:18Yes, that sounds great! Definitely go for it. You already have enough to handle with the move and everything, plus a baby in tow. Since the building inspector is so good, he probably won’t say anything wrong regarding the plastering work.
Other than that, again, really beautiful photos. I may be repeating myself, but it just looks really impressive already!
Other than that, again, really beautiful photos. I may be repeating myself, but it just looks really impressive already!
kati1337 schrieb:
I don’t think you can complain about that, with 270 m² (2900 sq ft) of space including window cleaning. Including windows = final cleaning at that price? Just hire it and enjoy your free time!
Otherwise, good luck! Seems like you don’t need much luck anymore.
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