Error in house construction - How did you deal with it?

In my opinion, you shouldn't even sign without trust. I'm the one here who also advises choosing your general contractor (GC) based on gut feeling, and trust is already involved in that. Coming up with "they should first earn their keep..." during the house construction afterwards, I find wrong and condescending.

Well, I think you misunderstood that. And I find it somewhat bold to indirectly claim that everyone who expresses problems here should have listened to their gut and not signed.

I hope and think everyone signed with a good feeling. And of course, the GC must also prove that trust. You yourself write that an expert should be consulted. Why do you do that if you trust him so much? Nice phrase and especially the quote "condescending," but unfortunately it really has nothing to do with that. I still have the phrase ringing in my ears, "the customer is king," but nowadays almost everyone in the industry just wants to make money. Use the forum's search function and look for the phrase "take it or leave it" in connection with "GC"... I think that could be enlightening for you.

So I think either you really just misunderstood it, or you saw it as laissez-faire and in the end got lucky or simply didn't notice the defects. Unfortunately, that is not uncommon either. Many are happy with their GC because they simply don't notice the shoddy work. Often even an expert won't help because they are not on site every day and only see a fraction of what can lead to defects.

As for the craftsmen we met in the afternoons, we had a completely different relationship than with the boss (never seen?!) or the site manager or the GC himself.
Obvious defects were then pointed out by us ourselves with a finger...

The fact that you never saw the boss on the construction site is also very telling and underscores my analysis. He earns most of the money and doesn't even bother to show up at your site? And the poor craftsmen should fix everything? That's not my philosophy, sorry, I gave the foreman and the team some money for a snack, but why should I let the boss get away with that?

That's the joke: we never chose the cheapest option and therefore paid a lot for the crap, making it all the harder to overlook. Otherwise, I could say: my God, at least it was cheap.

That's unfortunate.

And I find it somewhat bold to indirectly claim that all those who express their problems here should have trusted their gut and not signed.

If that claim is meant that way, I would find it just as bold as you do. How one reads that without it being meant so, of course, depends on the recipient. There is room for interpretation here. Everyone can be unlucky like Snowy. No blame can be assigned—especially not in a forum. The risk of being unlucky increases with the "stinginess is cool" trend, which is widespread among buyers. The risk of being unlucky increases with the greed for profit optimization, which is also not uncommon among entrepreneurs. A builder can reduce the risk of bad luck by checking a few criteria (and yes, that never works 100%). 1. How enthusiastic is the provider about what they do? 2. What is the atmosphere among the employees? 3. What do the construction sites where the provider works look like? 4. What do the clients of those construction sites say about the provider? 5. How attentive, receptive, and flexible is the provider regarding questions, ideas, and wishes? 6. How clear are their statements? 7. Will they carry out the work with their own employees or subcontractors? (If subcontractors are used—also visit them and review the above questions—if that is not possible, the provider is out.) The transparency we wanted was not provided by any general contractor (we also did not check them all). We found it with local craft businesses. All service providers come from within a 25 km radius and have already worked together on many other construction sites. We received positive feedback from the clients of those sites. Something can still go wrong—of course. There is no absolute certainty.

Well, I think you misunderstood that. And I find it somewhat bold to indirectly claim that all those who express their problems here should have listened to their gut and not signed.

You are probably wrong here and do not understand my answer. For me, the person with whom I conclude a contract has already earned some trust. He does not need to “prove” that first; he already has.
But that does not mean the general contractor (GC) can abuse this trust. I did not automatically say that.
Also, I am among those who have expressed their problems here...

You yourself write that an expert should be consulted. Why do you do that if you trust him so much?

A builder should separate trust and performance. The former is a feeling, which should fundamentally be positive towards the contracting partner. For assessing the performance, expertise should be present. The average builder does not have that. And even if you read up on it, you are not a professional.
It does not mean that if I give someone my trust, he also deserves that trust — those are two different components. He should earn it through performance.

Use the forum search function and look for the phrase "Friss oder stirb" in connection with "GU"... I think that could be enlightening for you.

Hmm... you want me to dive so deep into the forum here so that I know what you mean?

By the way, "Friss oder stirb" (literally “eat or die”) as far as I remember from the times of this forum, has nothing to do with a GC build, but with a developer build.
Because while you can negotiate specifications with a GC (after all, you are the builder), that is difficult with a developer, as you yourself are not the builder.
The fact is that many take a “cheap at all costs” GC and then wonder that everything has its surcharge, which, however, has nothing to do with online products on the net. But this is not about building with a GC and its prices, but about defects, how you deal with them, tolerate them, etc....

So I think either you really just misunderstood it, or you took a laissez-faire approach and in the end got lucky or just didn’t notice the defects.

If you had read carefully, you would know!

The fact that you never saw the boss at the construction site is also very telling and underlines my analysis. He earns the vast majority of the money and doesn’t even show up at your site? And the poor craftsmen should fix everything? That’s not my philosophy, sorry, I handed the foreman and the team money for a snack, but why should I let the boss get away with that?

Well, I never said that my construction manager did not show up on our site. The boss, as GC, of course has his people and runs his company. He is an entrepreneur and employs subcontractors who in turn let their employees work.

I do not know what you are currently analyzing, but you should question your philosophy whether a bill you give to the boss is the same as putting down boxes of drinks (first asking about preferences) and sometimes spending breaks together with the craftsmen with homemade cake.
The foreman, i.e. the construction manager, is still an employee of the GC. You deal with the craftsmen of the subcontractors. If you don’t communicate with them, you won’t know a lot. For example, it’s not the GC (the greedy shark) who earns the most. He has all kinds of costs and salaries to pay. The one who actually earns the least after all is the (poor) craftsman as the bottom hand in the whole chain. No figures have been mentioned, but what really counts is what remains net after work time. I have never been dazzled by large or small SUVs that the boss or employees drive up in. But I know: the small one is paid from the salary, the big one is a company car and belongs not to the boss, but only to the company.
We talked to everyone and among other things had some things installed on the side. Professionally and cheaply. Without defects, to stay on topic.
I am certainly no expert in business administration, but you don’t have to be to understand some things.

Ultimately, all the acquired expertise is useless to you regarding defects when the craftsman (in whatever garb) tells you “it complies with DIN.” Because then you need a construction lawyer to enforce your rights or/and then again an expert, because only expert opinions valid in court count.
Some ask for opinions in the forum (like you with the drainage), but a forum is also patient. It’s not always right what a forum thinks. Over time, for example, a current opinion has spread that for a standard house you have to pay 2000€/sqm. Few know where this number comes from.
Many relate it to the standard and inquire about it... but that’s not how it is: the 2000€ refer to the north-south gradient for some blah-blah house plus this and that... which nobody wants to know at the moment. If asked again, I’ll tell it, but the majority wins and I get overlooked. Then many will complain it’s not true at all for the north, and so on and so forth... the forum is patient.

But we distort this interesting question and should stick to defects that don’t belong in a house build, no matter how expensive.

Anyone can have bad luck like Snowy. No personal fault can be derived from that – especially not in a forum. The risk of having bad luck increases with the "stinginess-is-cool" trend, which is widespread among buyers.

I agree with that. The price partly determines the quality of the craftsmen. Sometimes, only helpers but no trained professionals can work on dumping offers. Unfortunately, the number of apprentice craftsmen is also decreasing, so one should not be surprised if only older workers, using outdated techniques, are operating on construction sites. Of course, that should not happen, but it can.

A family with three children moved into the neighboring house last year for one year. Their actual house, a new build nearby, not a cheap one, a very expensive one from a high-quality southern German eco company, was full of mold, and no one found where the source was hidden. She developed asthma, he was close to burnout... so the construction company covered this rent for one year and turned the newly, only briefly occupied house upside down. It also took a whole year until they identified the mold source and could renovate the entire house. You wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy.

I want to clear up some prejudices about construction quality based on my professional experience. Expensive means high quality. No, it doesn’t have to be that way. If, as a contractor, I have way too much work but don’t want to say no, I’ll offer a very high price. A defensive offer. Now it can happen that I still get the contract because no one else offers or their defensive offers are even higher. Well, now we have a mess. Then I have to somehow manage it, even though I really don’t have time, but for the money, well, we’ll somehow make it work. Cheap means inferior quality. Yes, that’s possible. But cheap can also mean someone who builds very standardized. For example, only aerated concrete. Only with a truss roof. Only with windows from xy. Only in this or that design. Etc. pp. This is also known from industry; simple products without extras and choice options can be cheap and still good if they fit the customer. Craftsmanship doesn’t know defect-free. But what is the right way to deal with it? Don’t act like Rumpelstiltskin, don’t use the defect to extort money, but clearly identify it, push for remedy, but also allow time for it. And please notice the defect as early as possible, because installing a wrong socket before plastering is much easier than afterward. And a defect is not just a defect. A forgotten horizontal barrier would be worst case, a dent here and there in the plaster is only visually unpleasant but not dangerous. K.

We had a carpenter back then from a 3rd generation family business, he had been the boss for 38 years and was a local craftsman company. From the past a good reputation, the boss gave the impression of standing behind his craft. Own craftsmen of course.. and price at competitive level.

All good you might think? He delivered a botch that is second to none. Technically and visually a disaster. In the end the invoice with many unknown items and foolishly 20% too high.

What did we do wrong now?