Construction company (family) from abroad

Hello dear forum,

I would like to briefly tell you the background of my question.

My parents enjoy their pension abroad/[home country]. Over time, the grandchildren came along and with my parents the longing, so they take many short vacations with my sister or me.

Since my parents are not getting younger and thus the travel strains are increasing, but also the strains on their children as hosts, I am currently considering buying or building a house with a granny flat.

My current house was valued at €650,000 for a mortgage.

Since prices for used houses are crazily high here and there is always something that does not fit, I am now leaning towards a new build. Now, my cousin has a small construction company with 16 employees in [home country].

Therefore, I wonder how sensible and realistic it is to hire him as a construction company in Germany and handle all the bureaucracy myself?

Where can I find out which permits I need for the house construction but also for possible subsidies?

Is a foreign architectural firm recognized in Germany? For example, for a KFW subsidy, structural engineering, and whatever else may be required?

I look forward to tips on various problems and in general.

Best regards
Adrian

.. if it is an EU country, it basically works ...

however, all German laws and regulations and Din and Schlag-mich-tod still apply ... So it will not be a pleasure.

The approval planning must be submitted by someone who is "planvorlageberechtigt" in Germany, and for KfW and such things there are also accredited consultants – your financing broker can provide you with contacts for that. The "Arbeitsamt" will inform you about the "Entsenderichtlinie": there are regulations regarding minimum wage if you want to "fly in" construction workers. Basically, you can also hire a general contractor from outside Germany. The Chamber of Crafts will clarify that for you again, some trades require a "Meister" qualification. If you are lucky, there is a binational chamber of commerce (ask at the IHK) between Germany and the cousin’s home country; the embassies can also provide information. If things get complicated, the relevant construction trade association will consider you as a self-doing builder and your cousin’s workers as your construction helpers. You can also ask customs: large German construction sites are regularly filled with foreign subcontractors of all kinds, which is by no means a rare case.

Regardless of meeting the material construction requirements, the formal authorization to submit plans, already mentioned by 11ant, is definitely an issue. We had a structural engineer from BaWü for a construction project near Frankfurt. During the preparation, there was constant contact between the building authority and the structural engineer; the locations were never an issue. However, the structural documents submitted with the building permit application were still rejected with reference to the missing plan submission authorization. Result: the structural engineer had to first involve a structural engineer on-site (from their network, fortunately) who took care of the formalities. Especially abroad, you definitely won't get around this. However, whether they then take over the planning of the foreign planners more or less without scrutiny as in our case due to the existing network and submit and vouch for it, I would have my doubts. In any case, it will have a significant impact on the timing...

I would also consider whether I trust the foreign planners to know the local construction, neighborhood, etc. regulations so well that they are able to get the best out of the property and the construction project for me. Here in the forum, one regularly sees that even German architects/planners often fail at this, although they should be able to do this expertly as their daily routine. How should the foreign architect know this or be able to coordinate with the responsible authorities?

Architects in Germany are looking for, then have your cousin do the construction - if [EU Land], it should not cause major problems.