Construction company wanted in the Stuttgart metropolitan area!

That almost sounds like a threat/warning. Take it slow with the young horses. So far, I have successfully collected many construction specifications and offers. From there, I form my opinion and decide quite calmly with whom I will have in-depth conversations and negotiations.

I believe what Nida wants to say is that you will reach limits with your rather analytical approach. You are trying something that might not work, and I think your exclusion criteria are confusing to some -> for example, F2F or company visits are exclusion criteria. You just have different categories.

And then there are things for which you get silly remarks: You want to make something as complex as a house build efficient and fast. At the same time, considering the region and demands, you have a rather limited budget. And all this in the current situation, where it is not a buyer’s market. Maybe the warning is simply a hint that it could be difficult for you with your approach.
And 11ant sometimes just offers a stick to poke with. I work with an autistic person, and self-assessment or analysis using colors is not unusual: blue has a tendency towards data affinity and analysis ;) I find it rather irritating to see autism as a derogatory term.

I really think it’s great how you respond, Nida. Others would have just snapped right away. The usual approach is to ask around and then select 2-3 providers and hold individual talks, I assume? I’m happy to keep you updated. I think it’s a nice thing if people appreciate that here.

I want to add something. For us, two or three things turned out to be very important during the renovation:

1. Honesty -> Something can always go wrong somewhere and mistakes happen where people work. We only had problems where someone covered up mistakes or simply said nothing.

2. Reliability -> They all have a lot to do. I hate it when someone tells me they start on Monday but are not there by Friday. I’d rather have someone who immediately says it will take time.

3. Thinking along -> In the end, it was our shell/drywall/helpers crew who often just had a good idea or did preparatory work etc. for other trades. Other trades just think “after me comes the flood.”

You won’t find any of this in a construction service description. For us, our long-established site manager was worth his weight in gold, working together with very skilled craftsmen.

Additionally, we would never have found our main contractor with your method, so small, he slips through every search net. And with us, everyone also thought along and each trade knew what the other trades expected. This is how, after the topping-out ceremony, we ended up with an unplanned gallery. It is now the grandchildren’s favorite room.

: Thank you very much for your sober, clear, and mediating post ( ), I can actually stand by that as well.

You won’t find any of that in a construction service description. For us, our long-established site manager was worth gold, simply because he works with very good craftsmen.

100% agreement. However: I assume that the very good craftsmen come at a price, and when plots in suburban areas already cost as much today as the house including ancillary costs, then you can hardly afford them or you sacrifice a lot of house size and the basement. A local construction company, which probably works with local craftsmen, wanted about €150,000 more for our solid house than a large turnkey solid house provider. So much for that :)
For me, it is very difficult to say which construction company would hire worker crews from Eastern Europe and basically tender trades Europe-wide or which provider has a site manager who works only with very good local craftsmen.
Furthermore, these crews do not necessarily work worse than local companies. Although it is more likely.
And what if the top site manager, for example, changes or quits due to illness? That can happen to anyone.
And that the very good craftsmen sometimes drop out or, for time reasons, another one has to be taken who then makes many mistakes, e.g., in a very important trade, is also possible.
Maybe it is simply luck when such a construction project succeeds all around. Such a long-established site manager – was he sent by a turnkey provider or directly commissioned by the architect? – definitely belongs to that.

The usual approach is therefore to ask around and then select 2-3 providers and hold individual talks, I suppose?

I have been here for about three quarters of a year, plus about one year that I have scrolled back upon joining, and also active in other forums. As far as I can see, there is no typical usual approach. However, I think your approach can be described as typically unusual, outright rejecting the offers of those contacted for personal dialogues. Not doing that, as far as I see, is pretty much the essential commonality of all the different approaches of others.
A quite frequent approach is to go to house exhibitions and on the internet, to "collect" about three to four big names there, additionally to catch another provider (a regional general contractor, mostly along the lines of "my brother-in-law was quite satisfied with them") during breaks in conversations with colleagues, and then to ask around with them much like you. But with the essential difference to your approach, to accept their invitations to talks.

And 11ant sometimes just holds out a stick. I work with an autistic person and self-assessment or analysis using colors is not unusual: Blue just has a tendency toward data affinity and analysis ;) I find it rather confusing to see autism as a derogation.

I am not holding out sticks. I asked the clarification question whether I am dealing here with a pure Blue type or with a Blue type and autistic person. Because there are also many Blue types who are not autistic. And of course I limited myself here to the typification according to colors: Blue type and Red type go significantly differently in choosing their building partners – comparable different methodologies between cholerics and phlegmatics have at least not yet appeared to me or are known to me.

A local construction company, which apparently works with local craftsmen, wanted about €150,000 more for our solid house than a large turnkey solid house provider. That’s that.

The mentioned delta unfortunately speaks for an apples-and-oranges comparison between an honest price from the local general contractor and a beautified "base plate by owner, site toilet extra" action offer from a big name. Or it was a defensive offer because a provider would rather be accused of being too expensive than discriminate blatantly with the open rejection "we don’t serve senior high school teachers."

We do not serve senior secondary school teachers

That's quite something. Now certain professional groups are being excluded. I hadn't seen that before. Are there other professional groups that are discriminated against like this in this nasty industry?
Regarding the defensive offer: That sounds as if a potential customer had pressured the local provider for an offer so aggressively that they have to "defend" themselves... well, I don't really believe that. They could simply write: We have no more capacity and want to continue to serve our customers well, etc.