ᐅ Prefabricated House Expert – A Worthwhile Investment or a Waste of Money?

Altai schrieb:

When you quietly sneak in through the side door and find a group of craftsmen discussing something, and one of them, with his back to the door, is just suggesting not to tell the client about it... priceless! "She’s right behind you!"

At my site, there was always a case of beer/lemonade, sometimes coffee, breakfast rolls, lunch... as a thank you, the excavator operator even installed the mailbox!

I really don’t see any value in this kind of game. I’m not against small gestures, and neither is the mysterious original poster, but today, when I order and pay for a car, I expect that the car will be ready exactly as specified on the agreed delivery date. With a house, it’s even more extreme. It will very likely be the most expensive purchase of your life, you take on debt that may last well beyond your lifetime, and then you don’t even get the work you contractually agreed upon. I don’t want to imply anything, but needing to be constantly present on the construction site suggests that, if you’re not there, the workers take advantage of you, are lazy, and don’t do their job even though they are paid for it. Sure, a house is not a car.

Sorry, but I really can’t share that romantic view that you have to hang around on the construction site constantly, watching over the workers just because it’s always been done that way. Personally, I strongly dislike that behavior from an employer or customer – it only shows that you don’t trust the person who’s supposed to do the job and/or consider them incompetent.

Altai schrieb:

If you’re unable to personally supervise the construction at all (time-wise, expertise-wise), you need someone to take over that role. You have to find that person and pay them yourself (important!!) so that they actually work for the client! This construction supervision is absolutely not money wasted – no matter what construction method is used for the house.

I’m afraid (and it probably won’t be cheap) that this will have to be our solution. In fact, my former firm specialized in construction supervision, but for large projects rather than small single-family homes. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask my ex-boss if he has some contacts.

Altai schrieb:

Nevertheless, I was often told, "Can you come by, we want to discuss how it should be done?" And this wasn’t about technical knowledge, but rather where exactly something should go and if that would be okay, etc. "Look at this sample here, which glass should we use?"

Then I must be mistaken if I assumed that a detailed scope of work description is supposed to prevent exactly this – that all tasks and materials to be used are precisely defined, so you don’t have to ask the client each time how they want it.

Since interior finishing was often mentioned as well, the original poster wants to do much (but not all) of it themselves. This includes all flooring (without screed), fitting interior doors, laying tiles, drywall work (filling, sanding, priming). He is counting on help from his brothers and father (who don’t yet know how lucky they are but have a lot of practical experience).

11ant schrieb:

From my point of view and experience, the pros and cons of wood and masonry (and prefabrication versus on-site construction) roughly balance each other out on average, so both "sides" should be considered objectively – for each client this means not locking into a decision too early (and unnecessarily limiting your choices).

That’s the kind of contribution I would have liked to see from the start; it would have saved the original poster some unpleasant labels like "naive" and so on.

And now comes the big "but"... as I learned today, the official land value in the mentioned municipality was increased by a whopping 73% between 2018 and the end of 2020! That means an additional 200,000 euros on top of everything else. With this, the project is dead for the foreseeable future. Thanks also to all the investors who massively raised the average prices. We are totally disillusioned right now. It wouldn’t have been our (and how I hate that expression) dream house anyway but rather a sensible response to the ever crazier rents in Munich (and the surrounding area). Just a simple but modern house without much frills. Let’s see what “inquiries” to the mayor bring, who recently praised me for my social engagement. Let’s see what that’s worth if one of his citizens complains about the nearly doubled land value. But that’s really a different topic.

That’s intense. Even for the local model.

Engage with a general contractor. They deliver finished houses. The so-called prefab builders usually do not.
Prefab refers to the wall panels, not to move-in ready.

A house, even a timber frame one, is custom and evolves. Especially with skilled craftsmen who know their job, questions will arise.

Hitokiri-1978 schrieb:

Then I must be mistaken if I assumed that a building specification is meant to prevent exactly that—that is, to describe all the work and materials used in detail so you don’t have to ask the client how they want it.

Yes, you are indeed mistaken. It is purely a text that, as Reich-Ranicki put it, “closes the curtain” and leaves many questions open—and by no means a complete script. In times where detailed construction drawings are often considered unnecessary, it is insufficient unless it is closely supported by the client’s input.

Hitokiri-1978 schrieb:

I would have liked to see a post like that at the beginning,

I have been writing that here since February 2017 (? ? ?)

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Hitokiri-1978 schrieb:

Sorry, but I can’t share this romantic view that you have to be constantly present on the construction site watching over the workers just because that’s how it’s always been done. Personally, I deeply dislike that kind of attitude from a supervisor or client, as it only shows a lack of trust in the person doing the work and/or a belief that they are incompetent.

There’s nothing romantic about this approach; it’s pure self-protection (this is about your own money and your own peace of mind). It’s not like the people working in construction are dumb or lazy!
The point is to recognize improperly executed work or to answer the workers’ questions, because if they’re not told what to do, they’ll just do it somehow — and that’s usually wrong!
If you hire a building expert for about 10 visits totaling 3-4k€ (euros), you can imagine how often they will notice issues on site during a generous estimated construction period of 12 months.

Nothing more really needs to be said about this; if you had been following here for a while, you would know what kind of problems can arise.

Yes, I have often heard that municipalities around the Munich area are charging high fees. But sales to public housing associations by the municipality apparently still only happen in very rural areas (outside major cities) at about 30km (19 miles) distance and generally remain about 50% cheaper than sales from private owners.

Hitokiri-1978 schrieb:

But if it is really necessary to be constantly on the construction site, that implies, conversely, that if you are not there, the workers take advantage of you, are lazy, and do not do their job even though they are paid for it.

Hitokiri-1978 schrieb:

Sorry, but I can’t agree with this romanticized idea of hanging around the site all the time and watching the workers closely, just because that’s how it has always been done.

None of this is being said here. There is no such implication just because someone takes care of their own matters.

The idea that every tiny detail can be decided in advance so that no further questions are ever necessary seems unrealistic to me. This might work with a developer who has a fixed standard that applies unless the client specifies otherwise.
But okay, my project was also a direct contract with a construction manager, so there was no detailed scope of work; rather, there were quotes from individual craftsmen. The exact execution was sometimes only finalized on site.
Building a house is a complex task involving 10 or more initially independent trades that often depend on each other. One does task X, the next does task Y, and then the first can come back and complete task Z. This requires coordination, and someone has to provide that.

The comparison with a car is way off, since all car parts are standardized and combined in the same way every time, of course with variations to achieve the desired features. All parts are produced mechanically, meaning always in exactly the same manner. A house, however, is often customized in many areas and partially built by hand. I just think it’s a pity when such a project is dismissed as “impossible” right from the start. Visiting the construction site can’t be impossible either, since that surely wouldn’t be unnecessary.

Still, it’s very unfortunate if you can’t even start the project now because the land plots have become too expensive.