ᐅ Turnkey vs. Individual Contracting

Yosan schrieb:

I would say: tax on everything you buy from the mentioned developer

Exactly. So,

Ideensucher schrieb:

EVERYTHING means
1) tax on (land + shell construction) or 2) tax on (land + shell construction + total price of individual trades)

1) if only the shell construction with the land is purchased, and 2) if additional finishing packages are also purchased – caution: having two invoices or time between purchases is pointless.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Being from a village doesn’t mean that the contractors are always ready or skilled.

I know two people in our area who tried to do it like you. Both started building in spring 2017. Move-in?
6 months of construction halt because of windows. 3 months because of the stove installer, electrical work, etc.
One of them grudgingly completed almost everything by himself and with help from his brothers. In the meantime, one brother built a ready-to-move-in house next door.
The other eventually said it didn’t matter what it cost, as long as a professional showed up. Now that contractor has been there a long time fixing defects, which, of course, there weren’t any.

I have been cleaning door handles since February so a heating engineer will replace leaky pipes and install new heating coils in the workshop. We know each other, and everyone promises the heating will be working by autumn. I see September passing, and the heating is still not working. Full stop – they can’t do it.

One more example
In October 2017, the roofer dropped out. Sealing new garage to old retaining wall. In September 2019, it was finally completed. Searched for months. Went through the entire circle of acquaintances. The company that carried out the earthworks and concrete work for us then found someone (good reputation as property developers). Unfortunately, the roofer was then sick for several more months.

XAMMAX2 schrieb:

I’m not a professional, that’s true.
I do know some people here and there—I know the heating technician, the tiler is an acquaintance.
An advantage I still have, and I hope this counts for something, is that about 20 years ago my father built his house himself.

I know lots of people too! The butcher, the baker, the guy from the local authority. I’ve never gotten sausage, bread rolls, or potatoes at a discount! Building a house requires coordinating all the trades. It also gets tricky with warranties. If something doesn’t work, the trades start blaming each other. A house costs money— the general contractor also wants to be paid for their services. I don’t accept the general claim that “you can save a lot of money there.”

XAMMAX2 schrieb:

My father built his house himself about 20 years ago.

...what does that mean to you?
If he really did all the work himself, I would argue that it might not compare well to other houses. I certainly don't want to offend anyone, but a generalist cannot deliver the same high quality across all the different trades.
The question is, what standard do you want to achieve? To be honest, I would simply ignore such casual talk in informal social circles.

As a layperson, it’s really hard to imagine how the various trades coordinate with each other. It’s not a simple sequential process; Trade A completes part of the work, then Trade B takes over, then Trade A continues, and only afterwards does Trade C start... You need to be aware of this; otherwise, the already mentioned chaos will occur. It’s also crucial to coordinate the “handover points” between A and B, back to A, and then to C.

I once walked into a room where the site manager and a tradesperson were negotiating:
“Trade X will have the problem if we do it like this.”
“Let’s not let the client hear that!”
“She’s right behind you…”
Awkward silence...
Trade X was scheduled much later, and at that time, it wasn’t even clear which company would do it... This is another example of what can go wrong. Here, a less-than-ideal execution by one trade only causes problems for a later trade.

It is definitely an art to think of absolutely everything – some things are quite obvious (you need windows, heating, electricity, and a toilet), while others remain hidden but must still be completed.

My opinion: taking on the coordination yourself is only for those with experience, strong nerves, plenty of time, and extra money. Everyone else should hire a site manager (e.g., an engineering firm).

And a PS: my interior finishing cost about €1000/m² (roughly $110/ft²) at a standard level, just as a rough guideline and in response to the initial question about whether €190,000 were a reasonable amount. (2019)