Thanks again to everyone for the overwhelming feedback. :)
For me, the matter is clear, definitely with a building expert. We are members of the Bauherren-Schutzbund, so I will take the one assigned to me.
I’m outing myself, we built without a building savings contract. My reasoning was:
- I trust the site manager. He found numerous "errors" on his own and had them reworked. He also knew the problem areas during construction and looked closely there – the building savings contract looks "generally"
- the building savings contract is on site 2-4 times. We had a prefabricated house, a lot happens in the meantime that the building savings contract can no longer check. It might be different with stone-on-stone construction, because the house is built on site
- I was on site daily and had my own eyes – what I didn’t understand, the craftsmen calmly explained to me
- I have a 5-year warranty. What I didn’t notice within that time is not a "fault" either
I think it’s great that you’re outing yourself here, I believe many often build without a building expert but not many admit it. I trust the site manager too and my impression of him was really positive, actually the whole company is great and I like the process so far very much! The site manager is also the most important person on the construction site, or so I have been told. ;)
What I noticed with us as well is: when we point something out, you always have to follow up to make sure it’s done. When the expert writes something in the protocol, it’s done immediately without any questions.
Not every remark from the builder is well thought out, so many site managers/companies certainly became numb. :D