ᐅ Small house with 45 sqm on an 867 sqm plot in Löwenberger, Brandenburg

Hello and good evening, dear forum users,

I’m really happy to have found this forum and hope to get some good advice and experiences:

I am considering a beautiful plot in a forest settlement in Brandenburg, Löwenberger Land, with an area of 867 sqm (9330 sq ft), built with a 45 sqm (484 sq ft) solid small house made of stone-for-stone for €59,000. The house has been completely renovated and is ready to move in immediately. The attic features a charming bedroom with a balcony; downstairs there is a living room with a dining area and an adjacent kitchen, a small bathroom with a bathtub, a partial basement, and a covered terrace, which I would like to enclose in order to add another room. The little house essentially has everything I want in a home—just on a smaller scale. The plot is designated as building land, so it is possible to extend the house at any time.

Now my question to you: What do you think of this offer and idea? Is it generally more affordable to add an extension to a small house than to build new? Based on your experience, can one estimate roughly the costs for an extension (one room in timber frame construction)?

Looking forward to your answers and wishing you a great holiday.

Best regards,
Sunny

How old is the existing building? The reason for asking is that if the house is older, the settlement is usually less than with a relatively new one. Therefore, you might face additional problems with uneven settlement when adding an extension.

For your project, a sketch might be helpful so that everyone understands what you mean, how large the addition will be, and how, for example, the extension could be constructed.

Without more detailed information, hardly anyone will be able to provide an estimate of the costs or feasibility.

But with that price, I’m curious about the value of the land alone, and so on.

It seems very affordable to me, even if it is quite small.

Best regards

Good morning,

Thank you very much for your reply. Please find attached the link to the property I am interested in. The house was built in 1989. I would like to receive feedback or personal experiences from everyone familiar with such projects.

I am wondering whether it makes more sense to invest more money upfront in a larger house or if I can make a bargain with this property and add 1-2 rooms later.

I look forward to your responses.

So… first of all, the age of the house doesn’t really matter when it comes to settlement. Houses don’t settle every year; to put it differently, houses settle once and that’s it. A 100-year-old house wouldn’t settle by 1 meter (3.3 feet) either! That’s that.

Now, architects or engineers might disagree, but they should prove it with one of their designed projects, along with the soil report and the structural engineering plans!

A 45 m² (484 ft²) footprint means about 56 m² (603 ft²) built-up area. Adding roughly the same amount for the upper floor (first floor) gives you approximately 110 m² (1,184 ft²) gross floor area (GFA). If newly built, including demolition, it would cost up to 130,000 EUR. Of course, this depends on which utility connections are already in place or need to be installed. I’m talking about a turnkey project with a boiler and radiators, assuming all connections exist and no new ones have to be added.

If you plan a house measuring 10 x 10 meters (33 x 33 feet), so 100 m² (1,076 ft²) footprint plus the upper floor, you get about 200 m² (2,153 ft²) GFA (without a basement). The upper floor would have knee walls, topped with a pitched roof. This would cost a maximum of 250,000 EUR.

Including land costs and additional expenses, the total would be around 320,000 EUR. Please don’t try to calculate differently here—these numbers are rounded up or down. That’s how much a new build costs; now you can compare it with an extension, where you’ll never properly seal the connections between new and old, especially if the basement is also being expanded.

I would ask the local authorities about the permissible plot ratio and how many dwellings or units are allowed on the property. Then, if feasible, I would build two single-family houses and sell the second one for profit.

Best regards,
Ingo

The length of time the house has been standing there is indeed very relevant, because settlements of a building do not occur suddenly during construction and then stop; rather, settlements happen quickly at first and then gradually slow down, but never completely cease. Anyone with some knowledge in this area should be aware of this (keyword: settlement model according to Terzaghi).

If the soil beneath a new construction is compacted significantly differently than the soil under an older house, large problems may arise at the transition area due to cracks and resulting leaks.

Best regards

I think Terzaghi has been long gone, and the small house of the original poster has also been standing for some time now... A geotechnical engineer or a structural engineer can definitely answer a question like this.

How much will a house that has been standing in the same place for 20 years still settle? Can you answer that, @Thomas463? Probably not.

Regardless of settlement, anyone with expertise can, even if not exactly, roughly estimate the costs.

This is exactly what I love about Germany... If you go to three different architects with the same floor plan, you get three different prices and countless warnings about potential risks... People say, “You have to be careful here,” or “You have to watch out there.” It’s enough to make anyone nervous when they want to build a house. And everyone thinks they know better.

With this attitude, Conny Reimann would be no further ahead than before he emigrated!