Acquiring expertise in house construction / Book recommendations? Websites?

I have learned most of it through our conversations with construction companies, architects, engineers, and other home builders. It is definitely recommended to get different offers and also to gather ideas, especially for your house building project. On the internet, details are often discussed thoroughly, sprinkled with technical terms as soon as experts join in, so I quickly lose track if the topic doesn't fit my problem 100%. Once you are more deeply involved, it is of course especially worthwhile to ask questions yourself and engage in discussions. Good luck already!

The informational content is limited, but it was a very comforting read. And at least there is a brief look behind the scenes. For those (like me) who enjoy seeing the bunglers get caught in their own bungling, I can recommend the following reading "Bekenntnisse aus der Baubranche" by Julius Bic. I bought it on Amazon.

Much more important than technical knowledge are basic skills in project management, because that is ultimately what you provide as a client.
As a literature tip, the book "Projekt Eigenheim: Wie Sie Ihr Bauvorhaben erfolgreich managen" by Marc Ellinger made a good impression on me, but I only leafed through it.

You need a few dimensions and tools with which you keep the reins in hand – and these are quite universal. Technical knowledge helps, but it is not the decisive key.

I’ll give you 7 points with which engaging yourself is definitely more worthwhile than investing in technical knowledge.

1. Create clarity of goals. A good requirements specification helps as a tool. "Good" means emphasizing the description of the result more than the description of details. The good requirements specification is oriented towards how exactly your house improves your quality of life and not on how large which room is. Always keep the requirements specification in view to check to what extent the project remains goal-oriented.
2. Create clarity of time. The tool for this is a chronological project plan that is continuously maintained. For this, you need input that you assemble yourself. How long does who need, which sequence is proposed, what resource availability is there when, which materials have bottlenecks and delivery times... The rough planning goes up to the move-in date, listing trades and calendar weeks, who does what when, adaptation in detailed planning, keeping an eye on consequences of delays yourself and managing them through targeted communication and questions.
3. Maintain cost control. Comparing offers is not enough. Documenting change orders and quantities is important. Like clarity of time, cost control is a continuous tool.
4. Stakeholder management. You are not the only one interested in your construction project. All service providers, neighbors, authorities are involved with different interests. Know these interests and consider a strategy on how to resolve possible conflicts in advance. That helps to enforce your own ideas.
5. Communication skills. Tools are regular meetings, construction diaries, forum documentation, a good filing system. What is really important, namely winning people over, you can either do already today, or you no longer have time to learn.
6. Risk management. This is where the previously mentioned points come together in a structured way. How is the resource and material availability, how do I detect errors, cost and schedule deviations early, what strategy do I have to deal with them, how do I communicate what, where can I make concessions, where not, what can be negotiated in terms of achieving the goals?
7. Self-management. Use the above-mentioned tools to keep yourself under control in stressful situations. Always ask yourself: Is this about letting off my anger now, or about reaching the goal? Always consciously pay attention to points 1 and 4 to establish goal congruence. With that, you get along very well in 90% of all challenges. Do not use "pressure" as the first means, even if you feel "pressure" inside. Stay calm when someone tries to build "pressure" on you. Leave emotional problems where they arise and do not take them on yourself.

Expert knowledge is important, but having to "have it yourself" is overrated. Acquiring it yourself is not economical for the average homebuilder who rarely builds more than three homes in their lifetime. It is better to hire a professional (or a professional female, to avoid the gender language barrier). An advisor should advise and not patronize; therefore, it is important to understand each other in order to weigh the received advice as a layperson. I work as a construction consultant nationwide because German is my native language and I avoid technical jargon as much as possible or translate it for my clients. And I am "independent," meaning I am not tied to any provider, so that when it comes to taking sides, I represent only the homebuilder's interests. Even colleagues employed as sales consultants can be quite knowledgeable and explain things understandably, but they are never allowed to say if there is a better product behind the seven mountains. Good advice is also not expensive but pays off. For example, with architects, the two most important service phases 1 and 2 are also absolutely affordable, and the otherwise most expensive service phase 5 pays for itself because it avoids learning costs of at least the same or even significantly higher amount. My "House Building Roadmap, also for you: the HOAI phase model!" is freely accessible and free of charge both in the complete basic scope and in the "Reloaded" episodes, and it enables prospective builders, even as laypersons, to judge which professional to choose for which service phases most economically. Like other independent advisors, I also make sure that no consulting services are obtained and paid for twice (as regularly happens, for example, when architects are commissioned for service phases 1 to 4 within the mandate scope).

In forums, it is best to pay targeted attention to the competence background of those helping and what they reveal about their personality beyond their technical knowledge. The most valuable tips come from "repeat offenders," meaning technically laypeople but with experience from several homes already. From many posts, one can also read whether someone thinks similarly, which makes the shared stories more transferable. It is generally helpful to read for weeks first. Those who then ask themselves wisely check what similar topics have already been discussed. It is best to start your own thread with detailed descriptions and include the filled-out questionnaire (pinned at the top of the floor plan section) in the initial post. It is also important to avoid half-knowledge use of technical terms. So it's better to simply say "construction company" if one has not yet understood exactly what a general contractor is. Calling it a "property developer" instead tends to mislead fellow discussants. And in "experiences with construction companies," one can read why it is perfectly logical and harmless to find so little information about the "unknown company" on the internet. Incidentally, one should generally avoid absorbing frequently heard company names like a sponge.

Advice literature exists in many different qualities, and half-knowledge from yesterday is often spread in it (which is difficult for laypeople to recognize). This is thus a dead end or a prime time-waster. The biggest beneficiaries of such works are often the authors. If they warn of scams, the tricksters usually have already moved on. Blogs and video channels are more up-to-date. And not only mine, but also, for example, the "Prefabricated House Expert" or the "Energy Saving Commissioner" offer a lot of experience mostly in front of the paywall. Among podcasts, I find the one by architect "Kittybob" very worth listening to, and a good recommendation is also the "Homebuilder's Driving License" by lawyer Reibold-Rolinger ("Bauglück").

Much more important than expertise

I actually expect from you, as well as from , not to resurrect or embalm forum ghosts.

I actually expect from you, as well as from , not to pull forum corpses out of the coffin or to embalm them.

You are right - I don't know why this post was brought up as "new" for me. When I see something in this section at the top, I sometimes forget to check the date. I could have saved myself the trouble.