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Building a Home DIY

Our Munich Home Building Experience

5 months ago

I'm thrilled to share with you the journey of building our dream home in Munich. This project, stretching over two years, has been a labor of love, innovation, and persistence, combining modern design with practical living.

Our Unique Home Concept

Our house is a square structure, shared among four families, each occupying a corner. This design fosters both privacy and a sense of community. We've paid meticulous attention to every detail, from the layout of the communal areas to the private spaces within our home.

Overcoming Construction Challenges

The journey was far from straightforward. We navigated through numerous challenges, including stringent local regulations and meticulous planning to make the most of Munich's valuable land. Our approach was to blend functionality with aesthetic appeal, ensuring every inch of space was utilized efficiently.

Key Features of Our Home

Innovative Waste Management: We've implemented a system with individual garbage bins for each apartment, coupled with a communal solution for organic waste, keeping our living environment clean and orderly.
Smart Home Integration: Our home boasts of modern technologies like a centralized floor heating system, controllable via a QR code for easy adjustments.
Thoughtful Interior Design: The heart of our home is the main hall, soon to be our kitchen, designed to be both inviting and functional. It epitomizes our approach to combining comfort with practicality.

The Unfinished Yet Promising Path Ahead

Our story is still unfolding, with plans to complete the landscaping and terrace. We're committed to making our home not just a living space, but a testament to modern, sustainable, and communal living.

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Comments (5)

worthy
5 months ago
A small apartment building? A communal house? What is the ownership structure? Co-op? Condo? Freehold?
Alex S
Original Author
5 months ago
It is free hold house. We have a quarter and own land plot. Just like townhouse but not in a row
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Where can I cut costs on new home build based on your experience?
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Comments (28)
Pick out the wow factor item in your house early in the process and then design around it so you don't have various items all competing for attention with each other. If you have the knockout fireplace, surround it with simplicity so it can be enjoyed. Use classic materials like oak floors, but don't go crazy and pick extra wide pieces that are more expensive to install. Use whatever roofing material which is typical in your area, not some unusual material that requires extra training to install. Keep the size on the smaller side of average for your area. There is always a good demand for well designed, normal sized houses. Combine functions where practical and avoid duplicate spaces...breakfast room, kitchen island with stools and a separate dining room is just unnecessary. Skip the guest suite if you don't have guests often and design a builtin Murphy bed in the den or office for occasional use. Don't go crazy with the master suite...a fireplace in the bedroom is not necessary, nor is a shower big enough to fit a queen sized bed. If separate closets are important to you, include them but don't just blindly add that item to the list because you have seen it in some model home Analyze your lifestyle and how you live in your current house as you will probably continue many of the same habits in the new space. No need for a fancy stove and scads of counterspace if you don't like to cook.
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How to document house building experience
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Comments (11)
We have a blog: http://bamasotan.us I use MarsEdit for posting which makes things a bit easier and less time consuming than Wordpress alone. We also have Instagram though I've not updated it lately. Immediate family and a couple of friends are also part of an Apple photos shared folder where we share quick snaps occasionally. For yourself it's important to take lots and lots of photos and notes about the build, write notes about every meeting with builder, architect or anyone else involved (amazing how quickly details are forgotten). It's also a good idea to followup phone conversations w/ an email to make sure everyone is thinking the same thing and for any discussion later after everyone has forgotten what was said.
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Not our 1st home, but advice for our 1st experience building a home
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Comments (25)
Hi, David, Given that your stated preference for choosing a stock plan, I suggest you have three basic options with regard to selecting the land: 1. ) Pick the land and then find a plan to suit. 2.) Pick the plan and then find land to suit. 3.) A hybrid of 1.) and 2.) Include a study period as a contingency in any land purchase offer. The study period enables you to consult with various professionals to assess the feasibility of your project. If, for whatever reason it's not feasible, you get to walk away and don't get stuck with a piece of dirt. Keep in mind your total investment includes land cost, survey/architectural design/engineering cost, site development cost, home construction cost, landscaping, and any decorating such as window treatments. If you have Realtors involved, be aware they'll expect (okay, the right word is "demand") a referral fee for recommending builders and it's likely to be one of those hush-hush, under-the-table costs. Get real-world cost information for each category and test your budget against reality so you don't end up owning land that you can't build on because you overspent on that category and don't have enough money to build the home you want on it. Real-world design cost information comes from architects and designers who do that work for a living. Real-world site work comes from site work contractors who do that for a living. Real-world construction cost information comes from builders who do that work for a living. Get your cost information from the wrong sources and you can end up with an unpleasant "surprise."
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Building our home in winter- foundation question
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Comments (21)
It may be helpful to differentiate the components of a cast-in-place concrete foundation: A concrete footing and a cast-in-place concrete foundation wall. Typically, the foundation wall is constructed on a previously constructed concrete footing. It is important that the footing not be placed on frozen ground or risk shifting and settling afterwards. I suspect the builder is referring to chemical additives which can be added to the concrete during formulation to lower the freezing point. That affects the concrete, but it doesn't do anything with respect to frozen ground.
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worthy
5 months ago
So each owner has a 1/4 interest in the entire property? Or only in the unit they occupy? And how can the owners transfer that interest?

Ownership of a townhouse here (Canada) can be a condominium, freehold or co-op.

I'm not familiar with the German land ownership system.
Alex S
Original Author
5 months ago
I can easilly answer any questions in comments section under the video. We moved from Canada so can share and compare thoughts
J Sk
5 months ago
last modified: 5 months ago
I believe it's like in Poland. Even if it's a town house, you owe your part of the house and part of the land and very often there is no HOA. It's like just owning your own house and you are responsible for for everything, maintaing the house itself, landscaping and since it's no HOA nobody bothers you with anything. Land is very often separated by the fence at townhouses giving you sense of privacy

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