Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

And no work allergy and public service is also an excellent combo in a post :p

Hehe, yes, but as long as the heavy writers here from other areas are writing their mega long posts from their home office during the day, everything is fine ;)

Just demotion doesn’t work that easily.

It definitely doesn’t work for civil servants. Once you are promoted, then for life and pension.

It’s actually much easier for civil servants than for employees, because they have no collective agreement and no union.

They are just as unionized as employees. Tariffs can be changed very quickly. I have been through about 5 changes by now.

But then there are no salary increases.

They keep pace with the employees, it’s practically law—at least in my sector of the public service.
For the public service, the tariffs are the means and the tool. They are being eroded. If the employees come out with only a black eye, then that’s because of the work of the unions.

Even though construction costs are currently high and the building process partly frustrating, I have just read something again from the Hamburg "Edelfedern" that, at least from my point of view, should encourage everyone who can make it possible to set up a - even tiny - little house and carry out their building project. (I do not name politicians or parties to prevent the discussion from drifting.) There is talk of wanting to legally enforce further energy-saving measures. There were also proposals from the Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW) to allow lowering the minimum temperature in apartments by up to six degrees Celsius, which are currently still being opposed. In case some forum members who have lived in owner-occupied homes for a longer time are not aware: so far landlords are obliged to set the heating system/hot water supply to at least 20 to 22 degrees during the heating period. Six degrees less would be, for me personally, a bit chilly already. ;-) Even though "we" homeowners must/want to save energy as well, it makes a difference whether I have influence over when and where I save energy as a homeowner or whether the apartment/hot water is "cooled" without any right of participation or influence by me as a tenant.

Civil servants also receive working time increases. In Berlin, it has been normal for many years that civil servants have to work more weekly hours than employees. It is actually much easier for civil servants than for employees because they do not have a collective agreement and no union. Just downgrading is not so easy. But then there are simply no salary increases.

I believe there is something like protection of acquired rights. Downgrading is not possible. And with teachers, for example, it gets interesting. They work "only" about 6 hours daily. But at home, quite a lot has to be prepared and followed up. Then there are parent evenings, teacher meetings, etc. So that you almost come to 40 hours/week.

That’s totally out of the question for civil servants. Once you are promoted, it’s for life and pension.

They are represented by unions just like employees. Collective agreements can be changed very quickly. I have experienced about 5 changes so far.

They keep pace with the employees, it’s practically law – at least in my sector of the public service.
For the public service, collective agreements are the means and the tool. They are constantly being nibbled away. If the employees come away with just a black eye, it’s because of the work of the unions.

Keyword: disciplinary proceedings. Demotion is also possible for civil servants there.
Yes, civil servants also have unions, but without the right to strike they can achieve little.
If it has been the case with you (in your sector and in your federal state, your sector is subject to state law) so far that the salary of civil servants has been adjusted to the pay of employees, then that is nice. However, there is no legal basis for this and there is no way for civil servants to enforce it. In Berlin, this alignment has often only been passed on with a time delay, or sometimes coupled with a temporary increase in weekly working hours.

I believe there is something like grandfathering. Downgrading is not possible. And with teachers, for example, it gets interesting. They work "only" about 6 hours daily. But at home, a lot still needs to be prepared and followed up on. Then there are parents' evenings, teachers' meetings, etc. So you almost reach 40 hours/week.

A reasonably engaged teacher works over 40 hours. A full-time position consists of 27 teaching hours. Then come duties like supervision, preparation, and follow-up, etc. It's no coincidence that many teachers voluntarily reduce their hours. The stress peaks are quite high. On top of that, many, if not most, are also deployed outside their subject area. I imagine this is very stressful if you suddenly have to teach a subject you're not confident in yourself. So, in my understanding, they have the teachers' support.

That will probably be tested on the market. The annual price increases of at least 10% and more before inflation (alongside all those nice subsidy pots) were also possible.

Just out of interest: What do you think, how much will prices for new buildings fall and where will interest rates be in a year?