ᐅ Semi-detached house with a budget of approximately €350,000

Hello everyone,

My partner and I are planning to build a semi-detached house.

We already own the plot of land. We have a budget of about €45,000 (approximately $48,000) for additional construction costs. The costs for the kitchen and fireplace are also covered. We have around €350,000 (approximately $370,000) left for the house and garage. Our desired specifications for the house are roughly as follows:

• Basement, ground floor, first floor, and a finished attic
• Living area starting from 160 sqm (1,720 sq ft)
• Maximum exterior dimensions: 6.50 m x 12.50 m (21 ft 4 in x 41 ft)
• Many floor-to-ceiling windows
• Possibly a bay window or conservatory
• Small gable dormers
• Parquet flooring in all living areas
• High-quality tiles and bathroom fixtures
• Guest WC on the ground floor
• Bathrooms on the first floor and attic with walk-in showers. The bathroom on the first floor also includes a bathtub
• LED spotlights in all ceilings and on the walls of the stairwell
• Built-in radios in the bathrooms and kitchen
• Electric roller shutters
• Underfloor heating
• Bus system to control lighting, roller shutters, and underfloor heating
• Open kitchen/living area with a panoramic fireplace as a room divider
• Multimedia outlets
• Walk-in closet in the master bedroom

Is our desired specification feasible within the stated budget of about €350,000 (approximately $370,000) just for the house? What additional features should we consider including?

Thanks for the feedback

Jay

Hello, I am not involved with the cost side of construction, but in principle, the budget is not bad. However, I am not sure if it can really be realized financially at that price. The current bus systems are unfortunately all quite expensive (5,000-10,000€ is quite normal for such a build). Also, the question is whether, as a layperson, you will be able to modify it later according to your wishes, or if you will always need a technician for that.

Regarding high-quality tiles and sanitary fixtures: there is practically no upper limit => So you should inform yourself in advance about the costs and whether you WANT to afford it.

About the flush-mounted radios: we bought a wooden panel that looks like our cabinets and routed a recess in it for a car radio. Car radios can be easily replaced if they break, and they usually offer much better functionality and price compared to typical built-in systems. We have not had any problems with humidity so far (despite having a clothes dryer and bathtub in the same room). I can absolutely recommend this solution.

PS: So far, I have not seen a shower that is not walk-in. That is a basic feature of a shower (at least in my opinion). Maybe you meant level-access walk-in?

Another practical tip: motion detectors instead of light switches are very convenient. In living areas, a suspended ceiling (a few centimeters) with LED strips looks great and works very well as passive lighting in the evening while watching TV, thanks to dimmability. It is also not particularly expensive. These can also be controlled via LAN cabling using a laptop or smartphone.

If you want something more modern for the front door lock, avoid cheap fingerprint or RFID readers from eBay, as these integrate the reading and evaluation unit and are therefore completely insecure. But there are definitely good systems available that can be recommended.

Have you already given more important considerations some thought?

How do you envision your floor plan?

It’s best not to forget to plan 2-3 cable ducts in different places in the house to make future upgrades (e.g., retrofitting networks, electrical lines, etc.) easier to implement.

Wet rooms (bath, WC, etc.) should be stacked so you only need one vertical pipe run.

Floor-to-ceiling windows: Have you thought about how much energy you want to consume at most for heating? Walls have significantly less heat loss than windows. Therefore, you should make a reasonable decision here and have it calculated carefully. Basically, window frames have a much worse U-value than the glass areas => The bigger the window (considered as a whole), the better. Still, as mentioned, a wall performs better in terms of insulation.

What exactly do you mean by “multimedia sockets”?

Also highly recommended: plan empty conduits in the walls at strategically important locations so you don’t have to tear open the entire wall for a simple retrofitted socket. Maybe you want to retrofit a wired alarm system later? You should prepare for that as well (either lay cables directly or plan empty conduits).

PS: Especially extras often cost additional money that is not planned (e.g., stainless steel railings, etc.).

For IT infrastructure, it would be good to have additional empty conduits in every room. You never know what the future will bring (TVs with LAN ports, maybe something else in the future?). This way, the house can also be quickly upgraded to a modern standard in 50 years.

What about devices like a centrally installed vacuum system? It saves a lot of lugging and noise.

I think you should first develop clearer ideas about the house before focusing on how much it will cost.

Best regards, Thomas

Sorry, but first you should consider the living area. Then, in this forum, you will find the brutal truth about how much a house costs—standard features versus upscale. I can’t find the link right now, you’ll have to look it up yourself.
Just a rough estimate...
Oh, now I see 160+ (meters). I think the factor is 1650 € (about 1650 USD)... 264,000 € (about 264,000 USD) plus basement plus garage plus landscaping (you have listed additional construction costs separately).
The bus system, gable, and conservatory are probably extra.
I would reconsider a fireplace room divider—there is usually not enough space for it.

For the fittings, the factor for the well-equipped areas (ground floor, upper floor) is between 2000 and 2500 € (approx. $2200 to $2750), and for the secondary rooms plus attic and basement, it is around 1500 € (approx. $1650).

However, it depends on what exactly will finally be installed... The values above are not based on experience but on somewhat older figures we received during training, so they may vary.

With about 350,000 € (approx. $385,000), he will be doing quite well if most of the other major expenses are accounted for separately.

Best regards

Hello Jay,

Neonjay14 schrieb:

My partner and I are planning to build a semi-detached house. Our desired layout looks roughly like this for the house.

• Basement, ground floor, first floor, finished attic
• Living area starting from 160 sqm (1,722 sq ft)
• Maximum exterior dimensions: 6.50 m x 12.50 m (21 ft 4 in x 41 ft)
• Many floor-to-ceiling windows
• Possibly a bay window/conservatory
• Small gables
• Parquet flooring in all living areas
• High-quality tiles and sanitary fittings
• Guest toilet on the ground floor
• Bathrooms on the first floor and attic with walk-in showers; bathroom on the first floor with a bathtub
• LED spotlights in all ceilings and in the walls of the stairwell
• Built-in radios in the bathrooms and kitchen
• Electric roller shutters
• Underfloor heating
• Bus system for controlling lights, roller shutters, and underfloor heating
• Open kitchen/living area with a panoramic fireplace as a room divider
• Multimedia sockets
• Walk-in closet in the master bedroom

Is our plan feasible with the indicated budget of about 350,000 purely for the house? What else should be considered in terms of fittings?

In the Rhineland, I would just barely say yes for a semi-detached house with the features mentioned, with a purely usable basement but without a garage, assuming we are talking about a plastered façade.

It now largely depends on where exactly in Bavaria you want to build. This region is generally more expensive, both in materials and labor; you can expect about 10% higher costs here.

Best regards, Bauexperte

Could you please share the offer price? We also plan to build near Munich and are considering a similar setup to yours (10x10m (33x33 ft) footprint, 160m² (1,722 sq ft) living space, bay window, basement, ground floor, upper floor, many floor-to-ceiling windows, double garage, large bathroom, underfloor heating, controlled ventilation system, external staircase to the basement, etc.). However, the offers we have received exceed your budget by more than 10%... and ours as well 🙄