ᐅ House Photos Discussion Corner – Share Your Home Pictures!

Aren’t those just thin facing bricks anyway? Otherwise, the neighbor’s facade would have to protrude further, or @LastCookie would need to have more insulation applied. Or am I missing something?

Fuchur schrieb:

I would have preferred facing bricks. However, the additional cost compared to plaster was over €60,000!

The price differences are always surprising. You probably have a larger house, too? We have a concrete slab foundation measuring 7x13m (23x43 feet), plus an additional 3x4m (10x13 feet) extension for the building services.
I should also mention that we are building with his very small company, and the managing director is very transparent about costs. The house price without the extension was 245,000, contract signed in 2020. Craftsmen from Moldova, etc.

Tolentino schrieb:

Yes, of course there is an extra charge. We’re all talking about additional costs here. Sorry, Keks, but this is how things usually go in this forum — we tend to get caught up in certain topics and questions. That doesn’t mean we want to criticize your choice. It’s more about the general issue (so here, an extra cost of 7,000–14,000 for facing bricks is reasonable), generally — not your specific decision versus facing bricks.

All good! I just felt like I might have withheld some information from you and wanted to make up for that. I’m happy to answer any further questions if there are any.

Tamstar schrieb:

Aren’t those just thin bricks anyway? Otherwise, the neighboring façade would have to be set further forward, or @LastCookie would need more insulation, or am I mistaken?

Our house was built with 36.5cm (14.4 inches) pumice concrete blocks (with insulation) and was plastered.
The neighbors have 24cm (9.4 inches) pumice concrete blocks plus insulation plus facing bricks (definitely not thin bricks).
The masonry of the neighboring house was set slightly “in front” by about 3–4cm (1–1.5 inches) per wall, which caused the neighbors to lose some living space.
I think that’s so their façade lines up flush with ours on the outside.

LastCookie schrieb:

This is a semi-detached house, and our neighbors decided to use brick veneer shortly before the concrete slab was poured.

Same architect, same construction company.
At least we were "kindly" asked if we also wanted brick veneer before they went ahead with their own plan.
We declined because of the additional cost (about 7000€).

I don’t think 7k for brick veneer is a lot; if possible, always go for brick veneer. I would make compromises elsewhere.

Our floor in the first room <3
It’s not glued down yet, but at least it’s laid out...

Time to post something in the thread again. Base plaster, screed, shower waterproofing, etc., are visually not that interesting (there are a hundred pictures on the blog), but the tiler has now finished the upper floor bathroom. Access is still not allowed, so here is only one picture from the hallway.

LastCookie schrieb:

(...) The house price without the extension was 245k, contract signed in 2020. Craftsmen from Moldova, etc.
(...)

That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. But what do you think is one of the biggest cost drivers in the construction trades here in Germany?
Labor, of course.

While a Moldovan tiler can work for 15-20 EUR per hour, a German tiler has to charge between 50-80 EUR per hour depending on the region.
For the three weeks our tiler worked on the bathroom, guest toilet, kitchen, and hallway, that’s a sharp difference of about 2,000 EUR compared to 6,000 EUR. And the Moldovan doesn’t stop after eight hours; he works 12 hours for his few euros.
Where else would he go?

The German tiler drives home to his family, the Moldovan to his cheap accommodation…

The problem is: if we let everything be done by Eastern Europeans, in the midterm we’re cutting off our own work opportunities 😉