ᐅ Realistic Cost Estimate: Single-Family Home with Challenging Site Access
Created on: 20 Jan 2023 10:50
S
schmeissrein
Hello everyone,
I have been following this forum for a while and first of all, a big thank you to everyone who shares their advice here and sometimes also speaks hard truths. I didn’t originally want to create a new thread but intended to form an opinion based on other discussions. However, you convinced me that this building project is too individual for that. So here is our plan:
- Building a new single-family house in the far north of Germany (Schleswig-Flensburg region).
- Plot size is over 1000sqm (10,764 sq ft).
- Total square meters are not so important as long as the layout works.
- Basement is not planned.
What we would like:
- Open-plan kitchen-living area of at least 36m² (388 sq ft).
- Guest room (at least 10m² / 108 sq ft) and small guest bathroom with shower on the ground floor, so that in old age, with disability, or a broken leg, the ground floor can be used independently and possibly serve as a bedroom.
- Utility room / storage room / pantry with heat pump of at least 8m² (86 sq ft) (KfW 40 standard would be great, of course).
- Upper floor with three rooms (1 office, 1 master bedroom, 1 child’s room) each at least 14m² (151 sq ft) and one bathroom. Our dream would be a “walk-in” (what a silly word – aren’t all showers walk-in?) shower to avoid having to clean those limescale-rusty, annoying shower enclosures.
- We could contribute labor for garden landscaping and painting/wallpapering; otherwise, we would prefer a turnkey build.
As for the house style, regionally typical Frisian houses or captain’s houses (with all the “cute” features like small gables, etc.) are in consideration, or also not completely unimaginative “normal” single-family houses. We are not afraid of Bauhaus-style concrete marvels either, but those tend to be more expensive. In terms of fittings, no “gold-plated faucets” and no smart home – but decent and presentable.
The big BUT: the plot is not connected to utilities, and the distance to the street is about 65m (213 ft), of which 50m (164 ft) is a paved driveway and paved parking area that would have to be dug up (across another property). The connection costs and incidental construction costs worry us quite a bit. Does anyone have experience with such a “mammoth connection” for a relatively small building project? What realistic costs should we expect for both?
We would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this project, thank you very much in advance!
I have been following this forum for a while and first of all, a big thank you to everyone who shares their advice here and sometimes also speaks hard truths. I didn’t originally want to create a new thread but intended to form an opinion based on other discussions. However, you convinced me that this building project is too individual for that. So here is our plan:
- Building a new single-family house in the far north of Germany (Schleswig-Flensburg region).
- Plot size is over 1000sqm (10,764 sq ft).
- Total square meters are not so important as long as the layout works.
- Basement is not planned.
What we would like:
- Open-plan kitchen-living area of at least 36m² (388 sq ft).
- Guest room (at least 10m² / 108 sq ft) and small guest bathroom with shower on the ground floor, so that in old age, with disability, or a broken leg, the ground floor can be used independently and possibly serve as a bedroom.
- Utility room / storage room / pantry with heat pump of at least 8m² (86 sq ft) (KfW 40 standard would be great, of course).
- Upper floor with three rooms (1 office, 1 master bedroom, 1 child’s room) each at least 14m² (151 sq ft) and one bathroom. Our dream would be a “walk-in” (what a silly word – aren’t all showers walk-in?) shower to avoid having to clean those limescale-rusty, annoying shower enclosures.
- We could contribute labor for garden landscaping and painting/wallpapering; otherwise, we would prefer a turnkey build.
As for the house style, regionally typical Frisian houses or captain’s houses (with all the “cute” features like small gables, etc.) are in consideration, or also not completely unimaginative “normal” single-family houses. We are not afraid of Bauhaus-style concrete marvels either, but those tend to be more expensive. In terms of fittings, no “gold-plated faucets” and no smart home – but decent and presentable.
The big BUT: the plot is not connected to utilities, and the distance to the street is about 65m (213 ft), of which 50m (164 ft) is a paved driveway and paved parking area that would have to be dug up (across another property). The connection costs and incidental construction costs worry us quite a bit. Does anyone have experience with such a “mammoth connection” for a relatively small building project? What realistic costs should we expect for both?
We would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this project, thank you very much in advance!
W
WilderSueden19 Apr 2023 10:42xMisterDx schrieb:
And this nonsense about the dirt. Well, we were probably smart and had the excavation contractor gravel the driveway, parking spaces, and terrace right away.
It cost 1,500 EUR (about 1,600 USD), and since he was already there with the truck, he also gravelled the foundation. Pretty generous actually.
I don’t bring any dirt inside. The dirt comes from the unfinished road. You’re not moved in yet, right? We also gravelled all the way to the front door. Still, a lot of small stones get stuck in the shoe soles, and you also carry in fine particles. I have a doormat outside and one inside. I have to vacuum the indoor one every day, otherwise too much dirt spreads inside the house.
xMisterDx schrieb:
So why not, if I can do it bit by bit without interest? Because that’s wishful thinking. You’re just paying back far less each month. Now let’s assume you want to save 10,000 EUR (about 10,700 USD) for the garden in 2 years. That’s 500 EUR (about 530 USD) per month. You can’t just save that on the side, it only works if your loan repayment is kept extra low. And if you tell me you’ll increase repayments later instead of spending the money...
Also, when it comes to the garden, time is money. Seeding instead of instant turf, small trees now instead of bigger ones in a few years. Whether building materials will really get cheaper is anyone’s guess.
Winniefred19 Apr 2023 10:44You need to find a balanced approach. Building a brick double garage isn’t something you can do on a whim, but a small paved area can be paid for out of regular income. Our garden was originally landscaped (older house), but over the last six years we have changed almost everything at least once, and who knows how much money has been invested. This includes "just" plants, trees, shrubs, lawn, flower beds, trellises, and similar stuff. The walkways were already laid out, as were the carport, pavilion, and garage. For us, it was clear: this works for now. It’s probably quite different on a new-build plot that’s still a rough site. We have a new build not far from here that only got a lawn after four years and still has pallets as an entrance. In the first years, the plot was overgrown and looked like a crater landscape.
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Stefan00119 Apr 2023 10:51xMisterDx schrieb:
In my opinion, repayment is massively overestimated. The current inflation is already reducing the debt enough. An 8.5% wage increase by 2024, my wife’s income is similar. So why should I repay more than 3.5%?Because we are discussing general statements here, and no one has a crystal ball. It depends on many factors: interest rates on the mortgage, possible interest on other loans, length of the savings phase... inflation (which also makes the asset to be purchased more expensive).H
hanghaus202319 Apr 2023 10:51If you exclude the 150k for the basement and site grading, something like this could be built. 26-degree roof pitch, 1.9m (6 ft 3 in) knee wall.
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xMisterDx19 Apr 2023 11:03It’s a rather abstract debate anyway. Most people are just happy if, under the current conditions, they can still build a house and install a kitchen. Garages, quickly completed gardens, terraces, and so on will become noticeably less common in new housing developments...
WilderSueden schrieb:
Because it’s a simplistic calculation. You just pay off much less principal. But that also means you simply have less to repay, which is exactly the point. I find the argument "then you just pay less!" is just as simplistic. If you don’t borrow it, you don’t have to repay it. At some point, there’s also the limit where paying a higher fixed amount over the long term isn’t comfortable, even if theoretically you could afford more. There’s a big difference between having a fixed extra payment of 300 euros (about 320 dollars) and saving roughly 300 euros (about 320 dollars) per month on average—sometimes in a "good month" you might save 500 euros (about 530 dollars), and in a bad month, maybe nothing, because something else came up.
I do agree that you shouldn’t underestimate the landscaping costs, but statements like "we spent xy afterwards" often mean "because it was possible/the money was there." I know several people who, apart from necessary slope stabilization, didn’t do much landscaping initially. Yes, the neighbors in the village might gossip that "they must have run out of money" (which is often true), but well, if you consciously decide to invest the money in the house first and postpone the rest until later, that’s totally fine.
You definitely need to plan for some kind of access solution here, so I would include that in the planning, but spending xxxx euros on plants personally seems more like a “nice to have” to me.
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