Seven decisions to make before construction
What goes in now stays in the house for good. What is left out means breaking into the walls — or doing without. Click the one that interests you.
In all three of our house types → these seven decisions are already made — we adapt the orientation to your plot.
01 · Orientation
How the house faces the sun, the wind and the view.
When it is decided: when you choose the plot, at the first sketch.
What you lose if you get it wrong: in winter you heat what you could get for free; in summer you cool what good orientation would have prevented. That is a running cost every year, for the whole life of the house.
Can it be added later? → Never. You cannot rotate a house.
02 · Wall mass
Light walls heat up fast and cool down fast. A heavy, solid wall holds the heat.
When it is decided: when the structure is chosen.
What you lose: in a house with a wall structure that heats and cools quickly, summers are hot and winters fluctuate. You have to buy back comfort with money every month. Liapor expanded-clay lightweight concrete (1,600 kg/m³) provides this mass: a stable indoor temperature, even without extra building services.
Can it be added later? → Never. You cannot add wall mass to a house afterwards.
03 · Wall build-up and moisture
How moisture moves through the wall. This decides whether mould appears.
When it is decided: when the wall layers are designed.
What you lose: a wall with the wrong layers starts to grow mould years later — when you already live in the house. Mould measurably raises the risk of asthma in children. A vapour-open (diffusion-open) wall build-up lets moisture pass through but does not let it condense.
Can it be added later? → Only at high cost. Afterwards the entire wall structure has to be opened up.
04 · Digital backbone
The cabling that carries tomorrow’s smart functions — even if you don’t switch them all on today.
When it is decided: when the electrical design is prepared, before plastering.
What you lose: if the conduit is not in the wall now, every later extension means breaking into the wall. The digital backbone can be installed once, for a fraction of the cost. Afterwards every metre is painful. From 2040, smart metering and control are expected to be mandatory in all new buildings.
Can it be added later? → Only at high cost. You can chase the wall open. It isn’t worth it.
05 · Building services preparation
The location and piping of the heat pump, greywater system and rainwater harvesting.
When it is decided: at the foundation and building services design stage.
What you lose: if the preparation is left out, modern building services can later be installed only at a disproportionate cost, or not at all. From 2030 the EU expects every new building to have near-zero energy demand — a house without preparation runs straight into that wall.
Can it be added later? → Only at high cost. Reaching back under the floor and the garden afterwards is difficult.
06 · Roof structural design
Whether the roof can carry solar panels, and whether the cable route is in place.
When it is decided: when the roof structure is designed.
What you lose: if the structural design and cable route are not ready now, solar panels later become a separate project with a separate cost. Many people give up right here. When prepared, you only have to put the panels on when the time comes.
Can it be added later? → Only at a high cost. The roof has to be reinforced afterwards.
07 · Windows and shading
How large the windows are, and where a fixed element shades the summer sun.
When it is decided: when the facade is designed.
What you lose: a wrongly sized window overheats the room in summer; in autumn and winter the same glass lets out the heat it captured in summer. Fixed, built-in shading cools for free in summer and lets the winter sun in — but only if we design it into the facade now.
Can it be added later? → The window: never — the size of the opening is fixed. The shading: only at high cost.
Tell us where you are — we will tell you which decision is still open.
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