Hello everyone,
we are at the very beginning of our building project and are currently complete beginners.
We are about to purchase our building plot near Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. We expect to start construction on our fully serviced plot in the middle of next year.
Although there is still plenty of time ahead, we want to start planning now. Often, turnkey homes at fixed prices are offered by various companies. However, many friends and colleagues recently advised me to carry out the planning (and ultimately the approvals) with an architect and to contract the trades individually during construction. The cost savings could be at least €50,000.
I am quite flexible with my time at work and would be interested in diving deeper into the topic and investing a lot of my own time and energy. Since I work as an IT project manager, I am not very skilled with practical tasks. However, I feel confident managing the project itself.
Ultimately, I would approach this financially quite pragmatically: if by investing my own effort in the build I can save more money than I earn net in the same time, I would prefer to focus less on my job and spend more time on the build. With a potential saving of over €50,000, this would very likely be the case.
However, I do wonder if this approach really makes sense for me. My biggest concerns are in hiring tradespeople. There is often talk of a shortage of skilled workers, and if as a private home builder I end up waiting, for example, 1.5 years to get a roofer, I certainly wouldn’t have gained anything.
I would greatly appreciate your assessments!
we are at the very beginning of our building project and are currently complete beginners.
We are about to purchase our building plot near Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. We expect to start construction on our fully serviced plot in the middle of next year.
Although there is still plenty of time ahead, we want to start planning now. Often, turnkey homes at fixed prices are offered by various companies. However, many friends and colleagues recently advised me to carry out the planning (and ultimately the approvals) with an architect and to contract the trades individually during construction. The cost savings could be at least €50,000.
I am quite flexible with my time at work and would be interested in diving deeper into the topic and investing a lot of my own time and energy. Since I work as an IT project manager, I am not very skilled with practical tasks. However, I feel confident managing the project itself.
Ultimately, I would approach this financially quite pragmatically: if by investing my own effort in the build I can save more money than I earn net in the same time, I would prefer to focus less on my job and spend more time on the build. With a potential saving of over €50,000, this would very likely be the case.
However, I do wonder if this approach really makes sense for me. My biggest concerns are in hiring tradespeople. There is often talk of a shortage of skilled workers, and if as a private home builder I end up waiting, for example, 1.5 years to get a roofer, I certainly wouldn’t have gained anything.
I would greatly appreciate your assessments!
P
Pinkiponk9 Mar 2022 09:15karl.jonas schrieb:
... (remember, you are an amateur!), you might just be the type for DIY.Off topic: Or self-taught. ;-)Benutzer200 schrieb:
With all the (expensive) special requests and customizations that are not possible with a general contractor.Do you have examples of requests that a homeowner might make that a prefab house manufacturer or general contractor couldn’t fulfill? I don’t really see anything in most houses that I wouldn’t expect a prefab home builder or general contractor to handle. I’m referring to “normal” houses for “average” homeowners (I certainly don’t mean to offend anyone with that description, but most houses don’t seem particularly special to me) that you usually see.C
Costruttrice9 Mar 2022 09:17SvenF86 schrieb:
But: do all general contractors/building contractors usually do this, or do they mainly insist on their standard house designs? And is the architect’s paid planning service credited? Why wouldn’t a general contractor implement the design brought by your architect? Ours does. What would they credit? You go to them, agree on what you want, and pay the agreed price. If the planning service is part of their construction scope, they will remove it, and you pay amount x less. However, they will probably not credit you exactly the amount you paid for your architect’s fee, but certainly less.
SvenF86 schrieb:
With the general contractor/building contractor, you could ultimately agree that, for example, only the shell construction is done (for example, up to and including the roof covering), and the rest is contracted individually by me. I don’t understand why you need/want a general contractor for that. You could just take your plans to a construction company and have them carry out the shell construction, same for the roofer. Or do you want a plan from the general contractor and then continue on your own after the shell construction?
Benutzer200 schrieb:
You can do anything, but phases 1-3 of the design process are not enough. You should rather go for phases 1-4 (5) and then take a finished product to the general contractor. Okay, then I guess I’ll do it more like that. I’m maybe not 100% confident yet 😉
Benutzer200 schrieb:
But then you need to spend at least a few thousand euros on a construction manager/site supervisor/consultant to oversee the project. Doesn’t the general contractor/building contractor do that? In my understanding, they build the house according to the architect’s plans. Similar to how, for example, Town & Country would do it. Just without prior own planning.
Benutzer200 schrieb:
And if the construction company is already doing the shell including the roof, it almost doesn’t make sense to contract out the rest yourself. That’s more common if you plan to do the interior work yourself because you have, for example, an electrician or plumber in the family, you install the underfloor heating yourself, and also lay tiles on the floor, etc. Okay, that’s what I expected.
Pinkiponk schrieb:
Do you have examples of things a homeowner might want that a prefab house manufacturer or general contractor couldn’t provide? Most of the houses I see don’t show anything I wouldn’t expect from a prefab house company or a general contractor. I’m talking about “normal” houses from “average” homeowners (I definitely don’t mean to offend anyone with those labels, but most houses don’t seem that special to me). I don’t think our approach is unusual at all. Sure, we have a few requests that I don’t want to give up or pay a lot extra for. Overall, though, I don’t think we’re asking for anything extraordinary. But I’m also careful not to get ripped off (especially financially). We recently had some preliminary talks with Viebrockhaus, and I definitely felt like they were trying to push all kinds of expensive extras on me...
Costruttrice schrieb:
Why wouldn’t a general contractor implement the architect’s design you bring? Ours does. What would they charge for that? You arrange with them what you want and pay the agreed price. If planning services are part of their scope, they’ll remove that and you pay sum x less. But they likely won’t credit you exactly for your architect’s fee, probably less. Okay, I mostly wanted to get a sense of where I would end up cost-wise compared to an off-the-shelf house (e.g., Viebrockhaus, Town & Country, etc.).
Costruttrice schrieb:
I don’t understand why you want/need a general contractor for this. You could just take your plans to a construction company to build the shell, same with roofing. Or do you want a contractor’s plan and then continue alone after the shell is built? That would roughly be my original approach. In the end, everyone advises against it (because of lack of expertise and experience)...
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Benutzer2009 Mar 2022 09:41SvenF86 schrieb:
Isn’t that the general contractor / builder’s job? In my understanding, they build the house according to the architect’s plans. Someone has to supervise the general contractor / builder. Should they inspect their own work and confirm to you that there are no defects? You ALWAYS have someone check the work, whether it’s an architect, site manager, or an expert.
SvenF86 schrieb:
I don’t consider our approach unusual at all. Of course, we have a few requests that I won’t give up on or pay excessively for. But overall, I don’t think we are asking for anything extraordinary. Then you are exactly the right fit for a standard production home. Laypeople who just want to have their house built “as is.”
Benutzer200 schrieb:
Someone has to inspect the general contractor/subcontractor. Should they approve their own work and confirm to you that there are no defects? You ALWAYS have someone check the work, whether it’s an architect, construction manager, or expert. What you’re saying makes complete sense to me. But: who supervises the construction company when it comes to a standard design home? For example, if I’m building with Viebrockhaus, Town & Country, etc.?
Benutzer200 schrieb:
Then you are perfect candidates for a standard design home. Laypeople who just want to have their little house. Can you recommend a suitable partner? Viebrockhaus definitely wasn’t the right choice for us. It felt way too expensive, and the 3-4 hours of preliminary meetings felt more like a marketing event than a true project initiation...
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Benutzer2009 Mar 2022 10:01SvenF86 schrieb:
What you’re saying makes perfect sense to me. But: who supervises the construction company when ordering a standard house? For example, if I build with Viebrockhaus, Town & Country, etc.? Your independent building inspector. You would hire one even in that case. If you’re spending half a million on a house, you want quality work and no hidden or unnoticed defects.
SvenF86 schrieb:
Can you recommend a suitable partner? No. But I would suggest checking with your local house builders. This way, the craftsmen are also from your region. And then use the wall construction method that the company uses. Don’t get fixated on one particular building technique – they all work well.