House construction with a foreign construction company, further planning work?

Hello! I wanted to inquire here whether anyone has carried out their construction project with a foreign construction company and could share their experiences in planning and executing the project.

Specifically, in this case, we have found a company that would build our house turnkey, but for example, the corresponding documents for the construction dossier must first be prepared by an architect from Germany. The question that now arises for us is especially which additional steps and planning work or also control instances we should involve to prepare and carry out the construction project well.

As an example of such work, we would also have to have the planning of the structural engineer prepared separately, plan a construction-accompanying quality control.

So which steps have you taken or which points should definitely be considered?

Thank you very much in advance!

Just google minimum wage / Posting of Workers Act before you maybe get the idea that foreign companies could and would somehow be allowed to perform magic. Building a house from materials cheaper like in Germany is only very limitedly possible. Building a house from materials or according to systems that are only common abroad can become problematic: try finding a sworn interpreter with special technical construction knowledge who can translate a [lummerländische Typenzulassung] into German. Austria or Switzerland are comparatively simple foreign countries due to the language, but regulations on thermal insulation, fire protection, compressive and tensile strength tests can still be different. In many Central and Eastern European foreign countries, significant language barriers also arise, e.g. with Russian also different characters. There are not always bilateral chambers of commerce that can support. Cross-border specialist legal expertise in warranty law is also no walk in the park. The best is to demystify your question by telling more about the possibly banal facts: having Austrians lay porous bricks would probably not be worth mentioning as unexotic. With shuttering stones made of Maltese corn starch synthetic resin, on the other hand, the specifically experienced German civil engineer would probably be the needle in the haystack ;-)

Hello and thanks in advance for the response!

This concerns a Polish company, but all materials/parts are identical in construction or already originate from Germany (for example Liapor is considered), yet the question remains: To whom/how must it be proven in this case that these stones are identical in construction? The plans/offers are also written in German, and the company is approved here and has already completed several projects in DE; we also do not need an interpreter since we can also speak Polish.

Basically, the question could also be phrased as follows: What is required if the work that is usually taken care of by a prefabricated house provider or a provider with a "complete package" has to be organized by oneself (i.e., for example, the architect/structural engineer/Q-control, etc.)?

The project is primarily not just about lower costs but especially about the fact that with German companies one has to reckon with a long lead time since almost every provider is still handling many projects and can only start building after some delay; this is the big advantage here because building can begin quickly.

However, I suspect that there are still some differences since this is a foreign company, which is not the same as a fully domestically based developer; I wanted to explore these differences and pitfalls that are often not obvious before construction begins through my question.

Best regards! :)

If you can speak Polish, I would also relatively naturally include a Polish company in the selection of the requested companies. Relatively, because I do not know the differences in warranty law – but I believe there is a bilateral chamber of commerce with corresponding information. By the interpreter, I did not mean project communication, but certified translations of foreign test documents. If the stones really are "baugleich Liapor" (i.e., a licensed product from them), I see no problems there.

What is needed if you have to organize the work yourself that is otherwise often done by a prefab house provider or a provider with a "complete package" (i.e., for example, the architect/structural engineer/quality control etc.)?

Do you want to build a construction proposal from the contractor? – then I would also have them look for a German structural engineer. Control by a self-appointed expert is always good, even if there is no language barrier with the construction workers (I don’t know whether Poles are more diligent about looking at the plans according to which they are supposed to work).

Polish companies can also build. It is more about the submission planning at the building authority. This can cause difficulties. Therefore, the company's suggestion is to organize it themselves. Just ask the company which architect has done the planning for them in Germany so far.

Polish companies can build as well. It’s more about the submission planning with the building authority. That can cause difficulties. Hence the company’s suggestion to organize it themselves. Just ask the company which architect has done the planning for them in Germany so far.

I wanted to import a log house from Ukraine to Germany. Plans all in Russian. Unfortunately, it was not approved by the building authority due to problems with the energy saving ordinance, wiring, and other things. The attempt was worth it. It would have been just under 30k for 120m2 shell construction including assembly as a holiday home :D