Building with a small budget feasible?

I once said, "Blessed are the simple-minded, for to them belongs the carefree (not flawless) construction." or something like that...

I can easily imagine your discussion group :D and especially how you feel afterwards.......o_O If simplicity alone were enough, then I would have the best chances at it.:D:D:D. I try it in this area with a bit of calmness....trying...... Of course, no one wants a defective house and nowadays, or as you also read here in the forum, there are always like 80 million armchair experts right away. What you describe was similar with my first build in 1990. I had zero knowledge and gave the construction to a well-known shell builder. I didn’t ask about stones, foundation, or anything else, I thought he would handle it, and he did. Similar with the rest and mostly I awarded contracts based on sympathy or in my opinion existing competence (I was probably easy to impress) and I felt I got along very well with that for MY feeling! Even back then in the neighborhood, there were exclusively armchair experts who imposed their knowledge on me unsolicited while looking down on me slightly contemptuously. When I later did heed one of those smart pieces of advice and tips in individual cases (this tiler is the best, I only use him etc.), I often got annoyed. Of course, there is also a lot of knowledge here and I partly benefit from it. Just as there is – as before – the department of armchair experts, and one shouldn’t let that unsettle them too much. The art is to find the real armchair expert :D I also believe that my happiness at home only depends to a lesser extent on such technical matters, which may seem strange to some. The more police or security you see on the street, the more you think it must be dangerous. Even if the comparison is not perfect, I still believe that in the end you can build the most beautiful house for yourself, even if you had trouble at the beginning or some things are not handled in an armchair expert way. What’s the use of the best calculated values if the mood is mostly crappy anyway? I know people with technically very mediocre houses who are in a very good mood. Maybe you should keep more out of these circles, as they just like to spread bad mood or cover up their own mess anyway..... There was once a thread here where the OP understandably got really angry when he saw on his video recording how a craftsman peed in his bucket. That’s disgusting and probably sticks in your mind for a while. If he had no camera or had spent his time gardening instead of video sessions, he would have felt better. You read here often,... despite experts and whatnot, things happen and troubles arise. With the Internet, it doesn’t get better; what a blessing that it didn’t exist back then, otherwise I probably would have lived unhappily in my beautiful house for 30 years. Too much knowledge can also cause stress.

There was once a thread where the OP was understandably really pissed off when he saw on his video camera recording how a craftsman had peed into his bucket. That is disgusting and might stick in your mind for a while. If he hadn’t had a camera or had spent his time gardening instead of a video session, he would have felt better.

Ah... wonderful. The comparison is correct but has no monetary consequences. By the way, the good neighbor only realized that his heat pump was broken after he and I talked about my heat pump optimization attempts because I mentioned that my compressor starts are so high and where to read that. Only then did he go to the basement and saw that his unit (we have the same model) was operating in fault mode.

Too much knowledge can also cause stress.

Crazy attitude, even if it’s partly true. But then you can’t complain afterward and curse the technology.

If I buy a modern, expensive "must-have heating system," I personally don't even want to know what "compressor, hysteresis, spread" and all that stuff is about; in this context, I have read countless terms, the thread I mentioned illustrates this quite well. Sure, you have ERR etc. (new term) different numbers of starts, but that requires massive familiarization with this topic and not just reading an instruction manual like with the mixer. I want heating that works reliably and well on its own.

After the car comparison is done: I was tasked with getting my parents-in-law a 4k TV. I brought it to them yesterday and plugged it in. I briefly considered how much I should dive into the different picture modes, HDR, brightness, etc. for the "perfect" picture for each input source (Bluray, streaming, football). After I asked too many questions ("Is this better, or that?") and everyone got annoyed, I left everything on standard. Now they enjoy the TV and are happy with standard.

This is exactly how the interested forum members here approach the heating system. Everyone here is by nature already orders of magnitude more interested in building details than the average person. They tell the general contractor: Build the house, and that's it. Later, people complain at low intensity about it being too warm/too cold/too sluggish, and after 10 years they buy a new heat pump. That's just how it is; a house is expensive, and nothing is perfect.

My parents-in-law tend to do this and bought their house from the developer back then without detailed knowledge and are happy with it. Nothing is optimized. The underfloor heating warms their feet while all the windows are always tilted open. That's just how it is, and I lack the energy to optimize that. If I start, I always have to show up when problems occur.

Honestly, I have come to the conviction that one actually should.

I think so too. My father-in-law invests more time over the years optimizing his Sky subscription than they probably did asking questions during the house build. I simply claim that this is quite a mirror image of society. Only the dimensions don't match. I don't believe that any recent 2021 home builders spend less than half a million euros on their building projects. If everyone familiarized themselves with the technical and important details of their house at least as much as with their mobile phone tariffs/Sky subscriptions or phone choice, the forum would be much fuller.

Nobody simply feels like delving into the technology. It's exhausting.

What do I want to say with this? With by far the largest individual investment, you should take more interest in the technical details. But since that's too exhausting, people rather fill their Pinterest collection with the nice things about building a house.

Edit: Parents-in-law are absolutely the best! I wouldn't let anything bad be said about them. They just have absolutely no desire to deal with anything technical. ;) The technology is bought unsolicited and uncritically from "experts." They have other interests and qualities!

Ah...wonderful. The comparison is correct but has no monetary consequences.

This comparison should not apply to the heat pump topic but rather serve as an example that too much control can also create problems that you would never have had without control. Of course, I don’t mean that you shouldn’t control anything and I don’t just happily whistle through the construction period either. In MY example, there were no monetary consequences; rather, he might have been able to save himself costs and a lot of lifetime on the camera issue.

Crazy attitude, even if it is partly true. But then you can’t complain afterwards and curse the technology.

Dear colleague; please step out of the black-and-white operation, that generally makes discussions difficult. Someone who hasn’t studied the topic of underfloor heating can still possess broad, important knowledge. I only want to say that although you probably wanted to prevent everything, informed yourself endlessly and were always critical, in the end you will also find errors etc. by the dozen. Ok, you defeated the heat pump but if you looked more closely elsewhere, errors would be found there as well. Of course, I inform myself as best as possible but even as a repeat offender control only helps to a limited extent. I know that some things will go wrong and try to keep my frustration as low as possible. Why does that seem so unrealistic? Maybe you misinformed yourself or didn’t inform yourself enough and should have bought a different device... there are people who also try to have fun building and people who get stomach ulcers afterwards, even if the construction goes well. I sometimes tend more towards the second, but I try more to move in the direction of the first idea. Although I know the way of your in-laws, I couldn’t and wouldn’t want it that way myself; I am rather a perfectionist.

Only the dimensions don’t fit. I don’t believe that few builders in 2021 spend less than half a million euros on their projects. If everyone got as involved in the technical and important details of their house as they do with their cell phone tariffs/Sky subscriptions or cell phone choice, the forum would be much fuller.

I absolutely agree with you! Only sometimes in my opinion it then becomes too much and many of the horror scenarios don’t actually take place in daily life.

They just don’t feel like dealing with anything technical at all.

Same here, it used to be different and I have many nights behind me with endless cables and much more; maybe one sometimes gains a more relaxed view due to age (unfortunately only sometimes). ;) I am quite critical and check things for a long time but try to buy my stuff from “good” people, I buy little anyway but always only very good quality. The path your in-laws take is probably fitting for their lives and that’s exactly what it’s about. They wouldn’t be better off if they had sleepless nights because of some stars. Nothing I would have to say against your way, another person feels differently and that is also fine. For me heating just has to work, but elsewhere I’m happy to dive deeper into the topic. In the area of floor plan planning, furnishing, color, design we invest a lot of energy for example; with the first build that was different.

Heating instruction for a Junkers gas boiler with FHz. Participants Karsten and journeyman Eckhard Eckhardsen. I’ve already adjusted everything. Keep your hands off all the regulator knobs, got it? I agree. Here at the door you can go, there you turn off the hot water when in summer the solar system still has pressure. You have to see when that works. Maybe by Easter or only around May. Otherwise, everything works automatically. If it’s too warm in the house, you turn the regulator down on the wall there, that’s something like the Danfoss on the radiators. Got it? I agree again. And if anything is wrong, our phone number is on the sticker. Otherwise? Yes, I agree again. Good, then we’re done, have fun with that thing, it’s good, it’ll last at least fifteen years. Just don’t play with it. He leaves. Karsten follows his instructions and keeps his hands off everything. K.

For me, heating simply has to work; elsewhere, I’m happy to go more in-depth on the subject. In the area of floor plan design, furnishing, color, and style, for example, we like to invest a lot of energy; it was different with the first house.

I know what you want regarding your heating, and the desire is basically justified, but a heat pump is not a gas heating system that tolerates wrong settings for years. Therefore, you would have had to install a gas heating system with a gas tank to be truly satisfied. See , you should have taken an example from Karsten. I am also no heat pump prophet or lobbyist here, but someone who noticed in the second winter that the compressor started more than 60 times a day and found that strange, so I had to read up on how it all works and that the heat pump will break down in the coming years if I do nothing.