ᐅ Is it possible to build a new house for €900 per square meter?
Created on: 3 Sep 2024 21:04
O
Ottowillswisse
Hello everyone,
After my house purchase unfortunately fell through, I happened to start a conversation with someone from a new development in town.
He told me that the average cost for new builds is usually around €3000 per m² (approximately $280 per ft²), which is quite expensive. But he built his 100 m² (1,076 ft²) flat-roof bungalow with an architect for only €900 per m² (around $85 per ft²). How he managed that: wall construction consists of 17.5 cm (7 inches) calcium silicate bricks + 15 cm (6 inches) insulation with a thermal conductivity of 0.035 W/(mK) + 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) plaster (this is apparently the cheapest possible wall build-up).
Most of the interior work was done by himself, so for example, the kitchen cost €2000 (about $2200) purchased from a DIY store, and the bathrooms were tiled and the fixtures installed by himself. Laminate flooring and tiles were also installed as DIY for a maximum of €15 per m² (about $1.40 per ft²). Interior plaster on ceilings and walls, interior doors, windows, and the front door were also installed by himself.
The design is very simple with small window areas, and the excavated soil was reused in the garden, for example. The house has no photovoltaic or solar system. Hot water is provided by a tankless water heater, and heating is done with an air-to-air heat pump, that is, a split air conditioning system.
What do you think about such a construction cost? It seems somewhat unrealistic to me.
Best regards
After my house purchase unfortunately fell through, I happened to start a conversation with someone from a new development in town.
He told me that the average cost for new builds is usually around €3000 per m² (approximately $280 per ft²), which is quite expensive. But he built his 100 m² (1,076 ft²) flat-roof bungalow with an architect for only €900 per m² (around $85 per ft²). How he managed that: wall construction consists of 17.5 cm (7 inches) calcium silicate bricks + 15 cm (6 inches) insulation with a thermal conductivity of 0.035 W/(mK) + 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) plaster (this is apparently the cheapest possible wall build-up).
Most of the interior work was done by himself, so for example, the kitchen cost €2000 (about $2200) purchased from a DIY store, and the bathrooms were tiled and the fixtures installed by himself. Laminate flooring and tiles were also installed as DIY for a maximum of €15 per m² (about $1.40 per ft²). Interior plaster on ceilings and walls, interior doors, windows, and the front door were also installed by himself.
The design is very simple with small window areas, and the excavated soil was reused in the garden, for example. The house has no photovoltaic or solar system. Hot water is provided by a tankless water heater, and heating is done with an air-to-air heat pump, that is, a split air conditioning system.
What do you think about such a construction cost? It seems somewhat unrealistic to me.
Best regards
@Ottowillswisse
By choosing infrared heating, you also saved yourself significant initial costs for underfloor heating and a heat pump, which brought you closer to a lower price per square meter. We did something similar, so here’s my tip for another way to save. We use Vitramo modules, which are also very customer-oriented. They calculated the required modules for me, and I bought some of them secondhand online. Our entire system cost less than €7,000 (about $7,600).
What we especially liked were the frosted glass modules embedded in the concrete ceiling; we preferred that to the usual surface-mounted metal modules. The recesses in the concrete ceiling were already planned for a few euros more and were easy to install in the upper floor with drywall anyway.
Just an idea from my side.
Maybe you’d like to share your build here with all the details and progress; unfortunately, hardly anyone does that anymore. It’s a pity because the community really benefits from it. Nowadays, most people are overly cautious or private, protecting their privacy while freely sharing it elsewhere with a bulldozer.
By choosing infrared heating, you also saved yourself significant initial costs for underfloor heating and a heat pump, which brought you closer to a lower price per square meter. We did something similar, so here’s my tip for another way to save. We use Vitramo modules, which are also very customer-oriented. They calculated the required modules for me, and I bought some of them secondhand online. Our entire system cost less than €7,000 (about $7,600).
What we especially liked were the frosted glass modules embedded in the concrete ceiling; we preferred that to the usual surface-mounted metal modules. The recesses in the concrete ceiling were already planned for a few euros more and were easy to install in the upper floor with drywall anyway.
Just an idea from my side.
Maybe you’d like to share your build here with all the details and progress; unfortunately, hardly anyone does that anymore. It’s a pity because the community really benefits from it. Nowadays, most people are overly cautious or private, protecting their privacy while freely sharing it elsewhere with a bulldozer.
Similar topics