Decision aid for choosing the construction company

Well, to be honest, I think this might help you as well:

You are currently quite "stuck" on one or the other things, like e.g. Kfw 40. You focus exclusively on wall construction and do exactly that, or act exactly as all the prefabricated house companies want.

Don’t look for a prefabricated house company that is located near you, but look for a small regional company that does not operate throughout all of Germany.

Regarding your issue with air-to-air heat pumps and air-to-water heat pumps --> Yes, the prefabricated house builders KfW 40 almost only offer the air-to-air heat pump, because you can simply make more money from it and the contracts internally regarding commissions with the manufacturers etc. are simply arranged differently.

What really pissed us off back then was the sales pressure exerted on the builder. The salespeople sometimes have no clue about house construction; they only sell their product (which is understandable, how else should they know everything about the product? Ultimately, they have to sell).

So much "crap" is pushed on you that it almost hurts. Because we dealt with the topic really, really intensively (unlike you currently, or maybe even will be), you notice quite quickly who you are sitting at the table with.

Regarding your question that all the big house builders can’t be bad: --> No, they certainly aren’t "bad," the question is: What is "bad" for you? An iPhone isn’t bad either, but in comparison to a Xiaomi smartphone, it is completely overpriced in terms of price/performance – you pay for the brand. For all the prefabricated houses, you pay for the advertising, the salesperson’s commission, as well as the house brand. All of which regional companies, that maybe build only 10 houses a year, don't care about. I can only give you the tip to also take a look at solid construction (Massivbau) with KFW 55. You really have no disadvantages here and have a lot more choice in the surrounding area.

The prices... Believe me, you will be surprised. Weberhaus offered us a house back then that wasn’t even nearly as well equipped as our current house – he wanted 50,000€ more from us than what we are currently paying.

With my current general contractor (GU), I can just go straight to him and say if something doesn’t suit me – he takes care of it. None of your prefabricated house companies will have anyone check the building plot in advance or just stop by if things get difficult. Everything is solved very bureaucratically – I suspect you will have much more stress because of this. Cost transparency with all the prefabricated house builders is also very, very difficult... You get a price quoted now that won’t even remotely look like that later.

As I said, it isn’t wrong to build with such a prefabricated house company, but why don’t you first take a look at the possibilities that are out there? Just go to a regional solid builder and get advice. See where that leads. See if maybe he knows more about a product, if he can explain things to you in a clear way etc... That is worth so much more than the salesperson from, for example, Weberhaus who says: An air-to-air heat pump is much better, our wall thickness is the best, blah blah blah...

Hi,
somehow reminds me of the fitted kitchen salespeople, nothing is transparent there either.
Olli

Morning,
somehow reminds me of fitted kitchen salespeople, nothing is transparent there either.
Olli

Don't get me started... We bought the book "Clever Küchen kaufen" by H.G. Günther and already worked through it... In January the search for a kitchen begins and believe me, I am already not in the mood for it.
The kitchen industry is probably the worst of all, even worse than plumbing and ultimately the prefab house industry.

@TE:

With a fitted kitchen you lose €20,000, the thing gets installed whether you actually have the best price/performance ratio here or not. Well, that's just how it is or not. Anyone who deals with it can certainly still get a thing or two out of it. Just like with a car, a phone or anything else.

With a house, on the other hand, you might get into debt until retirement, it will be the biggest investment of your life. As a rule (yes I know, today not necessarily the case anymore), it is a one-time project. You certainly want to be able to say afterwards that you are satisfied and did everything you could. Also give the KfW55 house, as well as the small company, but also the large prefab house company a chance. Exhaust all possibilities and afterwards you will be at peace with yourself, no matter whether it ultimately works out or not. I think that one can definitely compare with such a project.

Just a question.
Is the book any good?
Olli

Just a question.
Is the book any good?
Olli

The author couldn’t have described it better – the assistance is really great. We were/are enthusiastic about the book.

However: We are still completely unsure whether we really want to put in the effort that the book mainly focuses on. The core idea to achieve a P/L-perfect kitchen is, of course, very, very time-consuming – I don’t think we will follow it 1:1 – ultimately, we just lack the motivation for that right now.

Nevertheless, there is very important and great information inside. Also "ratings" of manufacturers etc. So I think you can’t go wrong with it. We casually worked through it over two Sundays and now at least we don’t go to kitchen studios completely clueless, but know exactly HOW to negotiate and how kitchen studios want/have to sell in the end.

I can well understand the desire for kfw40. We want a central controlled residential ventilation system and photovoltaics anyway. So kfw40 is "only" a bit of insulation. I don't understand why many people here harp on it and dismiss it as a waste of money...