ᐅ Do you have a tendency toward perfectionism when it comes to your home?

If we were perfectionists, we wouldn’t have even started building on our tiny plot of land. But then we would still be living in our rental apartment, which is actually too small for the three of us, wondering how we would build if we won the lottery.

In the end, we made the best of the circumstances and live quite well with the mindset that "anything can be changed eventually," at least when it comes to the interior.
I’m also generally not very perfectionistic and rarely regret my decisions. That definitely plays a big role in it.

For proper perfectionism, I neither have the money (there’s no need to discuss here the crazy prices for plots of land in the southwest and house construction in general) nor the time (small children, hobbies, friends...). I also lack relatives who are masons, electricians, plumbing experts, architects, or similar professionals whose advice and help could make the build more "perfect." At least there is this great forum here :-)

I’ll be happy if our construction project (for which the building permit / planning permission is still pending) proceeds roughly according to the schedule and budget.

We are about to start the groundwork. Excitement is definitely building up. We both tend to plan carefully to avoid as many planning mistakes as possible afterwards. Compared to friends and acquaintances, we are much more meticulous ("You don’t decide on the socket locations directly on site?") and frequently review and update our plans, notes, and to-do lists.

We never go into selection and consultation meetings without a prepared agenda, including questions, wishes, thoughts, and uncertainties to make sure everything is clarified afterwards. For example, this evening I added notes from the initial discussion about the security system to my handwritten records on the computer, since this has implications for windows, doors, and our construction partners. Whether this is perfectionism, I’m not the one to judge given my modesty from Franconia. 🙂

Yaso2.0 schrieb:

However, over the past months I realized that I got totally stuck in my perfectionism with some things and then quickly approved other things.

To be honest, I’m actually a bit scared of that! Could you maybe name two or three examples where that was the case for you?

rick2018 schrieb:

It was over 2 years of meticulous planning and then just over a year of construction phase where I was on site almost every day for several hours or all day.

Would you, and anyone else, be willing to describe what being “on site” exactly means? Do you check the work and have foremen or site managers show you around? Do you get physically involved yourself? Our build is starting soon, and even though I’m really looking forward to it, I can’t quite imagine the role of the client on site at all…

I did some of the work myself. This also helped me gain acceptance more easily than if I had just shown up once a week in a suit on the construction site. I was already familiar with most of the trades involved. I got to know the workers on site, occasionally offering food, drinks, cigarettes, ice cream, and so on. We also had personal conversations during breaks. Additionally, I was always available as a point of contact and could make quick decisions whenever issues arose. You can immediately tell if something is missing or if unexpected interface problems occur. I made a point of thoroughly understanding every aspect. I know almost every corner of our house and the property. There are also photos of nearly every critical spot.

The craftsmen were proud to work on this project.

Several factors came together in our case that made this build possible in this form: acquaintances and almost exclusively local craftsmen, an unusual project, meticulous planning, flexibility in timing, and a willingness to get involved personally.

If you want to know more, feel free to read through my extensive thread. It now has 264 pages.
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/bauhaus-villa-aus-beton-mit-Kerndämmung-erfahrungen.28733/

I was often on the construction site since we continued living on the property.
Sometimes I just sat down and watched, talked to the workers, asked a lot of questions, and even got to operate the excavator myself...
I brought drinks and coffee for the workers.
I also always checked from my perspective whether everything was going as it should, which was helpful twice because the workers apparently thought the building plans were completely unnecessary. One expansion joint in the screed was placed incorrectly (the room door opens onto the hallway), and a door lining wasn’t plastered (no door frame could be installed there).
During the drywall installation, I discussed several things with the drywall contractor, for example, the triple-layer drywalling of a pre-wall construction element so that the tiles would end exactly in the corner.

I would most likely replace the straight staircase with a stair landing.
Additionally, I would get more involved with the topic of heat pumps plus underfloor heating.

BUT: Considering what we paid for the construction in 2019, I count my lucky stars every day that the house with this equipment is standing exactly as it is. ;-)