Floor plan of a single-family house, feedback

A grand piano is the desire - and also quite feasible in terms of space.

Then don't take a door that is flush with the wall, otherwise there will be accidents in the hallway if the door silently swings fully outward.
Set the door back into the room.

In small companies, the entrepreneurs shape the assortment, scope of services, prices, and the willingness to engage with one prospect and not with another. This naturally creates the maximum impression of competence. The technically strongest people often have less customer contact and are used differently. A good entrepreneur gladly hires people who surpass him technically.

Oh, of course, he determines what and how he offers. But if I have someone who more or less just parrots back what I can read 1:1 on the manufacturer's website and falters when asked questions, that makes a very different impression than someone you hear speaking from experience. And of course, it helps a lot if word of mouth among acquaintances and friends fits (this is a local craftsman business).

And before making thoughts about the hinge of a swing door, there are more fundamental questions to clarify here. This is like putting the cart before the horse. There is no wall yet! And that’s a good thing.

Tip: I would seriously consider what I expect from an all-in-one general contractor.

Oh, at the moment I am waiting for answers to my questions there. Until then, I can chase a few horses into the paddock.

Preferably nothing farther than walking distance from the standard of his construction service description, otherwise you easily share the fate of @R.Hotzenplotz.

Well, what I expect is of course that it turns out perfect and wonderful, that all my wishes are fully (and ideally cost-neutrally) implemented, and a big thanks at the end for letting them build my house – that’s obvious.

Joking aside: I have friends who built with this company and are happy. Several. You can also find quite a lot of positive and very little negative stuff about them on the internet. That is either a good sign or a good legal department – but looking at my friends, I tend to lean toward the former. And then all that remains for me is hoping and, as far as I can, repeatedly checking what’s going on, or having experts check what I can’t.

Maybe you also make some decisions based on whether or what you can more easily do yourself, like preferring wood flooring over tiles or similar.

I don’t know what my spinal disc implant will say to me when I’m done with the entire floor. :confused: (Probably a big “Ouch, you idiot”).

Apart from that, I can handle some crafts – but I also know when it’s better that I talk to the companies so they let me do auxiliary work under their guidance and I save a few euros, instead of tackling it fully myself. Then the likelihood of it turning out well is higher – or I have someone responsible for any bungling.

I think along those lines when I read photovoltaic only noted as a text line on the parapet in the house views. That triggers in my mind the laundry-balcony door threshold of the robber.

Well, I took the photovoltaics out because it does not please me that they want to slap on modules whose manufacturer thinks it’s good if they chat with “cloud crap” and there’s a subscription obligation if you want to pull detailed data. Yuck, no thanks.

I’m in IT. My house must not “phone home,” nothing as long as I don’t explicitly tell it to. It all has to run purely locally.

And regarding that robber, I guess I’ll have to read some histories here, that sounds exciting. (Though, one thread has over 1400 messages, yikes).

I don't know what my spinal disc implant will say to me when I'm completely done with the floor.

Well, that is an important realization, that no heavy personal effort will be possible after all. That's not a big deal, it just has to be adequately taken into account in the calculation.

I have friends who built with this company and are happy. Several. You can still find quite a lot of positive things on the internet and very few negatives.

It wasn’t as if the construction company of the robber had a bad reputation. It was/is just that it is a general contractor who can do standard work. But the robber didn’t want standard anywhere, rather more special features everywhere. The general contractor said everywhere, “go ahead” and had dollar signs in their eyes. The wishes overwhelmed the subcontractors. The robber should have gone to the architect and built with individual contracts.

The site manager has been on sick leave for what feels like the fifth time since the start of construction. The drywall installer doesn’t know when to install the drywall ceiling, the roofer says the Velux ceiling spots should only have been installed after the drywall ceiling was in, but they are already installed. One of the spots is positioned so that it is blocked by a rafter in the roof and cannot be fitted with a channel. He doesn’t know what to do. Pure chaos! And they get a five-figure amount for such site management. Just messed up!

At least the plasterers neatly reworked every plaster that the site manager had approved. So pure kindness that everything was supposedly okay.

After the bumpy blower door test, the drywall installer, according to his own information, already had to dismantle the casings in the bathrooms for the third time because something still had to be sealed or the whole thing had to be documented by photo.

The base plaster is now being done. In 10 days the fine plaster should go outside. The scaffolding is supposed to be removed in three weeks.

The screed is being heated. However, several pipes in the heating circuit distributors are cold. I don’t get it. But at the moment I can’t ask anyone. The exposed pipes in the recessed screed of the showers also seem to not carry water. Nevertheless, it’s moderately warm in the place.

So the robber has been living with his family in the new house for about 2 months, after completion was massively delayed. Still, many things continue to go wrong, both inside and outside. Individual trades work quite sloppily, for example, cables for various electrical installations were forgotten (and slots had to be made afterwards in the finished ceilings and walls after moving in), the expensive GIRA doorbell system was simply plastered over and ruined, etc. Many quarrels and disputes, but at least the house is standing and occupied. I can’t show pictures here due to copyright, but at some points you would be speechless at how the work was done. And the prices were certainly no bargain. He sends his regards to you all, but no longer comes to the forum after he unsubscribed back then because some posts were no longer so constructive for him. So much for the whereabouts of the robber.

Well, I took the photovoltaics away from them because I don’t like that they want to slap on modules whose manufacturer thinks it’s good if they chatter with Cloudmist and there is a subscription requirement if you want to get detailed data.

That means the house manufacturer has a pact with the module manufacturer that they control your photovoltaic production, and if you want a statement for it, you have to pay for it, and as a subscription, no less?

That means the house manufacturer has a pact with the module manufacturer that they handle your photovoltaic production, and if you want a bank statement about it, you have to pay for it, and even as a subscription?

No. They simply install modules from a manufacturer that cannot be queried locally via, for example, Modbus, but where you have to query the manufacturer's cloud. And this manufacturer charges for that access.

There is also something like what you mean, but it is completely optional. For example, it's called "Zero Bills" from an electricity provider and is for people who are building new. The provider installs the photovoltaic system on your roof and a battery storage in the technical room, takes over the marketing of the electricity, and you get a free allowance of electricity that "covers the usual needs of a household." You pay for everything above that.
For someone who doesn't want to deal with it any further, this can be an option. Not for me, but as I said, completely optional here. You probably wouldn't have direct access to the data either — the provider manages that for you.