Dear Forum,
We are about to purchase a plot of land (500m2 (5,382 sq ft)) and are trying to get an idea of the costs involved in building a house.
Our maximum budget for the house construction is €400,000, but since we want to have a safety margin, we initially set a budget of €350,000.
Our ideal house would have a pitched roof and a basement, with approximately 130m2 (1,400 sq ft) of living space—no frills, no luxury, but still modern.
We are unsure whether to go for a traditional masonry build or a prefabricated house. A well-known local company specializing in masonry construction quoted us costs of around €3,000 per m2 (€3,000 per 10.8 sq ft) as a basis for a “standard house.”
At first, this sounds quite expensive to me.
Since we could imagine contributing some work ourselves (with help from acquaintances and skilled friends), we hope to reduce costs somewhat this way.
Is it necessary to plan for €3,000 per m2 in any case? Even with prefabricated houses? I am also quite skeptical of the attractive offers in catalogues.
I would greatly appreciate your feedback.
We are about to purchase a plot of land (500m2 (5,382 sq ft)) and are trying to get an idea of the costs involved in building a house.
Our maximum budget for the house construction is €400,000, but since we want to have a safety margin, we initially set a budget of €350,000.
Our ideal house would have a pitched roof and a basement, with approximately 130m2 (1,400 sq ft) of living space—no frills, no luxury, but still modern.
We are unsure whether to go for a traditional masonry build or a prefabricated house. A well-known local company specializing in masonry construction quoted us costs of around €3,000 per m2 (€3,000 per 10.8 sq ft) as a basis for a “standard house.”
At first, this sounds quite expensive to me.
Since we could imagine contributing some work ourselves (with help from acquaintances and skilled friends), we hope to reduce costs somewhat this way.
Is it necessary to plan for €3,000 per m2 in any case? Even with prefabricated houses? I am also quite skeptical of the attractive offers in catalogues.
I would greatly appreciate your feedback.
S
Strahleman24 Jun 2020 12:00Mlt1402 schrieb:
a contractor I know personallyDepending on how close the friendship is and to what extent the contractor is involved, think this through carefully. Especially if something goes wrong, the friendship might also suffer. I want to have someone I can hold accountable if something isn’t right. That can be more difficult with friends.
Basement: For me, an overpriced storage space—unless you have a hobby that fits perfectly there (gym, man cave, music studio, etc.).
Otherwise, it really depends on what you build, how you build it, and with whom. We built a 180 m² (1,938 sq ft) bungalow. On paper, we signed for €289,000. In the end, with all additional costs, it came to about €360,000. However, we had some expenses that you might exclude, as they were specific to our situation.
For example, ground replacement cost €25,000, whereas normally it might be around €10,000. Then there were one or two redesign costs. Let’s generously say it ended up being €350,000.
The catch: the provider doesn’t offer any service. I basically took over construction management myself, and every mistake added extra costs. You need some negotiation skills behind the scenes. We still didn’t build cheaply. Good materials were used, and everything was built to the millimeter. But that’s our case—and it went very well thanks to my control freak tendencies.
Otherwise, it really depends on what you build, how you build it, and with whom. We built a 180 m² (1,938 sq ft) bungalow. On paper, we signed for €289,000. In the end, with all additional costs, it came to about €360,000. However, we had some expenses that you might exclude, as they were specific to our situation.
For example, ground replacement cost €25,000, whereas normally it might be around €10,000. Then there were one or two redesign costs. Let’s generously say it ended up being €350,000.
The catch: the provider doesn’t offer any service. I basically took over construction management myself, and every mistake added extra costs. You need some negotiation skills behind the scenes. We still didn’t build cheaply. Good materials were used, and everything was built to the millimeter. But that’s our case—and it went very well thanks to my control freak tendencies.
face26 schrieb:
3000€/sqm (approximately $278/sqft) is quite a figure. Good if it includes additional costs, but the question is what exactly should be included.
Your plot looks like it has been filled. And what is that trench/channel?I can’t really say what the trench is for. Apparently, trees are to be planted along the field path.
I can’t say exactly what would be included.
We hope to visit several companies in the coming weeks to get an impression of the prices being asked.
Overall, I have already contacted 30 companies (both solid construction and prefab house providers) to get a first idea of the price range based on my requirements. Similar to the answers in the forum, there was a huge variety from “yes, this is definitely feasible” to “there is no way it’s possible to build for €400,000”.
Some of my questions have already been answered in quite some detail. For example, this response gave me a lot of hope:
I will quickly calculate everything based on your figures and the budget you provided.
Costs based on gross floor area:
The costs for a residential building of medium standard, according to our reference buildings, are about €1,150 net / sqm gross floor area of the building. The value depends on the fit-out and quality standard of the building. The stated value is an average.
Determining the gross floor area:
With a planned living area of 130 sqm (about 1,400 sqft), the gross floor area will be about 1.2 to 1.3 times larger, depending on the building’s layout. For you, that means 156 sqm to 169 sqm (1,680 to 1,820 sqft). Taking the average here, we have 162.5 sqm (1,749 sqft). Since this area is presumably not on a single floor, the area per floor would be 81.25 sqm (874 sqft). For the basement, the same area would be added again. This results in a total gross floor area for the building of 3 × 81.25 sqm = 243.75 sqm (2,624 sqft).
Calculation of construction costs:
The net construction costs are now calculated as follows:
Gross floor area × reference value = net construction costs:
243.75 sqm × €1,150 = €280,312.50 – rounded to €280,000
Additional incidental construction costs such as specialist planners, architect fees, and official charges are about 15%, approximately €42,000:
€280,000 + €42,000 = €322,000
Adding the 19% VAT results in:
€383,180 total gross costs
Excluded from these costs are fittings like furniture and appliances. Also excluded are garden works. Included are the bathroom, the completed building with all floor coverings, and a certain share of terrace and paving work.
Please note that I have only calculated roughly based on area above. Besides your quality and requirement profile and the basic layout of the building, the location can also influence the price in either direction.Mlt1402 schrieb:
I can’t say exactly what the ditch is for. Apparently, trees are supposed to be planted along the field path. If I were you, I would find that out as soon as possible. Is it meant to be a watercourse, or just emergency drainage? Could there be standing water with almost no movement (mosquito breeding grounds)? Drainage from the neighboring fields? Is there any risk of manure or slurry contamination?
You might end up with a pond full of stagnant slurry water.
It doesn’t have to be any of that, but if I were building a house there, I would definitely want to know.
Mlt1402 schrieb:
I really can’t say what exactly is included. But you need to know that if you want to compare offers and make a reasonable estimate.
The sample calculation you received might be fine, but it’s not very useful as long as you don’t know what “medium standard” actually means.
The definition is very vague.
If I’ve roughly calculated it correctly, it comes to just over 1,900 €/sqm (about 177 $/sq ft). That’s close to but somewhat less reliable than the 2,000 €/sqm (about 186 $/sq ft) figures quoted around here nowadays.
The challenge now is to find out exactly what is included by whom.
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