Single-family house in the Baden area.

As soon as you enter the house of Carina and Jonas, you notice something: This house has warmth. A different form of life energy. Is it due to the warm welcome, the beautiful summer day, the honey-colored wide oak floorboards, or the peculiarities of the building itself? We ask … "The warmth in this case comes from the wooden floor. Because the heating is turned off," laughs Carina. However, the ceiling cooling is activated, which is only noticeable at a second glance on the ceiling. The recessed panel looks like an architectural design element. Completely invisible: The wall heating/cooling, with which all the exterior walls of the building are clad. But more on that later. Carina serves coffee. From the portafilter machine. No aluminum coffee capsules. That is no coincidence either. Love for enjoyment, individualism, and craftsmanship are noticeable throughout the room. "We like to do as much as possible ourselves," says Jonas. "We are the climate change generation. You could also say: Homebuilders 3.0." Away from the throwaway society. Towards sustainability. Gifted and used furniture instead of mass-produced goods. Even the beautiful wooden door of the outbuilding is self-made. Unusual for the consumer age? No. The throwaway society that established itself after World War II has slowly reached its peak. The civilizational sins of the last 70 years are now becoming apparent. The challenges for the young generation have radically changed in the last three years. Pandemic, climate change, war in Europe. The consequences: massive price increases. Supply bottlenecks. Inflation. Exploding material costs, construction costs, and energy costs. Residential areas are becoming more and more dense. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find free building plots to build on yourself. Affordable housing is in demand – but even subsidized row houses are enormously expensive. Young people, in particular, who want to move in together, get married, and have children, are confronted with this. "I think we were very lucky to have caught everything so well beforehand," says Carina. Beforehand. That was just two years ago.

"Starting to build today has become difficult. The prices of many materials are a third or even twice as expensive as they were a few months ago. Many of our friends can no longer build. They either can't find a plot or it's unaffordable due to construction costs. But that also brings new aspects. Many decide to buy an old house and renovate it."

Due to the pandemic, living in the countryside has gained even more importance. Home office makes it possible. This is also noticeable in rising real estate prices on the outskirts and further afield. Life and work have changed. "Vienna is a great city. But many of our friends are looking for new living opportunities. One, for example, has found a house share. A house with a garden in the countryside, shared by several people. A good solution. These are not easy times right now. If we hadn't been lucky two years ago, we would probably have renovated an old house too. But the long-term costs of a thermally renovated old building are still enormous compared to a house like ours. But the rent for a larger apartment in Vienna costs just as much as the loan for a house in the countryside. And eventually, it belongs to you. So it's worth thinking long-term." "We are fortunately also very interested in craftsmanship and have done as much as possible ourselves," Jonas adds. Installed door frames, plastered, painted, just everything. For those who don't have this talent and have to pay for every hand movement, it becomes expensive. Everything we can do, we do ourselves. We watch YouTube videos and tutorials, and then it works." By the way, Carina completely planned the house herself:

"I am 24 and work as a kindergarten teacher. Jonas is 26, a trained mechanical engineer, and works as a technician. We didn't want to afford an architect. So I searched for and found an app and designed everything myself."

The building was finally constructed from prefabricated parts in a timber frame construction. "Our house is a combination of a prefabricated house and individualism. We obtained many serious offers, looked at many houses, and finally found the right provider with whom this flexibility was possible. For example, we saved most of the interior cladding with plasterboard and instead immediately installed the Variotherm wall and ceiling module panels. Everything is so seamlessly integrated that you don't even notice it in the wall thickness. The distances of the wooden studs were set so that we could mount the module panels without additional effort. This way, we were able to save 20% of the construction costs. Instead, we relied on the advice of the Variotherm professionals and invested in extremely energy-efficient building technology." Through his family connection, Jonas carries the Variotherm DNA in his blood. He grew up with a different way of thinking and approach to heating and cooling. Therefore, he naturally brings a great basic understanding of building technology. At least that's what we thought. "That's not quite true," Jonas objects. "I would simply describe myself as a practitioner. Of course, my sense of sustainability is pronounced. But I entrusted the technical dimensioning of our building technology to my brother Aaron, who works at Variotherm. The knowledge of building technology today is so complex and diverse. It requires experienced installers and drywall builders who really deal with it daily and are really knowledgeable." However, knowledge about house building is well available today through assembly videos and tutorials. Carina and Jonas also use this cloud intelligence: "Watch a YouTube clip and it works. That's how we installed our doors ourselves, for example. All it takes is confidence in your own abilities. And then just do it." The two did without a basement. "In terms of cost, the basement is the most expensive room in house construction due to excavation and insulation against moisture. It doesn't pay off. And once you have it, you fill it with stuff. The same goes for the attic," Jonas is convinced.

"Our gable roof is open upwards and activated with a ceiling heating/cooling without a cavity above. Instead, we have a small outbuilding with a workshop, storage room, and a small garden bar when friends come to visit. We prefer to invite our friends to the garden for a cocktail rather than down to a basement lounge."

Doing without a basement and attic is also a commitment against consumer compulsion. "We don't hoard anything. What we don't need is sold and goes into the cycle of reuse. If you look around us, there's actually almost nothing that we bought new. We took the furniture from our old apartment with us. The wardrobe was given to us. We got the refrigerator second-hand. We clearly distinguish between things where it makes sense to buy them only once. For example, the kitchen. We value durability in our furnishings. And we have time and patience. It doesn't have to be all fixed and finished right away. That's why we also do many things ourselves. The combination of individual parts contributes more to individuality and the feel-good character than a sterile interior from the catalog," says Jonas. The living area is spacious – but not oversized. The room acoustics are pleasant. "The quality of life is completely different than in our old apartment. You prefer to get up. You prefer to stay at home. You just feel more welcome. Our apartment was very small, cramped, but somehow cozy because of that. In the house, we have significantly more space and room to breathe. I needed a little adjustment period to arrive due to the change. But soon I found my cozy corner as my favorite spot here too. I really enjoy the wall heating there," says Carina. "You quickly get used to this new comfort," Jonas agrees. "How uncomfortable a room climate can be only becomes consciously noticeable again when you're somewhere else." For Carina, every day in the house begins beautifully.

"I step out of the shower onto the pleasantly warm floor. When I look out the window, I see the little squirrels frolicking. Then I always discover something new in the garden. Sometimes we even have a visit from a deer."

"What is really super pleasant is the cooling in summer," says Carina. "In the first year, we overdid it a bit with the cooling because we were so enthusiastic about it," she laughs.

Building Balance and Energy Costs

Monthly Operating Costs: 80 Euros

By the way, the two moved into the construction site. What was finished? "The floor. We finished it the day before. The kitchen. The bathroom without cabinets and sink. The only door in the house was an old toilet door. The only thing that was really finished was the building technology. We moved in during the cold season and had nothing. But it was beautiful."

Regarding building technology. A brine-water heat pump with two deep boreholes and a photovoltaic system is installed. All combined with a Variotherm underfloor heating, wall heating/cooling, ceiling heating/cooling. The system runs completely autonomously throughout the year. What many young builders will be interested in: What did the house cost?

"Quantifying the total costs doesn't make much sense for comparability. Depending on the plot, location, and house size, it's different everywhere. But what matters: Our house is about 150 m². The two deep boreholes, each 70 meters, cost about 10,000 euros. Likewise, the 6 kWp photovoltaic system. The rest of the building technology with the brine-water heat pump and the Variotherm complete systems amounted to about 50,000 euros."

Compared to the total construction costs, the building technology takes up a relatively high value. But there are also subsidies for it. The running costs are then so low that it is simply more than worth it in the long run. Regarding energy costs: "So far, we had monthly costs of 66 euros. Due to the oil and gas crisis and electricity price increase, it is now 80 euros," the young couple calculates.

"Our total costs for electricity, heating, and hot water preparation amount to around 960 euros – for the whole year."