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

Hitokiri-1978 schrieb:

Sorry, but I can't share this romantic idea of constantly hanging around the construction site and watching the workers just because that's how it's always been done.

Who is talking about constantly? I have to go to work too. I just said that you should be available to answer questions. So, when a trade starts work, you simply stop by for about half an hour.

By the way, I didn’t mean to suggest that I sneaked around to catch my contractors at something... I actually just showed up quietly in sneakers! We had even agreed to meet (with the site manager and the contractors).

Altai schrieb:

By the way, I didn’t mean to imply that I sneaked in quietly, ...

Too late!

@Altai What you describe is exactly the disadvantage I see with solid construction methods. You either hire a construction manager or supervisor to oversee the work according to our expectations, which would be very expensive, or you don’t, and then you end up being taken advantage of, with various tasks not being done or done incorrectly, leading to many unnecessary and time-consuming disputes that are just costly.

That’s why we prefer a prefabricated house. But anyway, if it had become concrete, I would have posted our building project here for discussion. However, the initial question was answered, and our house project was destroyed and ruined because of the lousy building regulations/planning permission. For months, we prepared, held discussions, and made plans (yes, we were probably naive here; we just wanted to build a good future for ourselves and our children), but apparently, it was not meant to be.

Okay, I’ll stop before I get completely worked up.

Thanks for the constructive contributions, even though some were at least borderline harsh toward the original poster. I don’t think that’s necessary.

I can't keep track anymore of who is who here. Is @Hitokiri-1978 now the same as Hitokiri-666 (although the latter seems to have been deleted)? Or are they acquaintances, relatives, friends, a case of multiple personalities, kindred spirits, or something else?

A prefabricated house is not complete. The interior finishing, roof, windows, and doors are usually similar to those of a traditional masonry building.

If you want a finished house, choose a developer.

haydee schrieb:

A prefabricated house is not finished. The interior work, roof, windows, and doors usually proceed as with a solid construction.

If you want a finished house, then go through a property developer.

That was a crucial point. A prefabricated house is basically a shell. So, you save the on-site structural phase up to roof covering. The rest is completed just like with a traditional solid build.
A prefabricated house doesn’t come with the bathroom ready on the wall! Just take a look at the house photo thread, where you can see how the walls are erected by @Tina with K — the house is definitely not finished.

If you don’t supervise or have the interior work done by contractors inspected, problems can occur with both building methods. With a prefabricated house, you simply can’t check potential defects that might have been concealed during factory assembly... unlike when the building envelope is constructed on-site. That’s the only difference.

Regarding property developers: they are certainly obligated to deliver a defect-free house, but they have a strong interest in doing so as cost-effectively as possible. After all, they work primarily for their own profit. In doubtful cases, you may get a solution that just barely passes the warranty period... and if no supervision is in place on the buyer’s side, there can definitely be pitfalls.
A colleague bought a house from a developer; they really wanted the plot... and it was only available with the developer. He immediately hired a construction supervisor because the impression was so bad... Neighbors paid a significantly higher price for the land to be released from the developer’s conditions.