ᐅ Utility Connections

All the companies involved with us (three in total), except for the telecom provider, coordinated with each other without any action on our part. I informed the telecom provider of the appointment, and they arrived exactly on time. No issues at all.

Nordlys schrieb:
But no one gets around the Telekom builder service.

They are honestly the most outrageous. 800€ (about 860 USD) just to pull a cable through a conduit and connect it. Everything else is supposed to be provided by the builder. So digging, installing the empty conduit, and backfilling.

But not for us. Fortunately, we have a local fiber optic provider without sky-high prices. Otherwise, there’s also something like Congstar Homespot, which doesn’t even require any cables.

It went like this here. Mid-August. Companies involved: the general contractor (GC), the subcontractor from ZVO for gas and water from Lübeck, the subcontractor for the telecom company from Kiel, and the subcontractor for the utility grid company (Netz AG) also from Kiel, but not the same as the telecom. The GC calls. Tomorrow, ZVO will come to install gas and water, since those are the deepest. I spoke with the electricity crew; they want to come a day later. Should I speak with the homeowners’ service? ...What happened! ZVO didn’t come. The electrician started anyway and laid his power cable. I found out and said: Guys, the other crew will just dig this up again. Please, please keep the trench open so he can see your line. No, we’re not allowed, but we’ll attach yellow plastic markers so he can find it. Three days later, the Lübeck team from ZVO arrived. They swore at the guys from Kiel from Netz AG. Idiots, they should have waited... Yes, but you wanted to go first. It didn’t work out because there was a broken gas pipe in location A, that took priority. So they carefully excavated everything. They didn’t damage the power cable and installed gas and water underneath. I bribed them with 50 euros so they would wrap the empty telecom conduit—given to me by the GC—around the power cable and told them, “Figure out how to get it in!” They did. I begged them to leave the head of the trench open so the telecom people would find it immediately... they finally agreed but said they’re not allowed to, it’s their liability. I called the homeowners’ service. Everything was ready, where were they? “Actually, you’re not next yet.” “Really? But the trench head is open, the empty conduit is in place with a pilot rope inside, the ZVO guys are gone, your cable can be installed within 15 minutes; otherwise, my wife and I will have to dig the hole by hand, please don’t let that happen.” They softened and gave me the site manager’s number for the Kiel subcontractor, his mobile. A deep voice answered: “Where did you get this number?” I explained the situation to the telecom homeowners’ service. “Yeah, let’s see what we can do. We’re nearby. If the excavator driver can manage it tonight...” He did it, got a tip, and all my cables were installed. More luck than skill. Karsten

Overall, the savings from not having a company do the digging were so minimal for us that we didn’t mind having three separate digging phases in the end. Our peace of mind was simply more valuable.

In particular, the company responsible for electricity and telecommunications was a nightmare when scheduling appointments, and it would have been impossible to coordinate their work simultaneously with the others. What was important to us was to have all trades carried out in the correct order (who lays cables at what depth) and in time for the respective construction phases (especially gas before starting the screed heating!).