it All starts with a grey base plate. The flat component is displayed on a large screen, and lies without sense in the digital space. Then Nils Olov Boback presses a button, and everything goes very quickly. Pre-cut wall profiles to float down and make a basement.
another plate on top of it, and fly towards a large flat stone blocks, shapes, hallways and rooms. “The process is always the same,” says Boback. He is the boss of the construction company Bonava in Fürstenwalde, the largest apartment project developer in Germany.
With the pace of its on-screen animation can compete Boback. The multi-family house made up of pixels will be done faster than you can describe it. Of course, it is only a computer display. However, Boback, a native Swede, and since the age of 17 Bonava-managing Director, it’s about the principle. In order to keep the construction costs low, again and again, similar components and methods of Manufacturing used.
Always the same connection techniques and wall parts made of lime Sandstone. “On the construction site is hardly cut anything,” says Boback. “The delivered parts are a priori suitable, and numbered – a bit like Lego.”
Affordable housing is scarce
With this type of Lego design are around 2500 Bonava-apartments every year. In row houses, town houses and larger house types, in and around Berlin, Leipzig, Aachen, Mannheim, Germany, in Düsseldorf, Germany, in Heidelberg or around Frankfurt/Main. On the Aesthetics of the simple structure can certainly argue. But at least Bonava with the block technique was able to keep the costs reasonably low. Until now.
“Our newly built condos cost in the year 2013 in the sale for an average of 3000 euros per square meter,” says Boback. Even in a relatively good suburban locations, such as in the Rhine-Main area. Today, however, there are 4000 Euro.
other housing companies set the prices each year to the top – because of rising land costs, more expensive components and constructional requirements. And because the needed for this craft are busy commercial and higher invoices.
Affordable housing, new buildings are practically non-existent. Or only for high earners. The cost for the construction of new residential buildings are not as strong as in the past eleven years. In August, the prices rose by 4.6 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical office reported on Wednesday.
A bigger Plus in this quarterly statistics were last updated end of 2007, with 5.7 percent. The prices for structural work of residential buildings rose by 5.8 per cent, for Mason work, or 5.4 percent. And the within a year.
For Boback is the reason for the price rise, not least the lack of staff. Bonava employs even their own builders, but is still dependent on foreign contractors, and, above all, on young. “The construction industry has formed over many years of too few new experts. The now not within two or three years to correct,“ he says.
Only special tasks for craftsmen
Still, he wants to increase the sales. Finally, new homes are desperately needed everywhere. “There are less and less workers. Who should then build the houses?“ He’s out of the picture even, now also refugees. “But that will not be sufficient to cover the demand. Therefore, we are hard at work, robots on construction.“
Soon, so the machine could replace humans on the construction. Faster than the new offspring. There are scenarios in which you declared only a Computer, which wants to build a house. A program calculates everything, makes the planning of and instructs.
But this is future music. In Bonavas Lego-System, it is likely to go faster: “I could imagine that we are building in two years, the first residential building by using Baurobotern,” says Boback.
That, because there is already Mini-cranes are in use, the large sand-lime bricks with a weight of 300 kg to the room walls and stacking. Small-scale Masonry with 240 mm long hole bricks and tons of mortar, belongs to this beautiful thing of the past.
Now it is necessary to replace only the one who controls the device, the so-called Offset. By smart Software, artificial intelligence. In the not-too-distant future, so machines in the shells could go over there and fro, and the walls high. Maybe also cable – and Pipeline laying. Only for the special expansion of the craftsmen would work then.
construction costs in ten years, tripled
Not only Bonava grappling with rising construction costs. Other providers that build traditionally for the lower income classes, can use their previous clientele. For example, the Bien-Ries AG, a construction company in the Rhine-Main region, the building of smaller units and single-family homes. “In 2008 we had the pure production costs of around 850 euros per square meter,” says Board member Wolfgang Ries, “even including the underground garage.
Although not in Central locations, but on the edge of a Metropolitan centre, for example, in 20 km distance to Frankfurt. Today the costs are between 2000 and 2400 Euro. Planning and land costs even counting.“
The result is that certain buyers will be practically thrown out of the market. “The typical customer were still a few years ago from the middle-income classes: teachers, ordinary workers, nurses and so on. This would actually be the target audience for a row house. Because of the high cost, but this audience is now.“
Ries, looks at the increasingly complex technical requirements in Germany as the cause. “What we did ten years ago built, we would not get approved today – due to new regulations in energy efficiency, structural, accessibility, or sound protection,” he says.
“You have to ask the question, if the technical facilities are today still goal-oriented.” Also, the equipment is expensive: domestic technology, floor coverings, tiles are in demand today in a very different quality than in the past.
At the end of Ries about the craft defect complained: “the construction of the offspring. The Image of the construction, which was maintained in Germany, unfortunately never. It is also due to changes in the requirements. Who wants to drag in the Winter, in the drizzle, walls, or electric lines?“
Currently, most contractors have only one solution, to be able to in the face of rising construction and land prices to the buyers and tenants with a not – too-large purse new apartments offer: small areas. “Ten years ago, an average apartment was 76 square meters in size, today it is 66 square meters,” observes Bonava-chief Boback.
Bien-Ries builds smaller than in the past. But here, too, is likely to eventually be a limit reached. And since robots will be able to help. But tax breaks, cheaper land and less regulations.
