ᐅ Looking for a construction company in the Greater Stuttgart area!

erazorlll schrieb:

As an additional note:
We have heard positive feedback from the residential area about b+m Massivhaus from Herrenberg. They designed a really nice house and the process apparently went smoothly without major issues. We never inquired there ourselves, but maybe this helps you.

Thank you very much for the suggestion, we will definitely take a look at that company 🙂
We have already decided that we want to work with a local solid/concrete builder. Herrenberg is very close to us, as we are building in the Böblingen district.

Mausimaus schrieb:

How long was your construction period?

From building permit / planning permission, about 5 months for detailed planning and preparations. Then approximately 12 months for the actual construction period (from site staking to move-in).
The long preparation phase was due to two factors: first, we had additional customization requests in the planning stage and some issues with the floor plan that needed to be resolved. Second, at that time we were in the peak phase of the construction boom and had to wait for available capacities. I think this is likely different nowadays.

Once Köhler started on the construction site, the work generally proceeded quickly and in an organized manner.

erazorlll schrieb:

From the building permit / planning permission, about 5 months for detailed planning and preparations. Then around 12 months for the actual construction period (from site staking to moving in).
The long preparation phase was due to two factors: first, we had additional special requests during planning and some issues with the floor plan that needed to be resolved. Second, at that time we experienced the peak of the building boom, so we had to wait for available capacity. I think this might be different nowadays.

Once Köhler started on site, the process usually proceeded quickly and efficiently.

Thank you for sharing your experience. How was Köhler’s final price for you? I find it difficult to compare prices properly since many only provide estimates and the scope of services can vary significantly.

@Mausimaus
I think I posted a more detailed comparison here somewhere before; I’d have to look for it. From memory: prefab house providers were initially somewhat cheaper, but once you went into the details, the prices ended up almost the same as Köhler. I recall that we had a price offer from Bittermann & Weiß, which was ultimately just as expensive as Köhler. We also asked U-Haus and Hauser for detailed quotes based on our finalized floor plan from the planning phase, and their offers were all quite similar to Köhler’s. We had a rough price estimate from Fermo as well, but it was noticeably higher.

I would say Köhler’s pricing is mid-range or slightly above mid-range. You will find cheaper providers, but also more expensive ones. In direct comparison with Hauser, U-Haus, etc., Köhler is pretty close. At least that was the situation when we built.

My tip for making prices more comparable:
First, during all your discussions with house providers (and visits to prefab house exhibitions), gather inspiration regarding floor plans, size, special features, and so on. Each provider will go through these points with you in their discussions.

Then, use all that information to form your own picture. How big should the house be? Which floor plan did you like best? What special features do you absolutely need, and which are less important? Sketch and write all this down.

Then, approach 2 to 4 providers from your shortlist with your ideas and ask for quotes based on that. We put all the individual items from the offers into an Excel spreadsheet and compared them. For example, if one provider included 3 roof windows and another included 2, you can adjust that to make the offers comparable.

In the end, you won’t get a 100% precise comparison, but you will have a better idea of how the providers differ.

We ultimately chose Köhler because they made the best impression during the talks and were the most flexible. I’d rather pay a bit more and be confident that any issues during construction will be handled and solutions will be found. I know someone who built with Massa Haus—they finished the house, but were unreachable immediately the day after. That might be an extreme comparison, but I think you know what I mean.

erazorlll schrieb:

@Mausimaus
I think I posted a more detailed comparison here somewhere, I’d have to look it up.
From memory: the prefab house providers were initially always a bit cheaper, but when you looked into the details, their prices ended up almost the same as Köhler’s. I remember we had a price offer from Bittermann & Weiß, which was ultimately just as expensive as Köhler. We also requested detailed quotes from U-Haus and Hauser with our finalized floor plan from the planning phase, and all their offers were pretty much in line with Köhler’s. We had a rough price estimate from Fermo, but that was significantly higher.

I would say Köhler’s pricing is in the mid-range or slightly above mid-range. You will find cheaper providers, but also more expensive ones.
In direct comparison with Hauser, U-Haus, etc., Köhler is relatively close. That was the situation at the time we built.

My tip to make the prices a bit more comparable:
First, gather inspiration on floor plans, size, special features, etc., through conversations with house suppliers (and at prefab house exhibitions). Every house provider will go through these points with you during discussions.

Then, form your own picture based on all the information. How big should the house be? Which floor plan did you like best? Which special features are necessary, and which are not so important? Sketch and write everything down.

After that, approach 2 to 4 providers on your shortlist and request a quote based on your ideas.
We put all the individual items from the offers into an Excel sheet and compared them. For example, if one provider calculated 3 roof windows and another 2, you can adjust to make it comparable again.

In the end, you won’t get a 100% precise comparison, but you will have a better understanding of how far apart the providers are in price.

We ultimately chose Köhler because they made the best impression in the talks and were the most flexible. I prefer to pay a bit more and know that any problems during construction will be handled and solutions found. I know someone who built with Massa Haus — they finished the house and were unreachable the very next day. That might be an extreme comparison, but I think you understand what I mean.

Thank you very much for your effort.
We are not trying to go with the cheapest provider either; I was just curious about how your final costs turned out.
Köhler is currently our favorite, and I can well imagine that they will get the contract.
They already make a very competent impression, and all the houses I have seen so far looked visually appealing. Actually, the appearance is important to me too.
For us, the most important thing is to have a reliable partner who can implement our special requests. Hauser was not able to do that.

Mausimaus schrieb:

For us, the most important thing was to have a reliable partner who could implement our custom requests. Hauser was not able to do that.

My experience with custom requests:
They typically suggest what they have already done before. Köhler proposed 2-3 custom features that they had installed in other houses, and we adopted those. Any other custom requests have to come from you, but then they are (usually) possible.

We had a "custom request" that could only be fulfilled by certain specialist tradespeople. We discussed this before awarding the contract, and Köhler then found and selected an appropriate company for us.

I can offer to discuss any detailed questions directly. Just contact me via my username at g m x and we can talk it through.