ᐅ House Extension / Addition to a Semi-Detached Home in MOL / Brandenburg

Hello everyone,

My partner has owned a semi-detached house for nine years, which is half owner-occupied, located in Märkisch-Oderland / Brandenburg. Now we want to convert the unpaved terrace into an additional room and extend the upper floor accordingly to create another child’s bedroom there.

Unfortunately, there is no detailed information available about the house itself, and apparently no plans exist in the district office’s archives.

I plan to carry out all the construction work myself; however, the preliminary process is not entirely clear to me.

It is certain that a building permit / planning permission must be applied for, as it will be usable living space.
Do I need an architect or structural engineer to carry out the survey of the existing building?

Is a soil investigation necessary?

bucker.robert schrieb:
Do I need an architect/structural engineer for the site survey?

... or a surveyor, I haven’t been to Brandenburg for about 25 years ; ).
Would you be able to carry out the site survey yourself, including producing documentation suitable for further processing? I haven’t checked your regional building regulations, but in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) you need a licensed building professional anyway for such a project. Discuss with them whether they prefer to create their own site survey (then they are also liable for any mistakes) or if they would accept a plan from you.

What Escroda means to say: You need someone like him, and he would be willing.

ypg schrieb:
You need someone like him

as another option

ypg schrieb:
and he would be willing

No, too long ago and too far away. 🙂

But you can surely tell me what the whole thing should look like in terms of design. What do I have to/can I at least prepare to ideally avoid spending a fortune?

As I said, I can build on my own, with some help from a few friends who can also source materials and so on.

I just need the way to an approved building permit / planning permission.

First of all, the planning and building regulations situation is important. Is there a zoning plan, or is the property located in an unplanned inner area (§34 Building Code, roughly speaking within a town or village), or even in an outer area (§35 Building Code, i.e., an isolated location in agricultural or forestry land)? Are the semi-detached houses each on their own plots? Are there similar buildings in the surrounding area?

Your first step should be to visit the building authority’s consultation service with a current excerpt from the cadastral map (Brandenburgviewer, scale 1:500). There, you will find all information regarding the planning regulations for your property. If you mark the outlines of your planned extension in red on the map, the case officer will (hopefully) also provide advice concerning building regulations, such as setback requirements, fire protection, and authorization to submit building documents.

Once the general feasibility is clarified, find a qualified professional authorized to submit building applications (such as an architect or civil engineer) and discuss the details with them.

If you do not have floor plans of the existing building, a complete survey of the property will likely be necessary for the building application. Especially in the area of the extension, location and height accuracy within the centimeter range (centimeters (inches)) is required. Since the geometry must also be correct (existing or absent right angles), this is hardly manageable for a layperson. Almost all planners use digital methods and expect, for example, a DXF file. If you can get support from a draftsman or technical illustrator, doing some of the work yourself might be possible. However, your planner must be willing to cooperate for this to work.