Model housing
Although it is still popular among cost-conscious individuals to construct houses on their own, an increasing number of builders are offering fully finished houses at attractive prices. These kind of developers are central to the offer of the new Construction Village (Wioska Budowlana) in Urzut.
"The village offer is directed at individual investors, people thinking about building their homes, producers and contractors. We want to promote the turnkey building and create the turnkey market," said the president of Wioska Budowlana, Małgorzata Dutkiewicz, stressing that the most efficient way to build a house is to order the works to one company.
The first Construction Village in Poland was opened recently in Urzut, 25km south from Warsaw. The concept is very popular in Germany and Austria, which have 22 and 12 such places respectively. Asked about building further villages in the future, Dutkiewicz admits these are very distant plans. The location of the first Construction Village, however, seems to be well-chosen, as according to a German survey, potential home seekers are willing to drive up to 250km to visit the village. Urzut is located on the Katowice route, and Dutkiewicz reveals that customers are coming from such distant places as Silesia and Lublin.
According to initial estimates it is expected that 60,000 to 100,000 people will visit the Construction Village annually. This number of visitors is also typical of the biggest village in Germany, near Munich. "About 1,000 people came here at the opening weekend and now some 30-50 people are coming every day," says Dutkiewicz.
Ultimately, the Construction Village in Urzut will consist of 70 houses on an area of six hectares. At the moment the first stage is under construction, which is scheduled for completion in spring next year providing 19 houses. They will be all fully furnished and equipped. "We want to present a number of different technologies and finishing materials," says Dutkiewicz. The customers will be offered full information and advice from consultants and the exhibiting companies' representatives.
The cost of building a fully outfitted house for exhibition on the area of the village is zł.200,000 to zł.250,000. The cost which a company has to cover in order to be present in the village is zł.6,000 to zł.7,000 a month.
