Cost Estimate for Building a Single-Family House in 2024

During our research, we found it challenging to find reliable comparison values, especially in times like these, characterized by rising interest rates, construction cost explosions, and other challenges. Many of the figures found online no longer reflect today's reality. Therefore, we want to transparently share our own costs and estimates for building our single-family house in northern Bavaria (Germany) in 2024.

Land Costs

We have already detailed the specifics of our land search in our article "The Search for the Perfect Plot". Fortunately, we were able to purchase the land directly from a private seller, without the need for a real estate agent, saving us the payment of a commission. In addition to the land costs, there were, of course, further expenses for the notary, property transfer tax, and land registry entry.

Development

As the property is located in a new development area, water, sewage, electricity, and fiber optic connections are already available directly at the site. However, in addition to clearing various hedges, sewer connections and supply lines need to be installed on the property.

Ancillary Construction Costs

Ancillary construction costs include all planning expenses (architect fees, structural engineer, energy consultation, soil analysis), required inspections, and insurances needed for construction.

Building Structures

The main item encompasses the construction of the building, including all earthworks (especially due to the sloping terrain, large amounts of earth need to be moved), the shell construction, as well as all interior and exterior finishing work.

Technical Installations

A modern house naturally requires a variety of technical installations. These include heating systems, ventilation systems, all electrical installations, network cabling, and plumbing work. Due to the extremely hard water, we also plan to install a water softening system. Additionally, to charge electric vehicles and reduce overall electricity costs, a photovoltaic system with >15kWp will be installed on the roof.

Exterior Facilities

The design of the exterior facilities is not urgent at the moment, so we will initially prioritize them lower on our list. Since the garage is already integrated into the main building, we are currently only planning the external staircase from the loggia to the garden and the terrace flooring for the loggia during the construction phase. For the garden, paved driveway, pathway to the house, terrace at garden level, and landscaping of the front yard, we are initially budgeting with a lump sum of €50,000. However, we will certainly contribute some of the work ourselves.

Total

It will certainly be exciting to see if we can adhere to the architects' cost estimate. As is customary in construction, actual costs can easily increase. This can be caused by unexpected problems during construction or the homeowner's desire for higher-quality furnishings than originally planned. Fortunately, there is some flexibility in the budget, but of course, one prefers to spend the money on interior furnishings.

In the end, all costs above included, the total price of this project will be a little more than 1 million Euros. During the planning and construction phase, we are tracking all our costs on the Costs Page, for full transparency.