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

HoisleBauer22 schrieb:

I’d like to share something here as well. Many thanks to @erazorlll for your reports. I’m from the Böblingen area, and your tips on how to find providers were very helpful. I only came across Köhler after reading your post.

Regarding the previous posts: Given how many requests providers receive, they must have numerous standard floor plans and cost breakdowns ready. Putting together a quote using software should take no more than an hour. I wonder why providers don't offer an online login where you can input your desired house and plot data (rooms, number of floors, orientation) and immediately get some results—similar to car buying websites where you can apply detailed filters. This should be easy to implement with good software.

It’s also frustrating how (prefabricated house) providers treat us home builders. A single phone call rarely suffices; a face-to-face (F2F) meeting is demanded. Videoconferencing is sometimes met with resistance and only reluctantly accepted. Salespeople would rather drive 100 km round-trip for a meeting or even insist you first visit their company premises! (This was my experience with Fertighaus Weiss and Schwörerhaus.) They waste a lot of time and money this way—this could be much easier for all parties! The advantage of video consultations is screen sharing and live price calculations, which is far better than F2F meetings at the client’s home without advisors having system access.

Here’s a tip for newcomers searching for providers: Browsing catalogs and requesting them by mail is pointless. Instead, it’s better to start with an independent architect to discuss building possibilities on your plot (regulations regarding height, roof shape, orientation, etc.) and to talk about floor plans (room orientation based on compass directions). Have them draw some plans or draw them yourself. Only then, with as much detail as possible (e.g., KfW standard, heating system—consult an energy advisor first?—budget expectations, etc.), approach providers and try to schedule multiple meetings in a single day in Fellbach, for example. There, advisors have access to their software. These meetings are very important because you learn a lot and get new ideas each time. That’s more valuable than consumer advice books or Stiftung Warentest (German consumer foundation).

Currently, we have completed our search (goal: detached single-family house with about 140 m² (1,507 sq ft) fully basement):
Price range from providers for the house only, excluding additional costs (earthworks, connections, landscaping, fees for road closures and building permit/planning permission, etc. = approx. 100,000€) but including architect and planning: 410,000–480,000€.

Prefabricated house providers (offers unfortunately only after face-to-face meetings):

Provider	Comments
Streif Haus	Very committed advisor, almost too eager; the fastest construction time among providers. Model house in Fellbach looks very cheap; low material quality.
Weberhaus	Good advisor, but an air-to-air heat pump as the basic concept? No thanks. Responded late. The model house in Fellbach is nice and relatively high quality.
Fingerhaus	Good advisor (great: video consultation was easily possible), thorough breakdown of costs with optional extras priced separately, favorite! Also excellent overview of additional construction costs.
Kampa	Two good advisors attended together, good offer discussion. Offer and scope of services only printed out. The model house in Fellbach looks very cheap but dates from 2008, though the representative there knows his stuff.
Fertighaus Weiss	Good contact, calls us, engaged. But no offer provided; you’re supposed to visit their company somewhere far away first—unacceptable!
Schwörerhaus	Poor contact, no offer; you’re expected to visit their company somewhere far away first—unacceptable! However, model houses in Fellbach are of good quality.
Haas Haus	Assigned a good advisor who calls and offers a Teams meeting by email. Preliminary draft only includes floor plans. Decent house in Fellbach; advisor onsite can be a bit pushy.
Town & Country Haus	Quote: Floor plan request (normal, typical single-family house layouts) was “too complicated, go elsewhere” — unbelievable!
Hanse Haus	"We will get back to you" — nothing happened.

Conventional brick-and-mortar house providers:

Provider	Comments
Hauser Massivhaus	Quick response, attractive PDF offer (can confirm the positive impression from above!) without F2F meeting, good offer with pros and cons including option prices.
Einstein Haus	Respond quickly, PDF offer without F2F meeting but very brief, good scope of services with pictures, no prices for options.
HEFA Holz- & Massivhaus GmbH (partner of mymassivhaus.de)	Good contact, clear scope of services with good photos, needs analysis including concrete additional building costs—excellent! Offer only after F2F meeting.
Heinz von Heiden	Excellent advisor, offer only after F2F meeting, delivered very good floor plans immediately, best list of additional costs seen so far, pros and cons with options in offer, fair price—top favorite!
Haiss-Massivhaus	No longer accepting customers.
b + m Schlüsselfertiges Bauen GmbH	No offer; quote (snappily): "At that price, we won't do it, forget it."
Attraktives Wohnen (partner of Favorit Massivhaus)	Inquiry in progress.
Lechner Massivhaus, Kern-Haus	No response for over two weeks.
AWS Haus	Requested house not feasible (only possible from 500,000€ upwards).
Wochner-Haus	Requested house not feasible (only possible from 500,000€ upwards).
Köhler	Inquiry ongoing.

Great overview. We’re doing similar activities—also looking for an independent architect who charges a flat fee (service phases 1–3) in the Stuttgart area. Any recommendations?

D-Zug88 schrieb:

Great overview. We are working on the same tasks – looking in parallel for an independent architect who charges a flat fee (design phases 1 to 3) in the Stuttgart area – does anyone have a recommendation?

Forget about providers offering “design phases 1 to 3” as well as those offering “design phases 1 to 4” (see my posts using the forum search keyword "Gerddieter").

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

Mausimaus schrieb:

Thank you very much for your effort.
We are not necessarily looking for the cheapest provider; I was simply curious about the final costs you ended up with.
Köhler is currently our favorite, and I can well imagine that they will be awarded the contract.
They come across as very professional, and the houses I have seen so far all looked appealing visually. Appearance is indeed important to me.
For us, however, the most important thing is to have a reliable partner who can implement our special requests. Hauser was not able to do that.

Have you already made a decision? Who did you choose in the end?

We also attended appointments with the usual suspects.

All of them generally made a good impression. Sometimes you talk to a sales representative, managing director, surveyor, or architect. So, the conversations varied quite a bit.

We created our own floor plans and then requested quotes from all of them to make better comparisons.

I can only recommend that everyone compares themselves and chooses the right provider for their construction project. Pricing can change dramatically due to special requests, and suddenly another provider becomes cheaper. Therefore, you can’t generalize. The price difference at the end was about 0–7%, with Hauser as an outlier on the lower end.

• Hauser was by far the cheapest in comparison, which could also be seen in the execution. Thin lightweight concrete block walls with ETICS (External Thermal Insulation Composite System).
• Fermo was the most expensive but does all trades themselves and often offers walkthroughs before handover, so they are very transparent.
• Härtter tends to build standard designs, so special requests don’t seem very welcome, that’s our impression.
• Bauart was also very competent and dedicated but, unfortunately, didn’t fit our technical needs and was not very flexible.
• U-Haus was also very competent, providing floor plans and 3D views during the inquiry phase. We found the show homes were not quite as high quality in finish, and their prices were a bit higher in our case.
• AWS was truly top-notch, able to fulfill all special requests, with excellent communication and a great personal approach. However, they act purely as a general contractor (GC) and subcontract all trades, though they also work with high quality. Their pricing was mid-range.
• Köhler was ultimately our favorite. They are enthusiastic about special solutions, and their communication and personal approach were also excellent. However, you need floor plans to get a reliable estimate or must sign a planning contract. The initial volume-based estimate was way too high, but after detailed calculation, they were also mid-range. Köhler builds not only single-family homes but also industrial buildings, apartment complexes, etc., so they have extensive experience with above-ground and underground construction and try to leverage these strengths. For example, they were the only ones to offer a concrete garage attached to the house instead of a prefabricated garage.

Our ranking:

• Köhler
• AWS
• U-Haus
• Fermo
• Bauart
• Härtter
• Lechner Massivhaus
• Hauser

Perhaps this will help some of you with your decision or search.

Good luck!

We built with Köhler and would do it again anytime. I probably wouldn’t even compare anymore.

bewobau schrieb:

We created our own floor plans and then asked all companies based on these to better compare offers.

Having your own—and especially consistent—scale for comparison is useful. You can even introduce small errors deliberately to test the attentiveness of the "readers." Unfortunately, companies tend to quote a price to amateur planners without critical evaluation, even if the design is poor and only minimally compliant with approval requirements. Floor plans alone still leave a lot of room for interpretation.
In my inquiries, question 2 is the most interesting: do you also offer a similar, proven alternative design? (Whether it is called a "standard house" is secondary.)

bewobau schrieb:

Hauser was by far the cheapest in the comparison. You can also see that in the execution: thin expanded clay blocks with external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS).

Is it masonry (“brick on brick”) or prefabricated wall panels? Expanded clay should be able to comply with building energy regulations / EH55 standards without ETICS. Not everyone likes ETICS, and personally, I don’t consider it compatible with QNG (quality sustainable building standards).

bewobau schrieb:

Fermo [...] handles all trades themselves [...] AWS [...] is purely a general contractor and subcontracts all trades.

You probably mean "a pure shell builder." Managing all trades in-house suggests a general contractor (GC) that is actually too large for single-family homes (and probably also a construction manager, CM). For the client, the ratio of employed staff is value-neutral and therefore not really suitable as a decision or evaluation criterion.
I always inquire about the garage at least when it is not architecturally integrated, requesting it as a separately listed option to avoid distorting comparisons, since it is typically an add-on in practice. In my view, it usually doesn’t warrant much fuss. Its purpose is to house the “metal pet” and not spoil the overall design. My cars don’t wear Prada (and are fine with a simple organizer). If I were an influencer and they contributed significantly to the household income, I might be open to discussion—otherwise not.

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