Hello,
My fiancé and I are currently in the “finding the right solution” phase. We have equity of €30,000 (about $33,000) from old building savings contracts that I received as a gift from my grandparents. In addition, there is a small amount of capital from our own building savings contracts.
Overall, we would like to spend €150,000 (about $165,000), so we still need to borrow around €120,000 (about $132,000) and plan to repay it over 20 years with monthly payments of €700 (about $770) at an interest rate of 3%.
Plots of land are quite affordable here (compared to Munich or other metropolitan areas). Prices range from around €23 (about $25) in rural areas to about €70 (about $77) per square meter in small towns. We live about 50 km (30 miles) south of Bremen. We don’t want too large a plot—maybe 800–900 square meters (9,000–10,000 square feet)—as we are not really garden enthusiasts.
The size of the house should be between 130 and 140 square meters (1,400–1,500 square feet).
Considering the sharply rising energy costs, we want an energy-efficient house or passive house that can also be cooled in summer, as I have problems with hot weather. Since we don’t own a kitchen yet, this will need to be purchased. A small partial basement would be nice to do laundry and store things. Also, a double garage (with a small pit and/or lift and a small workshop). Oh, and underfloor heating inside the house. We both love wood. On the ground floor, all rooms except the living room, and in the upper floor bathrooms, should have tiles; the living room and other upper-floor rooms should have wooden floors. I would also really like to leave the upper wooden beams exposed.
My fiancé has already built a house once with his parents and is objectively not inexperienced; his family is the same. There are some tasks we would like to do ourselves, for example paving and installing interior doors. Also wallpapering and laying wooden floors.
I also dream of a plaster facade but have concerns about possible follow-up costs. We have already decided on clay bricks. Since we currently live in an attic apartment (which is actually quite lovely), I’m fed up with low sloping ceilings and therefore dream of a Tuscan-style house.
I am also wondering if I might want dark green window frames. By the way, I am aware that the house will probably have two stories. So much for the ideas so far.
Now I have about 1,000 questions running through my mind:
- How do I avoid ending up with a black sheep builder?
- How can I clearly separate contractor work from DIY work, so that in case of defects that aren’t our fault it’s clear who is responsible?
- Since we want to build with solar panels and so on, can we apply for any subsidies or incentives?
- Geothermal heat pumps are very popular, but don’t they consume a huge amount of electricity? Similar to night storage heaters?
- How do we find the right building plot for us? We’re afraid we might build and then not like the location (we’ve already had this problem when choosing our first apartment).
- How do we avoid expensive hidden costs with the plot, for example if building is difficult due to peat or other ground issues?
- Is a plaster facade really so expensive?
- Which DIY tasks actually save money and make sense to do yourself?
- What costs should we expect for creating a simple garden/site landscaping?
- How do I recognize harmful materials, paints, varnishes, etc.?
- What is better: plastic (PVC) windows or wooden windows?
- And the most important question is:
Are my plans even feasible with our budget and financing, or am I just building castles in the air?
My fiancé and I are currently in the “finding the right solution” phase. We have equity of €30,000 (about $33,000) from old building savings contracts that I received as a gift from my grandparents. In addition, there is a small amount of capital from our own building savings contracts.
Overall, we would like to spend €150,000 (about $165,000), so we still need to borrow around €120,000 (about $132,000) and plan to repay it over 20 years with monthly payments of €700 (about $770) at an interest rate of 3%.
Plots of land are quite affordable here (compared to Munich or other metropolitan areas). Prices range from around €23 (about $25) in rural areas to about €70 (about $77) per square meter in small towns. We live about 50 km (30 miles) south of Bremen. We don’t want too large a plot—maybe 800–900 square meters (9,000–10,000 square feet)—as we are not really garden enthusiasts.
The size of the house should be between 130 and 140 square meters (1,400–1,500 square feet).
Considering the sharply rising energy costs, we want an energy-efficient house or passive house that can also be cooled in summer, as I have problems with hot weather. Since we don’t own a kitchen yet, this will need to be purchased. A small partial basement would be nice to do laundry and store things. Also, a double garage (with a small pit and/or lift and a small workshop). Oh, and underfloor heating inside the house. We both love wood. On the ground floor, all rooms except the living room, and in the upper floor bathrooms, should have tiles; the living room and other upper-floor rooms should have wooden floors. I would also really like to leave the upper wooden beams exposed.
My fiancé has already built a house once with his parents and is objectively not inexperienced; his family is the same. There are some tasks we would like to do ourselves, for example paving and installing interior doors. Also wallpapering and laying wooden floors.
I also dream of a plaster facade but have concerns about possible follow-up costs. We have already decided on clay bricks. Since we currently live in an attic apartment (which is actually quite lovely), I’m fed up with low sloping ceilings and therefore dream of a Tuscan-style house.
I am also wondering if I might want dark green window frames. By the way, I am aware that the house will probably have two stories. So much for the ideas so far.
Now I have about 1,000 questions running through my mind:
- How do I avoid ending up with a black sheep builder?
- How can I clearly separate contractor work from DIY work, so that in case of defects that aren’t our fault it’s clear who is responsible?
- Since we want to build with solar panels and so on, can we apply for any subsidies or incentives?
- Geothermal heat pumps are very popular, but don’t they consume a huge amount of electricity? Similar to night storage heaters?
- How do we find the right building plot for us? We’re afraid we might build and then not like the location (we’ve already had this problem when choosing our first apartment).
- How do we avoid expensive hidden costs with the plot, for example if building is difficult due to peat or other ground issues?
- Is a plaster facade really so expensive?
- Which DIY tasks actually save money and make sense to do yourself?
- What costs should we expect for creating a simple garden/site landscaping?
- How do I recognize harmful materials, paints, varnishes, etc.?
- What is better: plastic (PVC) windows or wooden windows?
- And the most important question is:
Are my plans even feasible with our budget and financing, or am I just building castles in the air?
Well, if you are dealing with the topic of building, you should first find out how the prices generally are. The best way to do this is by looking at catalog or modular homes. Even there, you won’t find a house for €150,000. There are thousands of websites providing information about what is important during construction and what expenses you can expect. You should actually study these before asking detailed questions here – then you would quickly realize that nowadays it is already difficult to build a house for €200,000 (house only), let alone significantly less.
No one here means any harm, it is just a fact that €150,000 will never be enough for a house. We don’t even need to get into details like KfW 70 energy standards.
Lawn and fence are the smallest part of the landscaping. With the mentioned investment of €10,000, you can prepare the plot and pave the driveway, terrace, etc. Ancillary building costs are not just temporary power supply and notary fees; they also include earthworks, utility connections (water, sewage, electricity, cable, telecom, etc.), surveying, soil reports, insurance, building permit / planning permission, property transfer tax, land registry entry, and possibly demolition work on the plot. So you should expect at least €35,000 for these costs.
Then you also need a new kitchen and possibly some new furniture, which will cost at least €10,000.
Let’s add this up:
€10,000 for landscaping,
€20,000 for the garage,
€35,000 for ancillary costs,
€10,000 for furnishings.
That leaves only €75,000 for land, basement, and the house itself. That’s not even enough for the land and building materials. Sorry!
No one here means any harm, it is just a fact that €150,000 will never be enough for a house. We don’t even need to get into details like KfW 70 energy standards.
Lawn and fence are the smallest part of the landscaping. With the mentioned investment of €10,000, you can prepare the plot and pave the driveway, terrace, etc. Ancillary building costs are not just temporary power supply and notary fees; they also include earthworks, utility connections (water, sewage, electricity, cable, telecom, etc.), surveying, soil reports, insurance, building permit / planning permission, property transfer tax, land registry entry, and possibly demolition work on the plot. So you should expect at least €35,000 for these costs.
Then you also need a new kitchen and possibly some new furniture, which will cost at least €10,000.
Let’s add this up:
€10,000 for landscaping,
€20,000 for the garage,
€35,000 for ancillary costs,
€10,000 for furnishings.
That leaves only €75,000 for land, basement, and the house itself. That’s not even enough for the land and building materials. Sorry!
Well, it’s normal to have some misconceptions at the beginning, but you also need to admit when you didn’t know better. We started out completely naively, thinking we could build for €200,000 (about $220,000).
By now, we have spent twice as much, and we don’t have a basement, no double garage, and the landscaping isn’t done yet either.
We completely overestimated how much a building plot actually costs, not realizing that asking prices often don’t reflect reality and that there are plenty of other expenses along the way. For example, just the electricity connection for construction cost us nearly €1,500 (about $1,650) with everything included… and that’s only one item on an endless list. Here €1,000 (about $1,100), there €1,500 (about $1,650), sometimes €800 (about $880), and suddenly you have €30,000 (about $33,000) less in your budget. No one tells you about these costs at the start because every seller just wants to get your signature first. The other costs are none of their concern, and they’ll say you should have known about them anyway.
Of course, we don’t know your financial situation, but with the knowledge you’ve gained here, the next step for you should be to have a financial consultation to determine what you can realistically afford. If the conclusion is €150,000 (about $165,000), your only option may be to buy an apartment or a pre-owned property—which at that price will likely be a major renovation project.
By now, we have spent twice as much, and we don’t have a basement, no double garage, and the landscaping isn’t done yet either.
We completely overestimated how much a building plot actually costs, not realizing that asking prices often don’t reflect reality and that there are plenty of other expenses along the way. For example, just the electricity connection for construction cost us nearly €1,500 (about $1,650) with everything included… and that’s only one item on an endless list. Here €1,000 (about $1,100), there €1,500 (about $1,650), sometimes €800 (about $880), and suddenly you have €30,000 (about $33,000) less in your budget. No one tells you about these costs at the start because every seller just wants to get your signature first. The other costs are none of their concern, and they’ll say you should have known about them anyway.
Of course, we don’t know your financial situation, but with the knowledge you’ve gained here, the next step for you should be to have a financial consultation to determine what you can realistically afford. If the conclusion is €150,000 (about $165,000), your only option may be to buy an apartment or a pre-owned property—which at that price will likely be a major renovation project.
Fortuna86 schrieb:
Hello,
my partner and I .....It's really quite funny to see such a list of numerous costly add-ons alongside the initial budget :o
(the questions do show a bit of experience after all)
I’m guessing this is a user who got scammed and blocked, and now wants to have a good rant here :p
I think no matter which construction company you choose, you have to budget around €1200/m² to €1400/m² (about $130/sq ft to $150/sq ft) for the house itself, so that’s already between €140,000 and €196,000.
Without land
Without garden
Without driveway
Without carport
Without basement
Without additional construction-related costs
Without notary fees
Without official fees
Without kitchen
Without furniture
Without painting
Without risks
I think the topic is unfortunately settled...
Before the first groundbreaking, we have already spent €35,000… Construction won’t start until August/September.
€250,000 to €300,000 is realistic…
Without land
Without garden
Without driveway
Without carport
Without basement
Without additional construction-related costs
Without notary fees
Without official fees
Without kitchen
Without furniture
Without painting
Without risks
I think the topic is unfortunately settled...
Before the first groundbreaking, we have already spent €35,000… Construction won’t start until August/September.
€250,000 to €300,000 is realistic…
Hello,
I can only agree with the previous speakers. With 150,000 euros it won’t work. For comparison: we are building a 180m² (1,938 sq ft) house. That’s somewhat larger, but as a basic rule, you can calculate at least 1,100 euros per m² (102 per sq ft). We are in the cheapest building area of Germany – Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen, Thüringen. Rural area. Apart from the plot of land costing 50,000 euros, we hope not to exceed 300,000 euros by much.
Even if we take the smaller option: 130m² (1,399 sq ft) x 1,100 euros = 143,000 euros, and that is just the house without any extras or a basement. That doesn’t include anything like energy-saving measures, site development, building plans, architect, authorities, building permit/planning permission, and so on, not to mention additional wishes. The facade will be the smallest issue here. Maybe you can do tiling and wallpapering yourself, but usually that’s where it ends. Possibly some electrical work if you know someone... All of this might save around 6,000 euros.
A few more tips: Maybe you can buy a finished semi-detached house somewhere for that price?
If you want to avoid unreliable contractors, the best thing is to look around places where new houses are being built. Just ask the homeowners! That’s the best method. I wouldn’t hesitate to simply knock on their doors. Most homeowners are proud of their new houses and happy to talk about their projects. If a company is good, word gets around quickly, and you’ll see several houses built by that company with satisfied customers in the area.
Good luck!
I can only agree with the previous speakers. With 150,000 euros it won’t work. For comparison: we are building a 180m² (1,938 sq ft) house. That’s somewhat larger, but as a basic rule, you can calculate at least 1,100 euros per m² (102 per sq ft). We are in the cheapest building area of Germany – Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen, Thüringen. Rural area. Apart from the plot of land costing 50,000 euros, we hope not to exceed 300,000 euros by much.
Even if we take the smaller option: 130m² (1,399 sq ft) x 1,100 euros = 143,000 euros, and that is just the house without any extras or a basement. That doesn’t include anything like energy-saving measures, site development, building plans, architect, authorities, building permit/planning permission, and so on, not to mention additional wishes. The facade will be the smallest issue here. Maybe you can do tiling and wallpapering yourself, but usually that’s where it ends. Possibly some electrical work if you know someone... All of this might save around 6,000 euros.
A few more tips: Maybe you can buy a finished semi-detached house somewhere for that price?
If you want to avoid unreliable contractors, the best thing is to look around places where new houses are being built. Just ask the homeowners! That’s the best method. I wouldn’t hesitate to simply knock on their doors. Most homeowners are proud of their new houses and happy to talk about their projects. If a company is good, word gets around quickly, and you’ll see several houses built by that company with satisfied customers in the area.
Good luck!
E
einfachichKO9 Jul 2013 12:20Fortuna86 schrieb:
I sincerely apologize for this chaotic text. I don’t understand why so many words are joined together. I created the text in Word, and there the words are properly separated. I also did not apply any different fonts. I would like to fix this, but I can no longer edit the text. I hope it’s still possible to make sense of it somehow.
------------------
done :-)
Maybe you should write directly in this window; when you paste and copy, the spacing seems to get compressed on your end.
Regards, Building Expert
Building ExpertCopying and pasting texts created in Word often causes this kind of chaos because Word uses code that HTML cannot display correctly.
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