Hello Rick,
I have been browsing the forum for a while to read up a bit on our upcoming renovation.
I only ended up in your thread yesterday afternoon and even watched the Germany game in the evening only on the side because your “reporting” and the discussions really fascinated me more. I stayed up until 1 a.m. going through the first 130 pages and then finished the rest today. Like many here, your house would be too modern and way too big and “massive” for me to live in, but I have to say that you have good taste and, apart from a few exceptions, the whole thing is really very nice to look at.
This has been said many times before, but I think it can be emphasized again: Even more impressive to me is how you interact with your fellow human beings both here and apparently on the construction site. I only know a few people who are that wealthy, but they do consistently fulfill the stereotype that most of us have in mind. At the very beginning of the thread, there were some destructive and generalized posts out of envy, to which you responded very factually and politely, but firmly. You can say a lot with just a few words (topic offspring), which is really very pleasant.
Of course, I also noticed your incredible detailed knowledge. I have not seen you write anything like “no idea why we built it like this” or “they said that’s how you do it” anywhere. Everywhere you are very well informed and eager to learn, know several alternatives, and have always written clearly, briefly, and to the point why you decided for or against something. I will definitely take that for myself: thoroughly inform yourself, decide on a solid knowledge basis and with an understanding of the consequences, and then follow through. Don’t let yourself be lulled by grumblers, doubters, or “we’ve always done it this way” craftsmen.
A question about that: You have described several times that you are flexible with time, could read up a lot of knowledge, and were very present on the construction site. Could you maybe specify that a bit? Maybe I missed it: Do you have a “real job” that you continued alongside and read up knowledge at night/sometime else? Or did you – please don’t take this literally – just manage wealth anyway and then have “something to do again” with the house planning?
Also very impressive that you don’t show off or brag about the villa, especially since that would be so easy online. So often I experience in my circle of acquaintances that new acquisitions are advertised as “the best possible” or that costs and the “look, I can afford it” are the focus. That’s just so annoying… In your thread, for example, pictures of the fantastic view only appeared quite late, which you could have also placed out of envy already in the first posts.
The numbers around the whole project are simply incredible from the perspective of the (financially) little man. The earthworks, the cistern, the three 40-ton trucks with the glass, the pool, the garage… Your panes alone cost three to four times what we will be able to spend on the complete renovation of about 130m² of living space. Whenever you named products, I often googled what that stuff costs, then smiled briefly and closed the tab.
My entire post is not supposed to come across as obsequious or sycophantic; I just cannot formulate it better. However, it was important for me to express this again.
So: thanks for letting us take part, and I wish you continued fun in your house!