ᐅ Request for feedback on various prefabricated house manufacturers

Tim2020 schrieb:

I come from a very poor extended family that fled from Poland (Upper Silesia, which belonged to Germany at the time) to Germany during the war. So, for me personally, this is luxury as well. But if you objectively compare it to Mercedes models, it’s simply not an S-Class. For them, the S-Class represents luxury, the E-Class is upper mid-range, the C-Class is mid-range, and the A-Class is compact.
Land and house prices in the Stuttgart suburbs are exaggerated and no longer normal. You won’t get a luxury house here for 1 million. That’s just how it is now. I also know that you can buy more luxurious properties elsewhere for that price.

In that sense, I would consider this house as a well-equipped C-Class or an E-Class with basic features. And honestly, I would have preferred to build a smaller house, but unfortunately, that wasn’t possible in this development.

All good ;-)

I actually meant the possibility of affording a property worth 1.2 million. My parents already panic at 500,000€ and try to talk us out of the dream of owning our own home (we are both almost 30). But they grew up differently in the former East Germany and when they hear those (now normal) amounts, they get heart palpitations and think you’re getting into debt you can’t handle.

Tim2020 schrieb:

Most modern prefabricated houses nowadays have knee walls that allow you to stand upright in the rooms on the upper floor, usually between 1.40 m and 1.80 m (4 ft 7 in and 5 ft 11 in). In our development area, the building regulations set a maximum knee wall height of 35 cm (14 in) due to zoning rules established about 20 years ago. Because of this, we had to plan the upstairs rooms (in our case, the bedroom and three children’s rooms) larger to ensure they were practical to use. Otherwise, half of the space would have sloped ceilings where you couldn’t stand upright. Since we wanted to provide our children and ourselves with comfortable rooms, we had to build the upper floor accordingly larger. This, of course, also made the shared living areas on the ground floor larger, which wasn’t actually necessary.

If the local building regulations had allowed single-family houses with higher knee walls and/or a steeper roof pitch, we could have built a smaller house without losing living comfort. I would have been fine with smaller spaces for the dining room, living room, and kitchen, but upstairs we couldn’t reduce the size because of the knee wall, if you know what I mean. Otherwise, the children’s bedrooms would have had sloped ceilings everywhere.

“Saying we wanted to give our children bigger rooms” doesn’t sound like “We couldn't build smaller because it wasn’t possible” to me.

But you are right about one thing—given the costs in the Stuttgart area, it’s fair to call this a luxury project. That’s when the real fun begins elsewhere.

Tim2020 schrieb:

The first one was cheap.

Cheaper than the Viebrockhaus houses?

Tim2020 schrieb:

Doubts only crept in when I visited the show homes in Hirschberg. Somehow, they looked really shabby. The interior finishing materials on display also looked kind of cheap. Considering these were supposed to be model homes for customers, I honestly expected much better quality. Everything looked used and worn in.

White Gira control panels? PVC windows? What do you mean by “used and worn in”? Was there not enough high gloss finish?

Tim2020 schrieb:

Because we do have somewhat more sophisticated taste.

… usually said by those who don’t have any at all.

Tim2020 schrieb:

It wasn’t really a top-tier house. On one hand the size (240 sqm (2583 sqft)), and on the other the features: KfW40-standard walls, HomeControl system, solar panels, many large windows, and more. Price was 770,000 EUR. I think in terms of price and equipment, it’s more like a mid-range house.

Tim2020 schrieb:

But if you objectively compare it to Mercedes models, it’s definitely not an S-Class. For them, S-Class is luxury, E-Class is upper mid-range, C-Class is mid-range, and A-Class is compact.

Tim2020 schrieb:

You don’t get a luxury house here for 1 million.

I find this classification a bit odd.
I’m also surprised by your choice of prefab home manufacturers. They’re not really luxury class, are they? There are quite different ones in that category.

Tim2020 schrieb:

Seen like that, I’d classify the house as a well-equipped mid-range or an entry-level upper mid-range. Honestly, I would have preferred to build a smaller house, but that wasn’t possible in this development area.

240 sqm (2583 sqft) is above average, but not excessive. Others wouldn’t have enlarged the open-plan living areas on the ground floor but moved the office or master bedroom down there to give the kids more space upstairs.
If I were to increase our rooms by about 5-10 sqm (54-108 sqft) each just for comfort (not luxury), I’d already be at 200 sqm (2153 sqft) for two people.
Have you looked at genuinely upscale home builders? I’d first think of architect-designed houses, an architect who builds A- to E-Class houses 😉