Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Spiegel has an article today titled "Construction prices rise by almost 17 percent" with the source Federal Statistical Office. This referred to November 2022 compared to November of the previous year. But also: "From August to November alone, construction prices increased by 2.5 percent."

I can offer a comparison to spring 2021, for the trades of shell construction (including basement and garage), roof, and windows. No listing, same or comparable materials. Windows and roof from the same company. The surcharge is approximately 21%.

I can contribute something regarding the workload of the trades:
Yesterday, I had a site meeting with the painter. The task is to cover the drywall with fleece. Priming and painting afterwards we will do ourselves. Approximately 150 sqm.
Due to the rather "low" effort, he can fit us in during week 5; otherwise, he is booked with orders until September(!). Many of these are public clients (schools, government offices, etc.) and housing associations. Now that there are fewer private builders, they are coming out of hiding and also want work done. So the trades are busy, not that anyone thinks they will soon be doing it again for €20/hour.

It is correct that the state continues to have construction carried out and the infrastructure (schools/administration) is still being built, BUT many housing companies are currently stopping all their projects due to prices, as a socially acceptable rent is no longer possible given the construction costs if the cold rent for new projects has to increase by 3-4€ per m2. Therefore, as with private investors, only those projects that are already in the shell construction phase are being completed. The painter must of course come now or next spring. That is why the number of new buildings will only decline gradually, as all projects that started at the beginning of last year are still being carried out in residential construction. It is hardly feasible to stop after the second floor in the shell construction phase. However, from the second half of 2023, there are hardly any such projects left for the painter, since almost no one started building in the middle of last year. Therefore, the situation looks bad for the craftsmen involved in construction at the latest from 2024, when the public sector is largely the client and private builders/investors decline by -50% or even more. In 2024, there will be room for maneuver for the trades.

to stick with fleece. We do the priming and painting ourselves afterwards

With fleece, you basically don't need to prime!

I somehow don’t understand stuff like that. Sure, we can just leave everything as it is. The floor from 1921 without insulation, the front door from 1993, and the gas heating until it falls apart. Would everyone here prefer that?

You can do anything, new insulation, new front door, underfloor heating or new windows. But you might as well burn the money for a solar thermal system, it never pays off. I need 20m³ in summer for my domestic hot water preparation, now you can calculate what that costs you annually and how long it takes for a solar thermal system to pay off, assuming the thing isn't broken before then....

You can do anything, new insulation, new front door, underfloor heating, or new windows.
But you can also burn the money for an ST, that thing never pays off. I need 20m³ in summer for my DHW preparation, now you can gladly calculate what that costs you per year and how long it takes for an ST to amortize, assuming the thing isn’t already broken before that....

I am ending the discussion about myself now ;).