Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

The argument applies in very few cases. From now on, I won't do anything myself anymore (mowing the lawn, changing tires, ...) I could instead work overtime at my job and get it paid out. There are simply people who don't have two left hands and work more conscientiously than a contract craftsman. Besides, it's fun to create something yourself and then be proud of your work.

You just have to learn to sometimes put the pen down. Almost nobody has the time to do everything themselves or wants to build for 10 years. In the case of a garden on a slope, for example, it's added that you need extremely heavy equipment for months. That costs a lot of money. We had it done completely for 50k back then, and I am glad about it every day anew.

Are you still trying to impose your own strategy on the other as the only right one?

Sure, it gets harder on a slope, but not impossible. Operating an excavator is not rocket science.
And it doesn’t take 10 years either, it just gets longer the more you talk about it.
Some people simply enjoy working in the garden and moving around.

If you want to have the lawn mowed for 50 EUR/h and work overtime for it. Please.
Because there are also tasks where the professional is not significantly faster.
Because with the professional you always pay for travel time as well. I save that or I can drive just as well and just as fast as the professional.
Driving is also part of my job, in this I am definitely a professional.

We are currently taking down the ceiling in the hallway. Such simple minor things are really no big deal. We have been building for 6 years. Always step by step, now we are working on the top floor, this time with the help of craftsmen. But partly doing it ourselves. Otherwise, we do almost everything ourselves. We couldn’t have afforded a house any other way; we are completely satisfied with our small end-terrace old building. For that, we will have paid it off in about 10-15 years. We did everything outside ourselves. But we don’t build continuously, only as money is available and as we feel like it. After the ground floor, "only" the facade is left, but we will have that done. We wouldn’t trust ourselves with the exterior plaster. I enjoy it, especially in old buildings, you get to know your house down to the masonry. We found newspapers from 1922, which I find totally fascinating. We see the current craftsmen as a total luxury, but one that is really expensive. Now it was about the living room and kitchen, and there we didn’t want to be messing around for a year.

Your description makes me want to see pictures! Have you ever shared any? If yes, where can I find them?

Your description makes me want to see pictures! Have you ever shared any? If so, where can they be found?

No. I haven't. I've long intended to write a construction diary, but well, you know how that goes. Besides, this is a forum for new builds, most people outsource (almost everything), and with a house from 1921 and 88 square meters, you somehow feel a bit out of place ;).

But I'll attach a picture of how it recently looked here. Exposed vault with bare walls. In the back left, we found an old door lintel. Meanwhile, the new plaster is applied, leveled with lightweight concrete, then the underfloor heating installed, and then the screed was poured. New windows, new front door (not yet fully installed here), etc. We kept the old floorboards; part of them is now used for the ceiling substructure.

Well, that shouldn’t be a reason to hide, quite the opposite. You’ve surely saved a small six-figure amount in the 6 years. And as you already said, otherwise the home ownership wouldn’t have been possible.

That’s also the danger when you seek advice in this forum. Quickly, 3,000 EUR/m² for the simplest and 3,500 EUR/m² for upscale standards are thrown around. But nobody mentions that these are the prices for turnkey handover.

I gave up pretty quickly on writing down everything I paid for... when you go to the hardware store twice a day and buy “small stuff” for 30, 40 EUR, you get tired of punching that into Excel in the evening.

But the house, laminate on the upper floor, tiles in the kitchen and hallway (I had that done), parquet in the living room, all walls filled, sanded, painted with Sol silicate paint, some walls colorful, kitchen from a friend (kitchen builder), white lacquer design interior doors, 2 full glass doors and new living room furniture from Höffner. Basically everything done by ourselves, with a little help from friends/family. … much more than 300,000 EUR we didn’t pay for it, let’s say 310,000. If I take the additional foundation and the extras from the civil engineering into account, it wasn’t more than 350,000 EUR for 150m².

2,333 EUR/m²