ᐅ House Construction: Prefabricated House or Solid (Masonry) House? Experiences and Price Range

Created on: 10 Jun 2022 16:50
O
ollininjo
Hello everyone,

We have been looking into the topic of building a house for several months now. Unfortunately, we are quite new to this field and are not familiar with all the details. Of course, we have read a lot and searched online, but you often come across different information, especially older and not so up-to-date sources.

We have a plot of land in the city that we are considering. It is about 830 m2 (0.2 acres) including partial utility connections. The cost of the plot is 130,000 euros, and of course, you need to add property transfer tax, notary fees, and land registry costs (anything else we might be forgetting?). Since the plot only has partial utility connections, all the connections are apparently in front of the street because the land was subdivided. So, naturally, there will be additional development costs; we estimate around 10,000 euros. Overall, we would be looking at about 150,000 euros for the land, which is fine so far.

Now comes the house. We are leaning more towards a prefab house since a custom architect-designed home requires a lot of work, right? I have, of course, checked out several providers, and the prices are always quite attractive. We are assuming a 150 m2 (1,615 square feet) prefab house, which shows a price of 380,000 euros including all the services the provider offers. This is assuming a turnkey package. What other costs should we expect? I assume garage and landscaping are obvious extras, but are there other expenses we should factor in? Perhaps someone here has experience with this kind of build and could help us.

We would like to have a rough estimate to see if many additional costs might come up since, otherwise, the total would exceed 600,000 euros for a 150 m2 prefab house, which seems a bit unclear to me.

Thanks in advance to everyone!
P
Pinkiponk
11 Jun 2022 13:36
Addendum: The promised ...

PART 2:
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For the items marked "0.00 €," we have (so far) not paid anything, but they might be relevant for your building project.






































































































Plot of land 147,500.00 €
Land transfer tax 5,162.50 €
Notary fees 1,335.66 €
Brokerage fee 0.00 €
Property tax (notice) 56.25 €
Public potable water supply 778.66 €
Confirmation of secured site development 23.80 €
Water connection permit 23.80 €
Telephone connection 0.00 €
Public sewer system 0.00 €
Confirmation of secured site development 54.88 €
Drainage application decision 140.92 €
Soil investigation 941.55 €
Surveying / Site plan 568.40 €
Site plan for building application 475.60 €
Site plan 1st amendment for building permit (planning permission) 145.78 €
Site plan 2nd amendment for building permit (planning permission) 145.78 €
Rough and fine staking / Height reference point 680.68 €
Recording of mortgage in land register 347.00 €
Structural engineering 4,500.00 €














































































































































































































































































































































































Builder’s liability insurance 236.57 €
Construction all-risk insurance with extended liability (12 months) 853.53 €
Homeowner’s liability insurance 48.80 €
Residential building insurance including fire insurance for shell construction 329.66 €
Builder’s surety / deposit insurance 208.95 €
Allocation of house number 21.50 €
Provision of data from cadastral map 47.60 €
Certificate of legal pre-emption right 31.65 €
Court fees for land register priority notice in xyz 177.00 €
Land register entry, cancellation of priority notice 379.00 €
Cost statement for notarization of mortgage in xyz 522.46 €
Review of house builder’s offer/contract xyz 595.00 €
Information on building encumbrance register 33.68 €
Kitchen 0.00 €
Garden shed / tool shed 0.00 €
Outdoor area Driveway, paths, patio 0.00 €
Garden and tool shed 0.00 €
Refreshments for craftsmen 500.00 €
Double burden of rent and loan payments 0.00 €
Construction supervisor / Technical expert / Building inspector 0.00 €
Topping-out ceremony 0.00 €
Housewarming 0.00 €
Building permit / certificate 681.00 €
Checking structural engineer 0.00 €
Confirmation of KfW funding criteria 0.00 €
Lawn, hedges, shrubs, cuttings? 0.00 €
Mailbox 0.00 €
Container with lid Mixed construction waste, m³, with lid 731.00 €
Credit check (SCHUFA) for house builder 60.00 €
Rental of temporary site toilet Price per month 201.06 €
Leak test for wastewater system 238.00 €

O
ollininjo
11 Jun 2022 17:59
Thank you very much! This really helped a lot and highlighted many hidden costs that I hadn’t even considered. Thanks again!
When you add everything up, it only comes to about €245,000. That can’t be the total price for the complete turnkey house including the land, or am I missing something? 😀
O
Osnabruecker
11 Jun 2022 19:11
If I read the list correctly (not easy to copy, but still informative), these are all the costs that are NOT included in the house price.

So the contract price will be added on top of the 245k.

And the zero-cost items should also be relevant to you. Landscaping will come later; with Pinki, these are currently listed as zero because they haven’t been calculated yet.
O
ollininjo
11 Jun 2022 19:15
I have seen that so far, and of course, there will probably be additional costs for the exterior landscaping.. I expected that it would be extra..
Unbelievable, you really can’t get a single-family home today for 600,000 including the land? That’s insane.
O
Osnabruecker
11 Jun 2022 19:23
As many other posts show, it is now more common than not to end up spending over 600,000. Here in the forum, discussions often focus on custom builds, which results in a higher average cost than usual.

It doesn’t have to be an architect-designed house for everyone, nor a hexagonal bathtub like Pinki’s (I just had to Google what such a bathtub looks like 😉 ).

A lot depends on the region (plot of land) and your own understanding and skills. By doing some work yourself, it’s possible to save five-figure amounts, and in exceptional cases even six-figure sums.

One thing I can promise you: catalog prices aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Everything that follows after that is much more important, and then you see what the final total ends up being.

Edit:
Well... after some Googling, a hexagonal bathtub isn’t necessarily extravagant 🙂 it’s actually a nice corner design.
D
driver55
11 Jun 2022 19:26
ollininjo schrieb:

I’ve seen that so far, and of course, there would probably be additional costs for the landscaping... I thought that would be extra.
Unbelievable, you can’t get a house with land today for $600,000 including the plot? That’s crazy.

Where is the house going to be built?
€150,000 (about $160,000) for the land and around €450,000 (about $480,000) for 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft), plus the “hidden” costs that a beginner in construction doesn’t yet know about.

You need to get a sense of both sides.
What are you willing to pay, what can/could you afford, and how much does what you want actually cost?