ᐅ Initial cost estimate

Hello everyone,

I’m new here :-)

I hope you can help me a bit.

Here’s the plan or starting situation:

Building location: Aschaffenburg (Rhein-Main area)
Plot of land available (no additional cost)

Combined income: about 4000€ net / additional equity: 50,000€

Wish:

Single-family house with basement, a granny flat about 45m² (480 sq ft), garage with shed
Living area excluding granny flat: about 130m² (1400 sq ft)

As for DIY work, we or friends could handle:

- Basement excavation
- Complete masonry
- Electrical work (I will do this myself)
- Tiling / flooring
- Complete heating system
- Installation of doors/windows

Now I’d like your opinion:

Is it possible to manage this whole project with 200,000€ under these conditions?
We would still have the additional 50,000€ equity...

Thanks in advance!!!

Greetings from the other end of Bavaria,

If I understand you correctly, you only need an architect and will handle the rest of the construction yourselves? Personally, I want to work on my construction site myself with buddies, friends, and family. Of course, you really need people you trust for that, and let’s be honest, they won’t do it completely for free.

But to be honest, I would be very careful with guarantees, especially when it comes to the basement and the masonry work! You’ll need the materials anyway, and at least then you have someone responsible if something gets done poorly.

Best regards from the Regensburg area

Hello from Bavaria as well,
we took the same approach. Our conditions were as follows, maybe as a reference: Single-family house without dormers or bay windows or any extras, simply rectangular, the only highlight being a large floor-to-ceiling glass front, 170 sqm (1830 sq ft) living space, fully basemented, gable roof, timber frame construction KFW 55 standard with ground-source heat pump and water-based fireplace, high-quality fittings (parquet flooring, tiles at €50/sqm), the house was completely self-built by us (carpenter with several years of experience in timber frame construction), concrete slab poured by ourselves, basement concrete poured ourselves, etc. Other trades like electrical, heating, plumbing, etc., were all done by relatives or acquaintances. Construction time is nearing completion after 1.5 extremely tough years... By the time the final invoices are paid, we expect to spend around €250,000 without land and landscaping. Tired and exhausted but happy and hopefully moving soon into our dream home with a bank account that isn’t too overdrawn. Conclusion: I would do it the same way again, but only because I know for sure that I’m not sensitive or easily unsettled, and that my relationship can handle the stress and lack of free time when you have shared goals.
-> For all critics of self-construction: We really had extremely good conditions and I consider myself a special case. Under normal circumstances with standard self-build involvement, the house would have cost €400,000 (corresponding offer available).
Regards
MeisterBob

Thank you all for the quick responses.

We are even lucky to have an architect on hand (a colleague of my father), who is designing the house and will occasionally inspect the construction.

The basement will be entirely built by my girlfriend’s grandfather... he has worked in a construction company for over 40 years, so we already feel quite confident that nothing will go wrong there.

@MeisterBob: Thank you for your detailed report. I think our situation will be similar. We are aware that this will be a really tough time for both of us. I’m not really the complaining type, and I believe I can handle it. Your breakdown really gives me courage... so it looks like I could manage with a loan of about 200,000 euros (approximately $220,000).

In terms of the building design, we will keep everything as simple as possible. I’m not a fan of anything fancy. Our fittings and finishes will be quite standard, no luxury features included.

I think without these advantages we have, it wouldn’t be feasible for us anyway. Still, I don’t want to ruin myself financially just to build a house – that wouldn’t make sense. That’s why we set the loan limit at 200,000 euros (approximately $220,000), which is manageable for us and, if necessary, can even be paid off on a single income.

I might need to add something. The upscale finish was possible because we organized a lot ourselves. For all building materials, which we also sourced ourselves, I always got at least three quotes. We ordered sanitary fixtures online in consultation with our heating engineer beforehand (not everyone would agree to that). The electrician passed on his equity plus 2%, and we received staff discounts on windows, doors, etc. Because of this, we mostly chose higher-end options that ultimately cost us about the same as standard ones. If we had gone with standard, it would have been even cheaper. For certain things, like a mirrored cabinet for the bathroom, we have a carpenter make it. A 2,000–3,000 Euro (about $2,100–3,200) cabinet with two mirrored doors definitely isn’t worth that much. The carpenter charges 500 Euro ($530) and I can arrange the shelves however I want.

Again: It is definitely doable, but you really have to be aware that it’s a constant rush of running around, calling, writing, calculating, and organizing. Having built now, I can say: you can’t even imagine what’s coming. Thinking and expecting it to be a tough time has nothing to do with reality—it will be three times harder.

Regards, MeisterBob