ᐅ Building on a Tight Budget: Is It Possible?

Tolentino schrieb:

I once said, "Blessed are the simple-minded, for they have the worry-free (not defect-free) build," or something along those lines...

I can easily imagine your discussion group 😀 and especially how you feel afterwards....... 🤨
If just being simple-minded were enough, then I have a great chance of that. 😀 😀 😀 I try to approach this area with a bit of calmness... trying...
Of course, nobody wants a faulty house, and nowadays — or as you can also see here on the forum — there are always 80 million armchair experts right away.
What you describe was similar with my first build in 1990. I had zero knowledge and handed the construction over to a well-known shell builder. I didn’t ask about the bricks, foundation, or anything else; I thought he would take care of it, and he did.
The same went for most of the rest, and usually, I awarded contracts based on sympathy or my perception of competence (which I was probably easily impressed by), and I feel I did quite well with that for MY own experience!
Even back then in the development, there were only armchair experts, who wouldn’t hesitate to impose their knowledge on me unsolicited while looking down on me a little condescendingly. When I did later listen to some of those clever tips (this tiler is the best, I only use them, etc.), I often ended up annoyed.
Of course, there’s a lot of knowledge here too, and I also benefit from it to some extent. But just as before, there’s also the armchair expert department, and you shouldn’t let that bother you too much. The skill lies in identifying the real expert 😀
I also believe that my happiness with living depends only to a small degree on these technical matters, which might seem odd to some people.
The more police or security you see on the street, the more you think it’s dangerous. Even if the comparison isn’t exact, I still believe you can end up building the house that’s best for you, even if you’ve had trouble at the start or some things weren’t done in an armchair expert fashion. What use are the best calculated values if your mood is usually lousy? I know people with technically mediocre houses who are in a very good mood.
Maybe you should take a step back from these groups because they mostly just spread bad moods or cover up their own mistakes...
There was a thread here once where the original poster was understandably very upset after seeing on his video footage how a tradesman had urinated in his bucket. Stuff like that is disgusting and might linger in your mind for a while. If he hadn’t had a camera or had spent his time gardening instead of recording videos, he might have felt better.
You read here often enough that even with experts and so on, things happen and cause frustration. The internet doesn’t make it any better; lucky for us it didn’t exist back then, or I probably would have been unhappy in my nice home for 30 years.
Too much knowledge can also cause stress.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

There was once a thread where the original poster understandably got really upset after seeing on their video recording how a tradesperson had urinated in their bucket. That’s disgusting and can stay in your mind for a while. If they hadn’t had a camera or had spent their time doing gardening instead of the video session, they might have felt better.

Ah... wonderful. The comparison is accurate but has no financial consequences. By the way, the good neighbor only realized his heat pump was broken after he and I talked about my heat pump optimization attempts, because I mentioned how high my compressor starts were and where to check that. Only then did he go to his basement and see that his unit (we have the same model) was running in fault mode.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

Too much knowledge can also cause stress.

Crazy attitude, even if it’s partly true. But then you shouldn’t complain afterward or curse the technology.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

If I buy a modern, expensive "must-have heating system," personally, I don’t even want to know what "compressor, hysteresis, temperature spread," and all that stuff means; I’ve read endless terms in this context, and the thread I mentioned reflects this quite well.
Sure, you have ERR etc. (new term) with different numbers of starts, but that requires intensive study of the topic, not just reading a user manual like with a mixer. I want a heating system that works reliably and well on its own.

Now that the car comparison is done:
I was asked to get a 4K TV for my parents-in-law. I brought it to them yesterday and set it up. I briefly considered diving into the various picture modes, HDR, brightness, etc. to get the "perfect" image for each input (Blu-ray, streaming, football). After asking too many questions ("Is this better, or that?") and everyone getting annoyed, I just left everything on standard. Now they enjoy the TV and are happy with the standard settings.

That’s how the interested forum members approach heating. Everyone here is clearly much more interested in construction details than the average person. Regular folks just tell the general contractor (GC): Build the house, and that’s it. Later on, they complain quietly about it being too warm, too cold, or too slow to respond, and after 10 years, they replace the heat pump. That’s just how it is—houses are expensive, and nothing is perfect.

My parents-in-law tend to do exactly that. They bought their house from a developer without any detailed knowledge and are happy with it. Nothing is optimized. The underfloor heating keeps their feet warm, and at the same time, all the windows are always tilted open. That’s just how it is, and I don’t have the energy to optimize it. Once I start, I always have to come running when problems arise.

Tolentino schrieb:

Honestly, I’ve now come to the conclusion that you really should do that.

I think so too. My father-in-law seems to have spent more time over the years optimizing his Sky subscription than they probably spent asking questions during the house build. I simply assert that this reflects society as a whole. The only difference is scale. I don’t believe any of the 2021 home buyers spent less than half a million euros on their projects. If everyone invested at least as much effort into learning the technical and important details of their house as they do into their phone plans, streaming subscriptions, or phone selection, this forum would be much busier.

No one wants to dig into the technology. It’s exhausting.

What am I trying to say? With by far the largest single investment, you should be more interested in the technical details. But because it’s too exhausting, people prefer to fill their Pinterest collections with the pretty things of housebuilding.

Edit: My parents-in-law are absolutely the best! I wouldn’t say a bad word about them. They just have no desire whatsoever to deal with anything technical. 😉 The technology is bought uncritically and unsolicited from "experts." They have other interests and strengths!

Zaba12 schrieb:

Ah... wonderful. The comparison is correct but has no financial consequences.

This comparison was not intended to apply to the heat pump issue but rather as an example that too much control can also create problems that would never have existed without control. Of course, I don’t mean that nothing should be checked, and I certainly don’t just happily whistle my way through the construction period.
In MY example, there were no financial consequences; rather, he might have saved himself costs and a lot of time regarding the camera issue.

Zaba12 schrieb:

Crazy attitude, even if partly true. But then you can’t complain afterwards and curse the technology.

Dear colleague, please try to move away from black-and-white thinking, as that generally makes discussions difficult.
Someone who hasn’t studied the topic of underfloor heating can still possess broad, important knowledge. I just want to say that although you probably tried to prevent everything, informed yourself endlessly, and remained critical, in the end you will still find one mistake or another. OK, you managed to beat the heat pump, but if you looked more closely elsewhere, you’d also find errors there.
Of course, I inform myself as best as I can, but even as a repeat builder, checking only helps to a certain extent. I know that some things will go wrong, and I try to keep my frustration as low as possible. Why does that seem so unrealistic?
Maybe you were misinformed or didn’t research enough and would have been better off buying a different device... There are people who try to have fun during the building process, and others who end up with stomach ulcers—even when the construction goes well. I sometimes tend toward the latter but try to lean more toward the former.
@OWLer Although I know the nature of your in-laws, I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do it that way myself; I’m more of a perfectionist.

OWLer schrieb:

Only the scale doesn’t match. I don’t believe that many homeowners building in 2021 spent less than half a million euros on their projects. If everyone put as much effort into learning technical and important details about their homes as they do into their phone plans, subscription TV services, or phone choices, this forum would be much more crowded.

I fully agree with you!
But sometimes, in my opinion, it just gets too much, and many of the horror scenarios don’t actually occur in everyday life after all.

OWLer schrieb:

They just have no interest at all in dealing with anything technical.

Same here. It used to be different, and I’ve spent many nights with endless cables and so on; perhaps one also gains a more relaxed perspective with age (though unfortunately only sometimes). 😉
I’m quite critical and check things thoroughly, but I try to buy from "good" people—I buy little anyway, but always very high quality.
Your in-laws’ approach is probably appropriate for their life, and that’s what it’s all about. They wouldn’t be better off with sleepless nights over some stars.
@Zaba12 Nothing I would criticize about your approach; another person feels differently, and that’s fine too.
For me, heating just has to work reliably; I’m happy to dive deeper into other topics. For example, in the areas of floor plan design, furnishing, color, and decoration, we like to invest a lot of energy; it was different with the first build.

Heating instruction for a Junkers gas boiler with remote control. Participants: Karsten and technician Eckhard Eckhardsen. I have now adjusted everything. Keep your hands off all the controls, understand? I confirm. Over here by the door, you can turn off the hot water when the solar system is still producing heat during summer. You will have to check when that starts—maybe around Easter or more likely in May. Otherwise, everything works automatically. If it gets too warm inside the house, just lower the control on the wall—it’s similar to the Danfoss valve on the radiator. Understood? I confirm again. And if anything happens, our phone number is on the sticker. Okay? Yes, I confirm once more. Good, then we are done. Enjoy the system—it’s good and should last at least fifteen years. Just don’t fiddle with it. He leaves. Karsten follows the instructions and keeps his hands off everything. K.

pagoni2020 schrieb:

For me, the heating system simply has to work; I’m happy to invest more effort in other areas like floor plan design, interior, color, and decoration. It was different with my first build.

I understand what you want from your heating system, and your wish is basically justified. However, a heat pump is not a gas heating system that tolerates incorrect settings over years. So, to be truly satisfied, you would have needed to install a gas heating system with a gas tank. See @Nordlys; you should have taken Karsten as an example.

I’m not a heat pump advocate or lobbyist here, but during my second winter, I noticed that the compressor was starting more than 60 times per day, which seemed odd to me. That made me look into how it all works and realize that the heat pump will break down in the coming years if I don’t take action.