ᐅ What are the next steps from here?

By "as accurate as possible," I meant:

Plan the house as completely as possible from the start, including items that are usually charged separately, special requests, and so on. This way, you get a realistic house price upfront and won’t have to reach into your pocket multiple times later on.

I would also say: push the general contractor hard to get something concrete in writing as soon as possible! You still “have to” have the construction scope checked by an independent specialist lawyer (for example), discuss any potential changes, and so on. From reading the forum, you’ve probably noticed that “turnkey” doesn’t necessarily mean fully turnkey.

I hope you still have enough buffer for all eventualities!
For example, has a soil report been done for the plot before purchase? Sometimes the first surprises come up there (meaning additional foundation costs).

I also wonder which bank is already letting you sign loan agreements when the final house cost isn’t even clear yet. Banks here wouldn’t have gone along with that. They told us clearly: first, provide a concrete offer, then we’ll see...
What happens if you realize you need to expect at least €50,000 (about $54,000) in additional costs? I hope you still have that kind of money set aside to cover something like that...
Honestly, that would have been too risky for me...

Well, I think that’s quite ambitious.

Am I correct in understanding that you don’t yet have a partner to build with or plan to build with?

You’ve really put yourselves under a lot of pressure, both in terms of time and finances. I definitely wouldn’t let the builder or whoever you want to build with know about that. If they find out you don’t actually have much time, I think it could get unpleasant.

“Hurry, hurry” – that’s when things tend to get forgotten.

I hope you find the right partner right away. Then it’s time to start planning. Even if there is time pressure, make sure to review everything carefully. Pay special attention to hidden costs, especially if you don’t want to have to provide additional funding later on. Your offer should definitely not be on point or even exceed your already approved financing budget.

I honestly don’t understand how the bank can just approve a construction loan based on rough estimates like that. Have you really spoken with them properly—meaning, explained that these are only rough estimates and you don’t yet know exactly how much the final costs will be?

Is just one offer enough for the bank? Didn’t they want to see contracts or a start date or something like that? I don’t get it.

From a timing perspective, nothing can get in the way.

- Find a partner
- Plan carefully without forgetting anything (house + additional construction costs / garage? / fireplace? all have to be included)
- Prepare contracts and HAVE THEM CHECKED
((Up to this point, be completely honest with yourselves (even if it takes longer) about whether this partnership is actually going to work. Otherwise, this could come back to haunt you later))
- Sign contracts
- Detailed planning
- Soil survey?
- Structural engineering
- Land survey
- Building permit / planning permission (you can really hope that nothing delays this – there can be well over 3 months between the permit and the start of construction)
- Hope construction starts before you have to start paying availability fees

olali2 schrieb:
@emer

Well, we already have a partner we want to build with. As I mentioned before, the plans for our house are mostly finished (except for some minor details we’re still unsure about).

We have also received loan approval from the bank based on an initial offer from the builder.

Yes, I read that. What I mean is being “committed” to a partner, because it’s still possible that something could go wrong or further planning might suddenly cause costs to skyrocket. For example, we planned with a builder for almost a year and were quite far along, but ultimately decided to proceed with an architect instead. Without a signed loan agreement, such a decision is certainly easier. In a situation like yours, we would have thought it over ten times and most likely stuck with the builder— even if that decision wouldn’t have made us happy.

Does the loan amount exactly match your cost estimate?

The hope is that the initial offer was calculated rather generously. My experience (having received several offers and cost estimates from companies) shows that often important things are missing or new ideas come up afterwards that require changes and additional costs.

It sounds like you have very little financial leeway.

Soil conditions and slope of the land also play a significant role. Until a structural engineer has exact values, they have to make assumptions, which can drive up costs. A rough comparison: if you don’t know the adhesive strength per cm², you’d rather apply glue over the whole surface—using more, but increasing the chance that it will hold.

All in all, 350,000 sounds like quite a bit at first. The real worries start if it suddenly gets estimated at 360,000 or more. Then you might lose the margin you need. Fingers crossed for you.