Approach - Preparatory work / Precautions during the pre-construction phase

Hello everyone,

our construction project will begin around mid-June with the earthworks. The building application and applications for house connections and construction power have been submitted, and the first trades (earthworks and masonry) have been fixed. The surveyor still needs to be commissioned for rough and fine staking. That is the current status. Construction toilet ([Kumpel baut nebenan]) is available.

Now, there is still some time until mid-June. We would like to use this time to already carry out precautions and preliminary work for the construction phase, which would otherwise cause additional effort and stress later on.

For example, I was thinking of getting offers for a kitchen made and selecting floors, tiles, and sanitary fittings, so that there is no longer a major coordination effort later on.

Does that make sense from your point of view, or is it a completely wrong approach?

What other preliminary work do you think could already be done now?

Best regards

I had, for example, thought about having offers made for a kitchen and selecting floors, tiles, as well as sanitary objects so that there would no longer be a major coordination effort. Does that make sense from your point of view, or is it a completely wrong approach?

We did the same, planned and commissioned the kitchen. Selected sanitary elements and floor coverings. We wanted to use the time to deal with the individual things without time pressure and without having 1,000 other things on our mind at the same time.

We did it exactly the same way. Kitchen, sanitary fixtures, floors, considerations regarding interior design. We also went through the electrical planning several times for ceiling outlets, sockets, etc. But of course, that depends on whether all of that is already firmly planned with you. In addition, we planted trees, hung bat boxes, and planned the garden.

We would like to use them to already make preparations and preliminary work for the construction phase, which would otherwise cause additional effort and stress later on.

At least I would plan the kitchen immediately so that small changes can still be made if necessary (e.g. move a door, shift a wall by a few centimeters, etc.).

We also wanted to sample plumbing & tiles, but they thought it was too early. The tile dealer told us that usually around the turn of the year there is a collection change of tiles and there is a risk that the selected tile might no longer be delivered or that one might not like it anymore.

In the end, we were early anyway and ended up visiting several times. Maybe it's just us, but after a few months I simply forgot what we had actually chosen and in the photos it no longer looked as nice as I experienced it on site.

So what I would do differently next time: I would go sampling again beforehand, but not "officially" deciding anything. Rather, first look at everything, have it explained, and possibly research again later, then go once more just to look and basically, if you still like the chosen item the third time, then order it.

I had thought, for example, about already getting quotes for a kitchen and selecting floors, tiles, as well as sanitary fixtures, so that there wouldn't be much coordination effort left later on.

Certainly not wrong, you need several iterations with appointments and considerations for that. We are currently working on the kitchen, it’s taking a while. We haven’t done any sampling yet, but I have already dealt quite intensively with the garden topic. My desired garden shed has a delivery time of several months, and it wasn’t easy to find kits for both the garden shed and the carport that can carry a tiled roof. I want to build the garden shed sometime in the summer, so there will be some storage space before moving in. With such things, of course, you also have to remember that it shouldn't necessarily stand where craftsmen still need to go.

Great, then my thoughts aren't entirely wrong after all.

Anything else you would have taken care of beforehand if you had had time before the start of construction?