ᐅ If you ask the homeowners, you will get an answer.

ypg schrieb:
I can’t see your profession through Tapatalk – I assume your work mainly involves making phone calls and coordinating by phone?

Actually, nothing works professionally for me without phone and email 🙂 Thank you for your perspective.

ypg schrieb:
If you expect someone to call you, a tradesperson would have to call you every time their tool touches a building component, just to ask if there might be anything that could cause surprises.

That’s an exaggeration... it’s more about situations where a process doesn’t go according to plan— in those cases, instead of calling, they improvise. In our experience, the tradespeople often improvised, unfortunately more often negatively, which ultimately led to additional work or problems.

Nordlys schrieb:
without a construction manager, just with the client, who then also had to act like a kind of builder.

That’s how it is with us too, thanks for your input—it sounds like everything went well for you.

Steffi33 schrieb:
Interestingly… when we were on site, the tradespeople bombarded us with questions…

Yes 🙂

Steffi33 schrieb:
…and if there was a question, I was always within sight and hearing range. That worked really well.

I would also like to be nearby more often, but with our jobs (both full-time), that’s unfortunately not possible.

Silent010 schrieb:


This is exaggerated... it’s more about situations where a process doesn’t go as planned, so instead of calling, people improvise. In our case, the contractors often improvised, but unfortunately more often negatively, which ultimately led to extra work or problems.

The situation is not exaggerated.
Try to put yourself in the contractor’s shoes: there is no reason to call you. He drills. He drills into a pipe. Why would he call you during or after that?
Why would a contractor call a homeowner, who is a construction layperson, if something doesn’t go according to plan?
I don’t even call my supervisor when something doesn’t work out for me. I have to gather all my expertise to improvise and deliver good work anyway. A layperson can’t help me with that. Should I call and ask for advice??
Just because you happen to know how the cables or whatever are installed. You seem to expect that they should have called you beforehand.
Please try to put yourself in this situation.

I’m always surprised how some homeowners feel capable of telling experienced contractors how things work.

ypg schrieb:
I’m always amazed at how some homeowners feel qualified to tell experienced tradespeople how things should be done.

And when dealing with an inexperienced laborer, the homeowner then wonders why the worker would rather roll dice or flip a coin than at least let a layperson explain it. At least the homeowner knows how they want it done. Many construction workers don’t even realize that they could simply refer to standards or regulations (for example, how far from certain elements you should drill at the earliest). They just muddle their way through.

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ypg schrieb:
I am always surprised when homeowners think they need to tell experienced craftsmen how to do their job.

I could write a novel about what could have gone wrong during our house construction if we hadn’t intervened. Construction workers often take the easiest route, especially in areas that won’t be visible later.

From what we experienced and what we saw on other building sites in the area (general contractors, prefab house companies, architects...), mistakes happen everywhere. However, homeowners usually don’t notice them because they rely on the architect, general contractor, and craftsmen, and many errors end up hidden behind plaster, screed, or the foundation slab. For example, sewer pipes were laid directly in gravel, insulation boards were fixed with only two anchors per board, plaster bases were forgotten, and so on.

Where they had chiseled through the wall, the kitchen was on the other side. You could see two sockets above that spot at chest height through the plaster, so they could have asked how the cables were running — we know all the wiring there. But that is just one example among several.

Addendum: Exceptions certainly prove the rule here, but I cannot say that the architect or general contractor ensures that every craftsman does their work properly (this includes two houses designed by a well-known architect). The main thing is that the house looks good in the end.

Of course, mistakes happen during construction. Why not? As I always say: the final product is what matters, not the process of getting there.

Anyway. But in your opinion, the homeowner should be kept on site for 10 hours to watch the tradespeople closely and maybe explain to them if what they’re doing is wrong, asking them to pay attention to this and that, and so on.
Or not, and simply pick up the “work phone” (everyone has one, after all) and say: “Hello, this is the plasterer working on your house. I’m about to start the plastering. Do you have any special instructions or warnings for me so I can work better and more carefully from your point of view?”

I can fully understand why some developers ban homeowners from the construction site: building a house will never be completely error-free. Mistakes will happen. What matters is that everything is done correctly in the end.

I’m out on this. I believe no homeowner should have to play site supervisor. That’s completely missing the point of housebuilding.
I’m curious how you’ll deal with your child later in kindergarten or school. Should the teachers call you every time they have a problem with your child, because you know your child better? 😉

ypg, it’s funny how you always take everything to the extreme and unrealistic :-) Thanks anyway for your perspective.

We designed the construction plans, are the clients for the trades, and act as site managers as the builders, with a so far very good result. Unfortunately, we always have to be proactive because otherwise we don’t get contacted. Well, as a result, some steps had to be redone.

Maybe this is a setup that the tradespeople are not used to.