ᐅ Building While Working and Raising Children: How Manageable Is It? (Your Experiences)

Hello everyone,

We are considering building a house and would like to clarify a few things in advance. Unfortunately, I have no experience with this topic so far, so please excuse me if some of my questions seem a bit naive.

A few things are important to us—my husband and me. We would like to move into our own home by the end of this year. My brother-in-law, who built his own house, said this is basically possible but that we would need to put a lot of effort into it for it to work out. He invested a lot of his own labor into his house and is quite skilled with tools. Unfortunately, for family and professional reasons, we are currently not able to be as hands-on. We could spend a few hours per week on the work but cannot treat it like a full-time job, unlike my brother-in-law. Also, my husband and I are not very handy.

I wanted to ask about your experiences: Has anyone here built a house in a short time? Our goal is to be finished in 2 or 3 months! I read in another post that it can take 3 to 4 weeks just for the screed to dry. Is that true? That seemed like a very long time to me.

My brother-in-law also told me that there are special rules on construction sites. His neighbor apparently had quite a bit of trouble with the individual contractors. His own experience was different, but he is a very "persuasive" person and knows his way around. From your experience, how well does coordination usually go? Or do you risk being taken advantage of if you don’t know much about the process?

Well, so many questions...

I/we would appreciate if someone could share their experiences with us.

Thank you and best regards,

germanissima

Hello,

I have two children myself and am currently building a house, but I have no experience in construction. Before I try to do anything myself and risk it being done incorrectly or poorly, I prefer to have it done by professionals.

There is a common saying: a skilled tradesperson is twice as fast as an amateur. Suppose they charge 30€ per hour. That means you would need to work twice as long to save those 30€. For example, if you want to save 6000€, that equals 6000/30, which is 200 hours of a professional’s work, or 400 hours for you! And that doesn’t even take into account any mistakes you might make.

I’d rather work some extra hours to earn additional money; in my opinion, that pays off more.

Regarding the construction time, I believe Viebrockhaus is the only company that promises 3 months, but realistically it usually takes more than 6 months.

No problem, choose a good company, hire a construction supervisor/project manager, and then everything runs smoothly. Important questions are clarified over the weekend or via phone with the construction supervisor. It works excellently for us and there is no burden from doing work yourself or similar tasks.

Building feels like a second full-time job. It is definitely doable with two children, and others have managed it before, but you should be prepared to visit the construction site as often as possible, ideally daily, or at least twice a week, to check that everything is being done according to your wishes.

From my own experience, it is very stressful and nerve-wracking. Besides that, you will have ZERO free time while the construction is ongoing and will likely get less sleep. It also puts a strain on your relationship and family, and in fact, building a house is the third most common reason for divorce in Germany. That’s just how it is. It’s best to be mentally prepared for this from the start. But this time will pass, and in the end, you will have created something beautiful. Sometimes, it can even be enjoyable to familiarize yourself with this new subject, learn new things, and apply that knowledge.

You should also be prepared for the selection process — choosing your fixtures and finishes (interior doors, flooring, tiles, sanitary fixtures, etc.) takes a lot of time. Of course, you want something nice. “Oh, it’s just 150 EUR and 85 EUR more here, we won’t worry about that now.” And before you know it, you’re already 30,000 EUR over your original budget.

Regarding outdoor areas: You will need paved surfaces, paths, edging, waste enclosures, fences, doors and possibly gates, ground preparation, gravel sub-bases for paths and terraces including compaction and tamping, topsoil, and final grading. All of that needs to be done by someone and will roughly cost another 30,000 EUR. So be sure to include this in your budget! You can sow the lawn yourself and plant shrubs and small trees, but those are the smallest cost items.

Do you already have your building permit / planning permission? Because you often have to wait about three months for it.

In your case, it’s absolutely essential to have a good architect (with practical site experience — avoid purely theoretical planners, very important!), or a good general contractor. However, you should make sure they are constantly monitored — either by a certified expert or by an architect experienced in construction sites who visits at least once a week to check on progress.

In summary: it is certainly doable, but don’t underestimate it! It really feels like a second full-time job!

My wife and I are also facing the challenge of balancing family, work, and building a house at the same time. We already have our building plot and now want to move into our own home as quickly and stress-free as possible.

We spent a long time thinking about how to manage everything. On the internet, we came across prefab houses from öko-domo. They build solid prefab houses. Last Saturday, we attended an information event there. Everything sounded quite promising at first – fast construction time, no stress, and so on. We were also able to speak with a couple who had already built with them and apparently are quite satisfied living in their new home now. This couple also gave us many useful tips, especially regarding financing and long-term energy savings. It seems that their system is well suited for building a KfW efficiency house or a passive house.

We will now continue to research other prefab house providers and then make our final decision.

Sounds a bit like advertising...