What does a garden home cost?

A garden home (mantelzorgwoning) from us costs between €95,900 and €195,900 including VAT, depending on the model. That is the home itself, including transport to your address. The foundation and the utility connections for water, electricity and sewerage come on top, and what those cost depends on your garden.

On most sites you will find a range of €60,000 to €150,000 here. A range like that is always correct and does not help you at all. That is why our own prices per model are shown below, with the size alongside, so you can check what you get for your money.

Our prices per model

The size in this table is the gross floor area: the external dimensions of the home, and that is also the figure your municipality uses for what may stand on your plot. The usable living area is lower, usually by ten to fifteen per cent, and is shown for each model on the model page alongside the floor area per room.

All amounts include 21% VAT and include transport. On the model pages the amount excluding VAT is shown underneath. For the Koolmees (44.5 m²) the price has not yet been set; it is available on request.

What the price per square metre does and does not tell you

Check the table and something stands out: the price per square metre is between €2,200 and €2,500 for almost every model, whatever the size. The Albatros 70 is the cheapest at €2,213 per metre, even though it is the largest home.

That is because the expensive parts cost the same in every home. A bathroom costs the same in a home of 42 square metres as in one of 82, and the same goes for the kitchen, the meter cupboard, the heating system and the utility connections. What you pay extra for a larger model is mainly floor and façade, and per metre that is the cheapest part of a home.

The exception is the Lepelaar at €2,734 per metre, and there is a reason for it: that model has no open-plan living space but a separate kitchen, living room, guest room, hall, separate toilet and storeroom. More walls, more doors, more installation points. So there you are not paying for square metres but for the layout.

In practice this means two things. Do not look at the price per metre on its own but at what is inside the home. And do not let a jump of a few square metres decide your choice: it costs relatively little, and regret over five square metres lasts longer than the price difference.

What is not included in the price

The prices above include transport to your address. Three further items come on top, which we can only estimate once we have seen your plot.

• The foundation. Which type is needed depends on the subsoil. Sandy soil calls for something different from peat.
• The utility connections for water, electricity and sewerage. These are connected to the existing services of the main house, and the costs rise almost in direct proportion to the length of the run. If the home stands ten metres from the meter cupboard, you dig ten metres. If it stands at the back of a deep garden, that becomes forty metres, with everything in between in the way of paving, planting or a patio that has to be put back.
• The spot in the garden and access. The home arrives in one piece on a lorry. If the lorry cannot get close enough, a larger crane is needed, and that crane also needs somewhere to stand.

We deliberately do not put an amount on this. A garden with the meter cupboard four metres away and a driveway the lorry can use is a completely different story from a back garden that can only be reached via the neighbouring plot and where forty metres of pipes and cables have to go into the ground. Any site that gives you one figure here is guessing. We measure it up and put it in a separate quote, so you can see what you are paying for.

An example with real figures

Suppose you choose the Kievit, our L-shaped model of 46.1 m² with a living room of 21.4 m², a bedroom of 10.3 m², a step-free bathroom of 4.5 m² and its own storeroom of 6.5 m². The standard version costs €101,570 excluding VAT. Multiplied by 1.21 that comes to €122,900 including VAT.

If you choose a different finish, kitchen or bathroom, that amount changes. On top of that come the foundation and the utility connections, for which you receive a separate quote from us after the site visit.

Which model suits your situation

For one occupant who mainly lives on the ground floor and does not have many visitors, the Zwaluw of 42 m² gross is spacious enough. If you want a guest bed or spend a lot of time in the living room, you will end up with the Kievit or the Albatros 50. The Roodborst and the larger versions are intended for two occupants or for someone bringing a lot of belongings from a family house.

The practical limit is usually not your budget but your garden. What may stand permit-free depends on the size of your plot and on the outbuildings already on it. So first do the free permit check for your address. There is little point in choosing a model that does not fit.

And if you want a larger home

The bird series runs from 42 m² (Zwaluw) to 82.5 m² gross (Nachtegaal). In addition there is the Albatros Collection: four architectural models of 40 to 70 m² gross, with two bedrooms from the 50 upwards. These are also listed with their starting price in the table above. When people search for 100 m², it is usually a home for two people with a guest room; building larger is possible as a custom design, but in practice the limit is rarely what we can make.

That limit is your plot. What may stand permit-free depends on the size of your back garden area and on the sheds and extensions already there. On an average plot you reach that limit well before you get to 100 m². So do the check first and only then talk about sizes.

What else it means for your money

The purchase price is not the whole story. Four questions come up in almost every conversation around the kitchen table, and we have worked them out separately.

• Can you finance it with a mortgage, for example from the equity in the main house.
• Whether a subsidy is possible, and through which scheme.
• What it does to the WOZ value (the official property valuation set by your municipality) of your own home, and therefore to your tax assessment.
• What the home is worth when the care ends. We buy back our own homes, so with us that amount is not an estimate.

Buying or renting

Renting is also possible. With us it starts at around €1,100 per month, and what you pay exactly depends on the size of the home and the term. Installation and foundation are separate from that, just as with a purchase. The contract renews automatically until you give notice.

Renting is usually worthwhile if you do not have the amount available at once or have no room left in the equity of your home. If you know that the care will last longer than five years or so and you can afford it, buying usually works out cheaper. Ask about it in a conversation and we will work it out for your situation.

Can you get it cheaper

Yes, in two ways. The first is a smaller model, with the caveat above that you do not always pay less per square metre. The second is a second-hand garden home. We buy back our own homes when the care ends, refurbish them and offer them again. That saves a considerable amount, and you know where the home comes from.

What does not work is cutting costs on the foundation or the utility connections. Those are the items that are most expensive to put right later, and they are underneath or behind the home.