Every serious building project in Germany is costed against one standard: DIN 276. It gives developers, architects and quantity surveyors a shared language for what a building costs, from the land underneath it to the loan that pays for it. If you plan, finance or control construction in the DACH region, DIN 276 is the backbone of your budget. This guide walks through the eight cost groups, the three levels of detail and the six stages of cost determination, then shows how REPM turns the standard into a live cost cockpit.
The eight DIN 276 cost groups (KG 100 to KG 800)
DIN 276 sorts all building costs into eight main groups, each identified by a three-digit number ending in two zeros. The current edition (DIN 276:2018-12) added KG 800 Finanzierung and renamed the old KG 200 from "Herrichten und Erschließen" to "Vorbereitende Maßnahmen". The eight groups are:
- KG 100 Grundstück - the land itself: purchase price, agent fees, land transfer tax, notary and survey costs, and any encumbrances.
- KG 200 Vorbereitende Maßnahmen (formerly Herrichten und Erschließen) - clearing, demolition, site preparation and connection to public utilities.
- KG 300 Bauwerk - Baukonstruktionen - the shell and fabric: excavation, foundations, walls, ceilings, roofs and interior construction. Usually the largest group.
- KG 400 Bauwerk - Technische Anlagen - building services: heating, plumbing, ventilation, electrical, lifts and building automation.
- KG 500 Außenanlagen und Freiflächen - everything outside the building line: paths, parking, planting, drainage and boundary works.
- KG 600 Ausstattung und Kunstwerke - loose furnishings, fittings and any commissioned art.
- KG 700 Baunebenkosten - ancillary costs: architect and engineer fees, project management, permits, appraisals and insurance.
- KG 800 Finanzierung - interest during construction, financing charges and other capital costs.
Three levels of detail
Each cost group can be broken down into three levels of increasing precision, so the same budget line can be coarse early on and granular once the design firms up.
- 1st level (Grobelemente) - the eight main groups themselves, for example KG 300. Enough for a first feasibility check.
- 2nd level - the tens digit, for example KG 330 Außenwände or KG 340 Innenwände. This splits a building into recognisable elements.
- 3rd level - the units digit, for example KG 331 load-bearing external walls. This is where quantities meet unit prices.
The level you can reach depends on how far the design has progressed. You cannot compute a 3rd-level number before anyone has drawn the walls.
Six stages of cost determination
DIN 276 does not just classify costs, it tracks how the estimate sharpens over the life of a project. It formally defines five methods of cost determination; in practice a sixth term, the Kostenvoranschlag (a contractor's priced quotation), sits between calculation and award. Ordered from earliest and roughest to final and exact:
| Stage | Typical detail level | When | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kostenrahmen | 1st level | Bedarfsplanung (LP 1) | area targets and benchmarks |
| Kostenschätzung | 1st level | Vorplanung (LP 2) | preliminary design |
| Kostenberechnung | 2nd level | Entwurfsplanung (LP 3) | design drawings and quantities |
| Kostenvoranschlag | 3rd level | tendering | priced quotations from firms |
| Kostenanschlag | 3rd level | award (LP 6-7) | actual awarded bids |
| Kostenfeststellung | 3rd level | after completion (LP 8) | final invoices and actuals |
Each stage feeds the next. The Kostenberechnung becomes the approved budget; the Kostenfeststellung is what you actually spent. The gap between them is the number every developer and lender watches.
From standard to live cost cockpit
On paper DIN 276 is a filing system. The hard part is keeping plan, actual and variance current across every cost group while the project moves. In a spreadsheet that means fragile cross-tab formulas, version chaos and no audit trail (see REPM vs spreadsheets).
REPM builds the DIN 276 tree straight into the project record. Each cost group carries a plan, an actual and an automatically computed variance, rolled up to a KPI strip at the top of the cockpit. Here is one version of a small residential scheme:
| Cost group | Plan (EUR) | Actual (EUR) | Variance (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| KG 100 Grundstück | 1,200,000 | 1,235,000 | +35,000 |
| KG 200 Vorbereitende Maßnahmen | 80,000 | 92,000 | +12,000 |
| KG 300 Baukonstruktionen | 3,400,000 | 3,520,000 | +120,000 |
| KG 400 Technische Anlagen | 1,100,000 | 1,140,000 | +40,000 |
| KG 500 Außenanlagen | 260,000 | 245,000 | -15,000 |
| KG 600 Ausstattung | 60,000 | 58,000 | -2,000 |
| KG 700 Baunebenkosten | 780,000 | 815,000 | +35,000 |
| KG 800 Finanzierung | 320,000 | 361,000 | +41,000 |
| Total | 7,200,000 | 7,466,000 | +266,000 |
Because REPM keeps cost-plan versions with approvals, the Kostenschätzung, Kostenberechnung and Kostenanschlag each live as a named, frozen version. You can compare any two, and every change carries the who-and-when audit trail that GoBD-compliant archiving expects (in Germany, booking documents must be retained for eight years). Actuals flow in from the same record that feeds cash flow and financial metrics like IRR and DSCR, so a cost overrun in KG 400 immediately shows up in the return.
The result: DIN 276 stops being a document you assemble at milestones and becomes a living dashboard you steer by.
Start a free REPM trial and build your first DIN 276 cost cockpit in an afternoon.
Frequently asked questions
How many cost groups does DIN 276 have?
DIN 276 has eight main cost groups, numbered KG 100 to KG 800: Grundstück, Vorbereitende Maßnahmen, Baukonstruktionen, Technische Anlagen, Außenanlagen und Freiflächen, Ausstattung und Kunstwerke, Baunebenkosten and Finanzierung. Each can be broken down into a second and third level of detail.
What changed in the 2018 edition of DIN 276?
The 2018-12 edition added KG 800 Finanzierung as a separate main group and renamed KG 200 from Herrichten und Erschließen to Vorbereitende Maßnahmen. KG 500 also became Außenanlagen und Freiflächen. The eight-group structure and the three levels of detail otherwise stayed intact.
What is the difference between Kostenberechnung and Kostenanschlag?
The Kostenberechnung is the budget computed from design drawings and quantities during Entwurfsplanung, usually to the second level of detail. The Kostenanschlag comes later, at award, and is based on the actual bids you have received, to the third level. The Kostenberechnung is your target; the Kostenanschlag is closer to what you will really pay.
Can I track DIN 276 in a spreadsheet?
You can, but keeping plan, actual and variance current across eight cost groups and several budget versions quickly breaks down: fragile formulas, no approvals and no audit trail. REPM builds the DIN 276 tree into the project record with plan, actual and variance per group and a KPI strip per cost-plan version.