Good evening, dear forum members,
We are planning to build a single-family house with approximately 170m² (1830 sq ft) of living space.
We have already visited several prefabricated house companies and received a few offers for kit houses (shell construction, weather-tight). Now, we are not really sure what to decide.
We want to contribute a significant amount of labor ourselves, as much as possible if feasible. This does not mean we won’t hire professional tradespeople, but we have many skilled friends and family members.
I have read a lot about these topics and often seen that kit houses may not actually be cost-effective, as in the end they tend to cost about the same as a house built by local contractors — and then I wouldn’t even have to do any work myself.
The kit house offer is about €110,000 (around $120,000) for the shell including a 6x9m (20x30 ft) garage. This includes windows, front door, and roof structure with tiles. The construction is a wooden formwork stone kit with 36.5cm (14 inches) thick μ22 blocks for the exterior walls.
I would be interested in your opinion on whether the costs of a conventionally planned house are roughly the same or significantly higher. For now, this question concerns only the shell construction.
Thank you in advance.
We are planning to build a single-family house with approximately 170m² (1830 sq ft) of living space.
We have already visited several prefabricated house companies and received a few offers for kit houses (shell construction, weather-tight). Now, we are not really sure what to decide.
We want to contribute a significant amount of labor ourselves, as much as possible if feasible. This does not mean we won’t hire professional tradespeople, but we have many skilled friends and family members.
I have read a lot about these topics and often seen that kit houses may not actually be cost-effective, as in the end they tend to cost about the same as a house built by local contractors — and then I wouldn’t even have to do any work myself.
The kit house offer is about €110,000 (around $120,000) for the shell including a 6x9m (20x30 ft) garage. This includes windows, front door, and roof structure with tiles. The construction is a wooden formwork stone kit with 36.5cm (14 inches) thick μ22 blocks for the exterior walls.
I would be interested in your opinion on whether the costs of a conventionally planned house are roughly the same or significantly higher. For now, this question concerns only the shell construction.
Thank you in advance.
Hello,
I bought a kit home last year and can only strongly recommend that you stay away from it.
Poor advice. Restrictive contract (you have to accept the components from their suppliers),
130 bags of interior plaster delivered in excess and never picked up. But if you need more of something, your friendly kit home partner will expect more money.
If you run the numbers, you'll be better off hiring an architect and negotiating favorable terms with the building materials supplier. With the money saved, you can afford additional costs like roof truss installation, reinforced concrete ring beams, crane rental, scaffolding, window installation, etc.
Aerated concrete blocks are okay, but in my opinion, not when offered through a (poorly) organized kit home company.
I bought a kit home last year and can only strongly recommend that you stay away from it.
Poor advice. Restrictive contract (you have to accept the components from their suppliers),
130 bags of interior plaster delivered in excess and never picked up. But if you need more of something, your friendly kit home partner will expect more money.
If you run the numbers, you'll be better off hiring an architect and negotiating favorable terms with the building materials supplier. With the money saved, you can afford additional costs like roof truss installation, reinforced concrete ring beams, crane rental, scaffolding, window installation, etc.
Aerated concrete blocks are okay, but in my opinion, not when offered through a (poorly) organized kit home company.