ᐅ Recommendation for a Construction Company for a Solidly Built City Villa in Erftstadt near Cologne

@11ant : According to the real estate agent, building two full stories is permitted, as several houses with 2.5 stories already exist on the street. However, we will try to contact someone at the building authority to get a clear statement on this.

1. Heinz von Heiden and Viebrockhaus are not regional construction companies but general contractors. Both offer free modifications to the floor plans of their standard house models. They often subcontract local companies from the region where the house is being built and use materials common to that area. Custom requests, such as different interior walls, are often welcomed but usually come with a significant additional charge because they also affect structural calculations.

2. You don’t need an architect for your floor plan idea... but you can involve one if you want. Yes, if you remove certain trades, hiring an architect makes sense. They also know construction companies and can recommend some.

3. Your building envelope is 16 meters (52.5 feet) wide. Your drawing without interior walls is 10.5 meters (34.5 feet) wide. Including interior walls, you end up with at least 11 meters (36 feet). Find the mistake. Was there mention of a double garage?

Tip: Read through some older floor plan discussions here, preferably those from before the COVID-19 period.

koelner1983 schrieb:

Would I go to an architect who would then turn my wishes into a floor plan/building plan, and then I would take that to construction companies?

If you go to an architect (without quotation marks), they will naturally translate your requirements as well as your must-haves and nice-to-haves into the design. Read the homebuilding roadmap, and you should understand the process quickly. They won’t go to construction companies with the plans right away. First, after service phase 1, the architect creates a preliminary draft in service phase 2, and at this point you initiate an early inquiry round to set the direction. After receiving feedback, you discuss the next steps with the architect, then move on to service phases 3 and 4, and after obtaining the building permit (building permit / planning permission), service phases 5 through 7 follow. Only in service phase 7 will invited bidders possibly indicate whether they want to bid on several packages as shell construction general contractor (GC) or on all packages as full GC. Please read thoroughly all my discussions on “Wannwiewomitwemgehtbauen” from the past two or three months — this applies not only in London or Dortmund-North but equally in Erftstadt. So I’ll save you, myself, and the readers duplicate content and quote myself from ten weeks ago:

11ant schrieb:

Use the forum search with my posts for the keywords "homebuilding roadmap", "Gerddieter", "individual contracting", "self-contracting", "tendering" and "time tracking". Then I won’t have to attach reading material for an entire weekend here ;-) (I have explained all that extensively already).

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koelner1983 schrieb:

@11ant : My wife’s draft/drawing is attached below. Hope for your feedback.

She has drawn it in a very charming notation; at this early stage, mine even look “less professional.” Basically, this is done exactly right, see also ...

11ant schrieb:

Sort of yes and no: I also start by drawing just lines: Walls first get a position, and only after that a material and a thickness. To avoid losing floor plans, you have to include wall thicknesses—generally, 12cm (5 inches) in width and the building’s depth is a practical estimate.

... and Yvonne is right that you shouldn’t ignore the building envelope (building boundary / buildable area).

koelner1983 schrieb:

Meanwhile, yesterday we visited two factory-built house companies. Not yet a timber panel (timber frame) construction company.

Turnkey solid builders are not “prefab” house companies. Heinz von Heiden and Viebrockhaus differ significantly as they target very different customer groups. However, neither is the best choice for you: first, they are big national names (not regional), and second, they prefer full general contracting (GC), although I also consider the “partial GC” concept a textbook example of a self-inflicted own goal.

koelner1983 schrieb:

Unfortunately, with Heinz von Heiden it’s not possible to make changes to trades. For example, we want to outsource the bathroom and toilet to another contractor. This is not permitted for warranty reasons.

Regarding “emerging trade,” we had quite a few threads on this topic a bit more than two years ago, mostly concerning third-party-supplied washbasins.

koelner1983 schrieb:

2. Then we were in Marsdorf at Viebrockhaus. We were also welcomed politely there. They said all changes are possible, for example, only routing the pipes to the bathrooms and having the rest done by a third party.

That Viebrockhaus would allow a mix of third-party services is news to me.

koelner1983 schrieb:

Regarding the exact wall construction at Viebrockhaus, I was only shown a 3D model without dimensions. The climate protection wall would be 45.5cm (18 inches) thick, but that says nothing about the thickness of the interior masonry, insulation, and exterior brickwork.

I don’t have the exact wall build-up either. To my knowledge, the structural masonry shell consists of 20cm (8 inches) of sand-lime brick, then mineral wool insulation and an air gap, followed by 11.5cm (4.5 inches) of facing bricks. I won’t quote my photo series here, but I’ll gladly remind you of the keyword “11ant Steinemantra.”

koelner1983 schrieb:

In our current house, I have a Homematic IP Wired smart home system and am very satisfied with it. Therefore, I asked both builders if they offer this.

You can hardly mess it up more: sample appointments and initial meetings are two completely different universes.

koelner1983 schrieb:

One could perhaps nicely approach the electrician after construction starts or during electrical installation. But this seems vague or risky to me if the electrician simply says no or quotes an unacceptable price.

You don’t do it by informal channel like that, but rather include it in the tender (possibly as a preparatory item, the architect advises).

koelner1983 schrieb:

In the end, we went home and have been thinking a lot since then. We have now found a construction company in Erftstadt. According to the internet, they have very good reviews, and in a YouTube video, the company appears professional. I will call them tomorrow.

A local builder, very good. But online reviews hold about the same value for construction companies as they do for hotels and doctors.

koelner1983 schrieb:

According to the realtor, building two full stories is possible, as several houses with two and a half stories already exist on the street. But we will try to reach someone at the building authority who can give us a clear statement.

Just ask for the name of the zoning plan (zoning ordinance / local development plan) that applies to your building plot and then look it up yourself (or provide the name here, of course NOT as a link).

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https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

The discussion can be simplified as follows: You should first decide whether you

- 1.) want to work with an architect to create a custom design that takes into account your personal preferences, intended uses, financial possibilities, and the conditions of your property (building and planning regulations!), and who will represent your interests with the construction companies during the building phase. The architect receives a fair fee for this planning service, which is typically based on the eligible construction costs.

or whether you

- 2.) want to work with a prefabricated house supplier / general contractor (GC) / main contractor (MC), with all the advantages and disadvantages that have been extensively discussed in this forum.

If you find option 1.) more interesting in principle, you should at the very beginning consult an architect for advice to clarify what may be built on your property from a building and planning permission perspective, and to what extent your initial design sketch fits within these parameters. Without this foundational assessment, considerations of floor plans are premature and often become obsolete later.

That is all to say on this topic for now.

Hello everyone,
@ypg
Regarding point 1: Yes, we visited them to get an overview. We are building for the first time, and 11ant suggested not to make any immediate decisions. It was very interesting to hear what the different companies had to say.
Regarding point 2: What do you mean by saying an architect is not needed? I hope you mean that the floor plan is nothing special.
Regarding point 3: Yes, it took a while to understand, but then we got it. The drawing is just to show the person we will be building with what we have in mind. 🙂

@11ant
Phew, where do I start? So, were the questions about smart home or bathrooms directed to the wrong companies at the wrong time (salespeople)?

11ant schrieb:

Turnkey builders using solid construction are not “prefab” house companies. And Heinz von Heiden and Viebrockhaus are an awkward comparison because they target very different customer groups. However, neither is the best choice for you: first, they are big-name companies (not regional), and second, you’d better go for a full general contractor (GC), although I consider the “partial GC” concept a textbook example of an own goal.

I prefer a full GC, but I don’t understand “partial GC.” So, in your opinion, full GC or not? 😀

11ant schrieb:

Just ask what the relevant development plan for your building area is called, and then look it up yourself (but please don’t share it here as a link).

There is no development plan. According to the realtor, the building is regulated under §34 neighboring development. He and the Viebrockhaus seller said it’s no problem since two-storey construction is allowed. The representative from Heinz von Heiden softly suggested checking with the building authority.

@wpic
Thank you for your straightforward words. We have an appointment with an architect on Wednesday. I think this appointment will help us more than further meetings with prefab home companies...

The more I read here and research elsewhere, the more I realize that building a house isn’t just building a house—it’s creating a problem that you solve step by step.

Anyway. I have to build one way or another. The first problem to solve is with whom. And I don’t just mean prefab builders, GCs, architects, or the like, but also finding among many someone who runs their business with heart. Of course, this problem applies to everything you do, but here the build is irreversible, and the costs are clear to everyone.

wpic schrieb:

who represents your interests towards the construction companies during the building phase

That is the main advantage of hiring an architect directly yourself, not the floor plan design, even though clients tend to fixate on this small part of the architect’s work in an almost irrational way.

koelner1983 schrieb:

Yes, we went to them to get an overview. This will be our first build, and 11ant advised us not to commit immediately.

Because of the anchoring effect of first impressions, it would have been wiser to get an overview from someone who is not trying to sell you construction services. That means going first to an independent building consultant (I consider an architect the “first choice” here). By the way, I still don’t see any signs that you have looked beyond your own thread or read through others’ threads with people building houses—I've suggested search terms for the forum for you to use. The answers to your most urgent questions have been given here multiple times over the last three months. If I were you, I would have called me by now—have you at least looked through the house building roadmap?

koelner1983 schrieb:

The drawing is just to show the person we will build with what we have in mind.

You should not yet want to decide who you will build with because essential basics are still missing. Before design phase 6, it’s not even clear who could be suitable at all. I strongly recommend: “Take out impatience—bring in competence!” There is a saying used when someone goes to a general contractor (GC) without an architect: “only the most foolish lambs choose their own butchers.” Let go of the naive idea that building a house is a four-step program (floor plan—price—signature—move-in date)—that would be completely wrong!

koelner1983 schrieb:

Phew, where do I start? So were the questions about smart home and the bathroom sent at the wrong time to the wrong people (salespeople at external companies)? / / / Prefer a full GC, but what do you mean by “GC minus”? So, in your opinion, GC or not?

Where you should start is by entering the terms I named concisely again in post #15 into the forum search. That will give you reading material for the entire rest of the week, and you will no longer be an easy target for construction companies but an informed potential client. Preferably before meeting an architect, you should have read at least two episodes of the house building roadmap: the first (“A house building roadmap, also for you: the HOAI phase model!”), and the most recent (“House building roadmap reloaded: a valuable active pause”). Approaching construction companies about smart home features immediately is like asking your wife during the very first dance lesson which names she would like for your children. Construction companies love it when someone charges in like Blücher; however, it can also make you quite poor. I can explain how a GC’s business works quickly by phone (or you can read the post scheduled to appear in February—that’s still early enough). Those you mentioned are indeed full GCs, so you should let them remain so.

koelner1983 schrieb:

We have an appointment with an architect on Wednesday.

Wow, that’s going to be challenging considering how you have so far neglected your homework. So get ready for some eye-opening information now ;-)

koelner1983 schrieb:

I think this appointment will get us further than more appointments with prefab house companies...

I assume so.

koelner1983 schrieb:

Anyway. I have to build one way or another. The first problem to solve is with whom. And I don’t just mean prefab builder/GC/architect or similar, but also finding someone among many who does their work with heart. Of course, you face this problem in every undertaking, but building a house is irreversible and the costs are obvious to everyone.

Tell me, where does your urge to build come from: Have you already owned the plot for a long time with a building obligation, and now you must start digging quickly; otherwise, it would have to be returned?

Who you find among the crowd as a “builder with heart” you can already read about here extensively over the last ten weeks alone. I would even say you only need to scroll back about four weeks for this currently.

koelner1983 schrieb:

There is no development plan. According to the real estate agent, it’s governed by Section 34 concerning neighboring building. He and the seller from Viebrockhaus said it’s no problem to build two stories. The gentleman from Heinz von Heiden softly said to check with the building authority.

So call the building authority before your architect appointment on Wednesday to confirm whether this really is a Section 34 area. In such an area, two-story construction is only unobjectionable if there are already two-story buildings there.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/