ᐅ Time Between Contract Signing and Start of Construction

ypg schrieb:

P.S. We were in a big hurry. Contract signed in early January, construction started mid-June

5 months and in a hurry?

Well, we were definitely in a hurry, and it could have been at least a week faster if the company had submitted the correct stormwater drainage application right away (they sent us one for soakaways, but we needed a manhole...). Also, the post office was on strike at that time, so mail only arrived after more than a week. Overall, we could have saved about 2 weeks. The time between approval and start of construction was exactly one day for us. We were scheduled in advance simply because they knew the plan would be approved. We wouldn’t have started without the permit.

Generally speaking: as a builder dealing with authorities, you control the pace yourself. If you let permits just sit around at home for weeks, everything takes longer. If you scan the permit as soon as you get it and send it out by email immediately, everything moves quickly. For 2 months, besides an 11-hour workday, I also spent 3 to 4 hours daily organizing the house. On Saturdays, there was always something to go and check out to be able to make decisions (kitchen, stairs, windows, brickwork, etc.). After 4.5 months of this rush, I needed 2 weeks where I really did nothing at all.

Our business unit has its own schedule, and each unit will complete its orders accordingly. You might be able to shorten it by one to two weeks, but it will take as long as it takes! Whether you are in a hurry or not. In the end, the drying time also lasts as long as it has to. Understood, @Payday?

Fenix2k schrieb:
Our builder mentioned a timeframe of 6-8 weeks. I'm curious to see if that will work out. Almost 3 weeks have passed since signing, and there’s still no excavator on the site.
Good thing we have an 8-month construction time guarantee. That should keep things moving.

Hopefully, you haven’t terminated your apartment lease yet.

ypg schrieb:
Hopefully you haven’t terminated the apartment lease yet.

I was thinking something similar this afternoon. With this attitude, you’re sure to get a big surprise. Why would the excavator be sitting around there already? An excavator costs money to rent daily, so why would it just be parked somewhere? It will arrive exactly on the day the work starts (at most 1–2 days before).

Before construction begins, usually:
- a construction sign (advertisement!)
- a portable toilet
- construction water/electricity (you might need to arrange these yourselves)
- possibly a site trailer or something similar

There will definitely be no start of construction before you have submitted a building permit/planning permission notification to the authorities. Three weeks since signing? What has been done so far on your site? Is the floor plan finalized?

Check the contract carefully regarding the 8-month construction period. It definitely mentions something like “from foundation slab” or similar.

As you can see from the various experience reports here, it depends on the contractor as well as their workload and scheduling.

For us, the excavator was already on the site before we received the building permit / planning permission because our plot was one of the few where the excavation material could be stored entirely to the side. At many other construction sites, work could not start at that time because the weather was not suitable for transporting the soil.

So it’s best to ask the respective contractors and have a latest completion date (regardless of the start of construction or similar) included in the contract.

As @Jochen104 mentioned in passing and we forgot to add: Weather plays a very important role in house construction.
What simply can't be done, can't be done. No matter how many deadlines are included in the contract — usually in the fine print with no guarantee — if the weather causes delays, schedules can’t be met and further logistics will be affected.