Hello everyone,
We are currently looking for a prefab home manufacturer to build our shell-and-core house and are a bit unsure at the moment, so we have a question for you in the forum.
Which manufacturer offers the highest quality, particularly regarding wall construction?
We already have some offers, but they are all within the same range, so we want to focus on quality and ecological aspects.
The candidates are
- Rubner
- Sonnleitner
- Ziegler
- Kurz
- Keitel-Haus
It’s worth mentioning that we are building a semi-detached house with a granny flat, totaling 250sqm (2,690 sq ft) over two floors.
We place great value on natural wall construction and ecological materials.
Does anyone have detailed experience with these companies or know more about them?
Thanks for your support!
Best regards
We are currently looking for a prefab home manufacturer to build our shell-and-core house and are a bit unsure at the moment, so we have a question for you in the forum.
Which manufacturer offers the highest quality, particularly regarding wall construction?
We already have some offers, but they are all within the same range, so we want to focus on quality and ecological aspects.
The candidates are
- Rubner
- Sonnleitner
- Ziegler
- Kurz
- Keitel-Haus
It’s worth mentioning that we are building a semi-detached house with a granny flat, totaling 250sqm (2,690 sq ft) over two floors.
We place great value on natural wall construction and ecological materials.
Does anyone have detailed experience with these companies or know more about them?
Thanks for your support!
Best regards
Karold91 schrieb:
Which provider offers the highest quality, or has the best wall construction?
We do have several offers, but they are all within a similar range, so we want to focus more on quality and ecology.
In the running are
- Rubner - Sonnleitner - Ziegler - Kurz - Keitel-Haus I’m not familiar with Ziegler and Kurz, and I have rarely dealt with Rubner and Sonnleitner. There isn’t a single best wall construction, even when you clearly define your top priorities. Generally speaking, if your approach is “eco-friendly,” I wouldn’t first think of the prefab home manufacturers, to put it mildly. Why are you specifically (only) looking there?
Karold91 schrieb:
It should also be noted that we are building a semi-detached house with a granny flat, totaling 250sqm (2,690 sq ft) over two floors.
We place extremely high value on natural wall construction and ecological materials. You should explain your project in more detail. A semi-detached house of this size is unusual. Are the partners in your semi-detached arrangement similar in approach? A semi-detached house must always be planned as a whole, even if you want to build each half differently. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is the worst possible mindset when planning a semi-detached house. Therefore, it’s strongly recommended to start a dialogue with the “other twin” as early as possible!
On what basis were the mentioned offers actually prepared?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Thank you very much for the feedback and response!
Interesting perspective. With prefabricated houses, I’ve noticed a wide range from foil/expanded polystyrene in the walls up to solid wood, with the latter being more ecological in my view. That’s why I tend to lean towards wood and materials like cork or wood fiber as insulation, which in my opinion are more environmentally friendly than brick and mortar.
Additionally, indoor air quality was important to us. I lived in a brick house for 25 years—even if it was older—and after just 10 minutes in a wooden house, I felt much more convinced by it.
We are in close contact with the neighbor and are trying to coordinate and design everything together so that we are on the same page. For example, we are doing the excavation/basement together.
Why is that considered unusual?
What exactly do you mean by that?
We went to an architect, had the design we envision drawn up including the fittings, and then gave these plans to the prefabricated house companies so that we could get comparable quotes.
Best regards
11ant schrieb:
There is no single best wall construction, even with a clear focus on your highest priorities.
Generally, with an "eco" approach, I honestly wouldn’t think of prefabricated houses first. So why are you specifically looking there (and only there)?
Interesting perspective. With prefabricated houses, I’ve noticed a wide range from foil/expanded polystyrene in the walls up to solid wood, with the latter being more ecological in my view. That’s why I tend to lean towards wood and materials like cork or wood fiber as insulation, which in my opinion are more environmentally friendly than brick and mortar.
Additionally, indoor air quality was important to us. I lived in a brick house for 25 years—even if it was older—and after just 10 minutes in a wooden house, I felt much more convinced by it.
11ant schrieb:
You should explain the project in more detail. A semi-detached house of this size is unusual. Do your semi-detached neighbors think the same? — A semi-detached house should always be planned as a whole, even if you want to build each half differently. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is the worst possible mindset when planning a semi-detached house. Therefore, early and open dialogue with the “other half” is strongly recommended!
We are in close contact with the neighbor and are trying to coordinate and design everything together so that we are on the same page. For example, we are doing the excavation/basement together.
Why is that considered unusual?
11ant schrieb:
On what basis were the mentioned quotes created?
What exactly do you mean by that?
We went to an architect, had the design we envision drawn up including the fittings, and then gave these plans to the prefabricated house companies so that we could get comparable quotes.
Best regards
H
hampshire22 Mar 2021 18:38Go to a carpenter who builds with solid LignoTrend. Very convincing construction – for us, the extra cost for solid wood was a bit high – but we stayed with the carpenter.
hampshire schrieb:
Go to a carpenter who builds with LignoTrend solid wood. Very convincing construction – the extra cost for solid wood was a bit high for us, but we stayed with the carpenter. What exactly is that – isn’t it a timber frame, or am I misunderstanding something?
Karold91 schrieb:
Interesting approach. For me, prefabricated houses often use materials like foil or polystyrene in the walls, compared to solid wood, which I find more ecological. That’s why I tend to prefer wood and insulating materials like cork or wood fiber, which in my opinion are more environmentally friendly than brick and mortar. Exactly. I like to call prefabricated house walls “thermal insulation integral systems,” because basically the same panels that would be glued onto a masonry wall in an external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS or EIFS) are placed between the framing members. There are some differences, but when I compare them, it feels like reading ingredient lists on ready-made sauces: the order of ingredients and their percentage varies more than any significant differences in composition. My standard statement (when comparing masonry units) that there are many types of bricks but none are either all good or all bad applies equally to timber frame panels. So you can’t say that prefabricated exterior walls are generally a whole league above masonry walls. Moreover, every form of material transformation requires energy input—even if it’s just machining and reassembling. Stone doesn’t have to be brick, and planar concrete blocks require considerably less mortar than traditional full-brick or half-brick walls.
Karold91 schrieb:
We are in close contact with our neighbor and try to coordinate everything and plan together so that we are on the same page. For example, we are doing the excavation and foundation together. That’s very commendable and smart. It’s best to plan together, ideally with the same architect or planner, and have them also manage construction supervision.
Karold91 schrieb:
Why is that atypical? Particularly the size category is quite rare in this building method, and also the inclusion of a secondary or rental unit is less common in semi-detached houses than in detached single-family homes. Conversely, such layouts are rarely built on a semi-detached house plot.
Karold91 schrieb:
What exactly do you mean? We went to an architect who drew the plan that we had in mind, including specifications. We then gave this to prefabricated house companies to get comparable offers. Usually, people here just send a “DIY architect 3D” floor plan or simply inquire about prices for something like “X square meter gabled house.” So you went to an independent architect up to the design planning stage and are now (odd timing!) looking at wall constructions. At least you have approached this more professionally than the average requester. If I understand correctly, the architect has also prepared a specification of the construction services. Why don’t you also have them select the general contractor?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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