ᐅ What aspects of building your house were the most stressful or challenging for you?

I think this thread could be helpful as a trigger warning for new home builders or maybe to reassure them that their own experience was quite relaxed:

Interestingly, the first response we usually received after telling someone we were building a house was "Good luck with that"; whether from a notary, loan advisor, colleagues, acquaintances, relatives, or friends. Was it similar for you? And to get to the main question of this thread: "What has cost you the most nerves?" My usual answer was that we are not building ourselves, we are having it built, to which the response almost always was, "I thought the same once."

For us, so far, the biggest challenge has been arranging construction water and temporary power on the building plot. (Yes, also the land search since we always had about a 500km (310 miles) one-way trip to the desired building region, but that was balanced out by the enjoyment of the process. The price increase of about 15% was also a factor. I would need to check the exact figure again.)

I was most anxious about the utility providers since you have the least amount of leverage with them. Electricity and gas were particularly important for the ongoing process.

I was similarly frustrated by last-minute changes caused by supply shortages from suppliers (related to COVID-19…). For example, we experienced this with bricks, tiles, and paving stones.

Oh yes... and something you can only smile about in hindsight... “that one” neighbor who called the police multiple times because we were working on the construction site at times she didn’t approve of. That definitely cost us some nerves.

Dealing with GÜ and some of their subcontractors. Sometimes not getting a response was actually better than finally receiving one...
The supply shortages also played a role. They are still especially frustrating to me. I still haven’t received all the tiles that were supposed to arrive by mid-January. Take it from me: order 20-30% more tiles rather than just 10%. And if you want to be absolutely sure, avoid anything that can only be ordered online (at least from Obi), as there is no guarantee you will get it in a timely manner.
Almost every tile delivery has some damage.

So far, our construction process has gone very smoothly (about 4 weeks before moving in) and we haven’t encountered any significant problems.

This is probably due to the fact that we gave our full commitment to the project, made every effort to coordinate perfectly with the general contractor, and extensively researched every topic beforehand, which helped us build a solid knowledge base prior to starting construction. Additionally, being relatively young, without children, and close to the building site has certainly allowed us to invest a lot of time and effort.

As a result, dealing with utility providers / Internet and similar matters has not been a challenge.

Currently, however, our nerves are being tested to the limit as our house is nearing completion. Communication with the finishing trades (painting, partly done by ourselves together with plasterers, tiling, kitchen installation, stair fitting, final electrical work, etc.) is intense. All of this work is concentrated into about 3–4 weeks on site and everything needs to be done perfectly and neatly.

This requires a lot of planning on our part, aside from the general contractor, as it would otherwise be impossible to achieve within this timeframe.

So the stress includes:

- Final planning 4 weeks before moving in
- Planning and organizing the move out of the apartment in parallel, already packing everything
- Putting pressure on ourselves to move in on time and as quickly as possible

Three years after the construction phase,
it was a nice and creative time.
Looking back, the concerns with the contractors can be taken lightly, everything was resolved.
PS: We will never go through that again.

Prager91 schrieb:

But it’s certainly also because we gave our all for the construction, tried to coordinate everything perfectly together with the general contractor, and we spent countless hours thoroughly researching every topic, so we gained extensive knowledge BEFORE the build started.

Really? No one else does that here. (just kidding)

The problem is: dancing as a couple requires two people. And if one doesn’t dance along or dances to different music, you end up stepping on each other’s feet.
Even if it doesn’t hurt, it’s always annoying.

You were just lucky with your general contractor, I’m happy for you, but you can’t assume that thorough preparation and research will always lead to success.
On the contrary, with the wrong partner things can even go more smoothly if you know nothing at all and just nod along blankly at whatever they suggest.
The stress always comes when one party messes up and you notice it.