Construction start still this year (November)?

Hello everyone,

I would like to hear your thoughts on the following problem.
Our building permit took forever to be approved (almost 4 months *eww*), but has finally been granted since last week.
Originally, we planned to start construction in September and have the shell tight by Christmas.
Now we have an appointment with our general contractor on Thursday. From what I have heard, he wants to start this year. We will certainly discuss more detailed planning on Thursday.

But for me the question arises whether that still makes sense.
The parameters are as follows:
We are building a hillside house with 240 sqm (50 sqm in the basement as a cellar in the hillside), 2 full floors (each 120 sqm) with a flat roof.
We would probably add a double garage with storage room only in spring (it will be built in [EL]).

Of course, we are eager to start finally, but the risk is very high that the house will not be weather-tight before the onset of winter. What could happen? Or is the whole thing actually not that critical?
What damages could occur (and how likely are they) if, for example, only the basement is built and then the floor slab and the masonry of the upper floor are stopped because winter comes?
Or are damages hardly to be expected and we possibly only have an increased effort to dry the house (use of construction dryers, etc.)?
It should also be considered that if we start construction only next year, we will definitely have to pay (partial) standby interest then. I am also not sure if our fixed price still applies if we start only next year. Additionally, we are expecting our third child and our current house is already quite small. We will still have to live here as five for a little while, but the shorter the better.

Perhaps some of you have experience with this? Has anyone started only in November?

By the way, construction is in RLP. 320 m above sea level. Winters vary greatly. We have had years without snow but also three weeks of continuous white landscapes. Tendentially, winters start later every year.

Timewise, it won’t happen, and by that I don’t mean the onset of winter (I can’t predict that for you) but until Christmas, where due to the holiday season, simply nothing happens for about 3 weeks. We started last year in mid-October and the roof was just finished by 21.12. The weather was optimal until then last year, hardly any rain and only one day where the temperature was constantly just below 3 degrees during the day.

The decision is yours anyway. But you won’t get the construction sealed by Christmas.

Of course, the construction will probably stand around with maybe 1 or 1.5 built floors over Christmas. The original plan was to be weather-tight by Christmas only if we had started in September. But that’s why the question is, what would happen to the shell if it were only half completed and we couldn’t continue after the Christmas holidays/New Year (I’m definitely expecting a 2-week construction stop) in January due to the weather? And could only start bricklaying again in March. Can an open shell like that (the worst case simply standing around for 3 months) get through the winter unscathed?

Our garage was unexpectedly open for one winter. There were a few chips on the stones. Mason, plasterer, expert agreed, no damage. Will be filled in when plastering.

Neighbors built during ice and snow. Had problems with drying.

Who knows when winter will come and how long it will last?
If you want to build frost-free, you have to postpone until April (at least where we are).

Since we don't have a real winter, I don't see any problems if work stops for a few weeks. A few years ago, we also built over the winter. The topping-out ceremony was on Nikolaus, and the shell was only weather-tight the following year. The shell also gets really wet anyway, thanks to the rain.

Winter is supposed to be mild after all