ᐅ Tips for Home Construction Companies in Southern Baden-Württemberg
Created on: 23 Jan 2021 10:27
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Jokeep1337
Hello everyone,
My wife and I are planning to build a solid, traditional house (in the greater Constance / Tuttlingen / Villingen area, somewhere near the A81 highway). We both have little technical or construction experience and have therefore requested quotes from Allkauf Haus, Kern-Haus, Schwörerhaus, and Town & Country, all of which sound promising. Our goal is a single-family home including a granny flat, possibly with three separate living units.
What advice would you give to complete beginners who have little knowledge in this area? What should I pay attention to, and which companies would you recommend or advise us to avoid?
Thanks for your help!
Best regards,
Peter
My wife and I are planning to build a solid, traditional house (in the greater Constance / Tuttlingen / Villingen area, somewhere near the A81 highway). We both have little technical or construction experience and have therefore requested quotes from Allkauf Haus, Kern-Haus, Schwörerhaus, and Town & Country, all of which sound promising. Our goal is a single-family home including a granny flat, possibly with three separate living units.
What advice would you give to complete beginners who have little knowledge in this area? What should I pay attention to, and which companies would you recommend or advise us to avoid?
Thanks for your help!
Best regards,
Peter
W
WilderSueden23 Jan 2021 19:22As far as I know, even outsiders can get in there, at least partially. In Geisingen, I believe there was one that was only for locals.
C
Construbo23 Jan 2021 21:08rick2018 schrieb:
Hello Peter,
Do you already have a plot of land? What is your budget? A multi-family house can be quite expensive...
There are some rather adventurous stories about Town & Country.
In the area you're looking in, there are several large general contractors.
What exactly are you envisioning? That also affects the options...
Have you already looked at some houses?
RegardsWe would also be interested in those large general contractors; could you please name them? Thank you very much!
Construbo schrieb:
We are also interested in these large general contractors.What do you expect from them—especially since it has been frequently explained here why the smaller general contractors are often more advisable?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
C
Construbo23 Jan 2021 22:1511ant schrieb:
What do you expect from them—especially since it has often been explained here why smaller general contractors are usually more recommendable?Please excuse the misunderstanding; I wasn’t clear enough. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure about the differences between the various provider categories. Besides prefab house manufacturers (timber frame/masonry), there are so-called general contractors (which providers would be examples here?) and subcontracting through an architect or structural engineer? Is that correct? The latter option is our priority, and we will soon be initiating discussions with individual providers.!!! Package insert – user manual for laypersons: the following text should be read very carefully and digested slowly. That means, imagine a line break and a blank line after each sentence. I only wrote it as continuous text here to avoid creating a page as tall as a person. !!!
Under the term "prefabricated house," you apparently group all providers of a "ready-made house" in the sense of "turnkey construction" and generally see two approaches: this one and, alternatively or in contrast, the composition of individual trades.
There is also a general definition of "prefabricated house" in common usage, which refers to a house that is partly factory-built. That means the house is not built entirely on site, but in two phases: the shell is constructed panel by panel in a production hall and then transported by low-loader truck to the building site, where it is then assembled and the interior fit-out is carried out. The majority of manufacturers using this method build with timber frame panels (incorrectly but commonly called "stick frame"). Because of weight, it’s more difficult to transport, and therefore fewer manufacturers use porous brick, expanded clay, or other "masonry materials." There are also solid wood panels of various construction types, which are medium weight and a relatively new option on the market.
All "prefabricated" house manufacturers are general contractors ("GCs"), or if they offer shell construction only, shell construction GCs, although they usually do not call themselves that. The term GC is often used primarily for those GCs who build traditional on-site houses ("brick by brick")—that is, masonry. From a business perspective, a general contractor acts as the sole contractual counterpart to the client, meaning they offer all construction trades involved in building the house—at least the shell—and employ the craftsmen for interior trades either as employees or subcontractors. For the client, this means: one signature and a fixed total price. General contractors offer their services both in architect-led tenders and directly to clients. Many clients naively consider architects as just "floor plan drawers,” which is why they see their fees as unnecessarily high and would like to get this service "off the record" more cheaply. Many GCs have recognized this, hired architects themselves, and now offer house construction including planning services. Especially very clever clients want to save even more and think the smartest way is to subcontract individual trades separately, dreaming of summing the lowest bid packages individually. At this point, such frugality would be self-defeating since they would miss the "free extra" architect that comes with the GC. Therefore, some GCs act as shell construction GCs including permit planning and allow the client to continue dreaming their clever dreams. There are different perspectives on this. In my opinion, the smartest is to plan your house with an architect—not only up to the permit stage but turnkey literally. In other words, the architect not only "draws" the house but also handles subcontracting (where I think it’s wise to let the architect also bid as a GC) and manages site supervision. And to add to the confusion of common terms, there are also property developers. These are GCs who buy land and resell it bundled with the houses built on it. For liquidity reasons, they increasingly no longer do this with already completed houses, as was common before, but with contracts in which the houses are only started to be built after signing. The buyer can still have considerable influence on the planning, feels like the client (which legally they are not), and thus loses the distinction between GC and property developer (PD). As a result, homebuyers generally talk about "developers" after contacts with PDs, even though they mean GCs.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Construbo schrieb:I’m starting to realize that you probably understand even less than you realize yourself. So, let’s start right from the beginning:
Besides prefabricated house manufacturers (timber frame / solid construction), there are so-called general contractors (which providers would be exemplary here?) and single trade contracting via architect/structural engineer? Is that correct?
Under the term "prefabricated house," you apparently group all providers of a "ready-made house" in the sense of "turnkey construction" and generally see two approaches: this one and, alternatively or in contrast, the composition of individual trades.
There is also a general definition of "prefabricated house" in common usage, which refers to a house that is partly factory-built. That means the house is not built entirely on site, but in two phases: the shell is constructed panel by panel in a production hall and then transported by low-loader truck to the building site, where it is then assembled and the interior fit-out is carried out. The majority of manufacturers using this method build with timber frame panels (incorrectly but commonly called "stick frame"). Because of weight, it’s more difficult to transport, and therefore fewer manufacturers use porous brick, expanded clay, or other "masonry materials." There are also solid wood panels of various construction types, which are medium weight and a relatively new option on the market.
All "prefabricated" house manufacturers are general contractors ("GCs"), or if they offer shell construction only, shell construction GCs, although they usually do not call themselves that. The term GC is often used primarily for those GCs who build traditional on-site houses ("brick by brick")—that is, masonry. From a business perspective, a general contractor acts as the sole contractual counterpart to the client, meaning they offer all construction trades involved in building the house—at least the shell—and employ the craftsmen for interior trades either as employees or subcontractors. For the client, this means: one signature and a fixed total price. General contractors offer their services both in architect-led tenders and directly to clients. Many clients naively consider architects as just "floor plan drawers,” which is why they see their fees as unnecessarily high and would like to get this service "off the record" more cheaply. Many GCs have recognized this, hired architects themselves, and now offer house construction including planning services. Especially very clever clients want to save even more and think the smartest way is to subcontract individual trades separately, dreaming of summing the lowest bid packages individually. At this point, such frugality would be self-defeating since they would miss the "free extra" architect that comes with the GC. Therefore, some GCs act as shell construction GCs including permit planning and allow the client to continue dreaming their clever dreams. There are different perspectives on this. In my opinion, the smartest is to plan your house with an architect—not only up to the permit stage but turnkey literally. In other words, the architect not only "draws" the house but also handles subcontracting (where I think it’s wise to let the architect also bid as a GC) and manages site supervision. And to add to the confusion of common terms, there are also property developers. These are GCs who buy land and resell it bundled with the houses built on it. For liquidity reasons, they increasingly no longer do this with already completed houses, as was common before, but with contracts in which the houses are only started to be built after signing. The buyer can still have considerable influence on the planning, feels like the client (which legally they are not), and thus loses the distinction between GC and property developer (PD). As a result, homebuyers generally talk about "developers" after contacts with PDs, even though they mean GCs.
Construbo schrieb:Look in the section "Experiences with Homebuilding Companies" combined with the names of the nearest regional towns around your building location (and/or with names of regional contractors you already know)—there you will find reviews of those companies and their competitors. If all else fails ;-) you can add gmx (de) after my username here, as long as you do not yet belong to the forum’s internal mail private message circle. But first, sit down calmly, take a deep breath, as said, chew well before swallowing, and if needed, order a Doornkaat from Günni—now you know. Hchz :-)
The latter category is our priority, and we will soon start conversations with individual providers.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
W
WilderSueden24 Jan 2021 09:06Construbo schrieb:
Besides prefab house manufacturers (timber frame/solid construction), there are so-called general contractors (GUs) – which providers would be typical examples here? – and individual trade contracts arranged through an architect or structural engineer? In addition to what 11ant mentioned, there are several important price considerations. General contractors (including prefab house suppliers and developers) add a fixed markup (which is not insignificant), but usually offer a fixed price. This fixed price has the usual pitfalls like quantity overruns and owner-supplied work, but overall it is relatively stable. With individual trade contracting, the architect charges for tendering and coordination, but generally does not take on the cost risk. Therefore, it is important to work with an architect who provides reliable cost estimates from the start. There are many stories on this forum about architects where a 20% cost overrun is normal. Which of these two options is better is largely a matter of preference. Individual trade contracting can certainly save a few euros, but you then bear the cost risk yourself.
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