Construction company wanted in the Stuttgart metropolitan area!

As an addition:
We have heard positive feedback about b+m Massivhaus from Herrenberg from the residential area. They designed a really beautiful house and the process apparently went without major problems. We never inquired there, but maybe it helps you.

Thank you very much for the tip, we will take a look at the company as well :)
We have already decided that it should be a regional solid construction company. Herrenberg is very close to us; we are building in the district of Böblingen.

How long was your construction period?

From the building permit, about 5 months for detailed planning and preparations. Then about 12 months for the actual construction time (from staking out the property to moving in). The long period during the preparation was due to two reasons: first, we had special requests in the planning and a few difficulties in the floor plan that needed to be resolved. Second, at that time we were in the peak phase of the construction boom and had to wait for available capacities. I think that is probably different today.

When Köhler once starts on the construction site, it usually proceeds quickly and in a structured manner.

From building permit about 5 months for detailed planning and preparations. Then about 12 months for the actual construction period (from staking out the property to moving in). The long period during the preparation was due to two points: first, we had special requests in the planning again and a few difficulties in the floor plan that needed to be resolved. Second, back then we were in the peak phase of the construction boom and had to wait for available capacities. I think that should be different today.

Once Köhler started on the construction site, it usually proceeded quickly and in a structured manner.

Thank you for the experiences. How was Köhler price-wise with you in the end? I find that prices are not easy to compare because many only estimate and the service descriptions are certainly different.

I think I once posted a somewhat more detailed comparison somewhere here, I would have to look for it.
From memory: the prefab house providers were always somewhat cheaper at the beginning, but once you got into the details, they ended up being almost as expensive as Köhler. I still remember that we had a price quote from Bittermann & Weiß, which in the end was exactly as expensive as Köhler. With our finished floor plan from the planning phase, we inquired again at U-Haus and Hauser and obtained exact offers, all of which were relatively identical to Köhler. We also had a rough price estimate from Fermo, but that was significantly higher.

I would say Köhler is priced in the mid-range or slightly above mid-range. You will find cheaper providers, but also more expensive ones.
In direct comparison with Hauser, U-Haus, etc., Köhler is relatively close. At least, this was the case at our time of building.

My tip to make prices somewhat more comparable:
First, get inspiration for floor plans, size, special features, etc., in all the conversations with the house providers (and at prefab house exhibitions). Every house provider will go through these points with you during the talks.

Then form your own picture from all the information. How big should the house be? Which floor plan did you like best? Which special features must be included, and what do you rather not need? Sketch that out and write it down.

Then go with your ideas to 2-4 selected providers and have them give you an offer based on that.
We then put the individual items from the offers into an Excel sheet and compared them. For example, if one provider calculated with 3 roof windows and another with 2, you can make it comparable again.

In the end, you won’t get a 100% comparison, but a better sense of how far apart the providers are.

We finally decided on Köhler because they also made the best impression in the conversations and were the most flexible. I'd rather pay a little more and know that problems during construction will be taken care of and solutions found. I know someone who built with Massa Haus, they put the house up and were no longer reachable the day after. Maybe that's an extreme comparison, but I think you know what I mean.

I think I posted a somewhat more detailed comparison here somewhere, I’d have to look it up. From memory: the prefabricated house providers were always a bit cheaper at the beginning, but once you got into the details, they ended up being almost as expensive as Köhler. I still remember that we had a price offer from Bittermann & Weiß, which in the end was exactly as expensive as Köhler. We asked U-Haus and Hauser again with our finished floor plan from the planning phase and obtained exact offers that were all relatively identical to Köhler. We also had a rough price estimate from Fermo, but that was clearly higher.

I would say Köhler is priced in the mid-range or slightly above mid-range. You will find cheaper providers, but also more expensive ones. In direct comparison with Hauser, U-Haus, etc., Köhler is relatively close. At least that was the situation at our time of building.

My tip to make the prices somewhat more comparable: First, gather inspiration for floor plans, size, special features, etc., through all the talks with house providers (and at prefab house exhibitions). Every house provider will go through these points with you in the conversation.

Then you make your own picture from all the information. How big should the house be? Which floor plan did you like best? Which special features must be included, what do you rather not need? Sketch and write that down.

Then go to 2-4 providers from your shortlist with this idea and have them give you an offer based on it. We then put the individual items from the offers into an Excel sheet and compared them. For example, if one provider calculated 3 roof windows and the other 2 roof windows, you can make that comparable again.

In the end, you won’t get a 100% comparison, but a better feeling of how far apart the providers are.

We then decided on Köhler in the end because they also made the best impression in the conversations and were the most flexible. I’d rather pay a bit more and know that they will take care of problems during construction and find solutions. I know someone who built with Massa Haus; they put the house up and were unreachable the day after. Maybe that’s a drastic comparison, but I think you know what I mean.

Thank you very much for your effort. We are not looking to take the cheapest provider either; I was simply interested in how your final costs turned out. Köhler is currently actually our favorite, and I can very well imagine that they will be awarded the contract. They do make a very competent impression, and all the houses I have seen so far looked visually appealing. Actually, the appearance is important to me as well. But for us, it is most important to have a reliable partner who can implement our special wishes. Hauser was not able to do that.

For us, however, the most important thing is to have a reliable partner who can implement our special requests. Hauser was not able to do this.

My experience with special requests:
What is suggested is what has been done before. Köhler proposed 2-3 special features to us that they had already installed in other houses, and we adopted those. All other special requests must come from you, but then they are (mostly) possible.

We had a "special request" that would only have been possible with a few specific craft companies. We discussed this before awarding the contract, and Köhler then found and selected a suitable company for us.

I can offer that we can exchange ideas directly on detailed questions. Just write to me at my username on g m x and then we can discuss it.