New construction - now or wait? Experiences?

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We just wanted to paint and lay floors. We trust ourselves to do that or we know a master painter.

We get the photovoltaic system cheaply through connections.

If you know a master painter. A painter can also install doors, fill and sand.

Filling and sanding are part of their qualifications, and anyone with basic handyman skills can install a door.

With that income, I would save hard for the next two or three years and casually look for houses.

If one assumes an annual price increase of 3% per year and the house now costs 500,000, then it will cost 546,000 EUR in 3 years. That means that nearly half of the hard-saved 100,000 EUR is eaten away by inflation, without added value.

Saving against inflation is absolutely not recommended, especially in the short term.

If you assume an annual price increase of 3% per year and the house now costs 500,000, then in 3 years it will cost 546,000 EUR. That means that of the heavily saved 100,000 EUR, inflation eats up almost half without added value.

Saving against inflation is absolutely not recommended, especially in the short term.

Yeah, then better take a dubious offer without any craft or planning experience, which ends up being expensive. Because you already search for a whopping 2.5 months and the guy thinks finished children's rooms are as important as nests for the offspring. To me, the whole thing smells too much like impatience.

Take your time and above all, don’t let yourselves be ripped off. The setup that is a tied selling arrangement is definitely designed for naive builders. And you don’t want to be that.

Watch out for what needs to be done by the builder’s side, and even if you think you’ve covered everything, the construction performance description will take money out of your pocket; anything not included costs extra. For example, there are simply doors, white windows, no sliding elements, one light switch and three sockets per room.

Another example.
Store soil on the side and excavation up to 30 cm foundation.

Sounds harmless but this sentence will cost you 40,000 Euros for this property, if you’re lucky.

Or connections up to the basement wall included. But what about the garden up to the street? The plot is connected even if it’s 20 meters to the house.

Another example. Store soil on the side and excavate up to 30 cm for the foundation.

Sounds harmless but this sentence will cost you 40,000 euros on this property, if you're lucky.

Explanation for new construction enthusiasts: Soil is not excavated 30 cm, but at least 80 cm. 30 cm is included in the construction service description in the price, the remaining 50 cm you have to pay for "on site," that is by yourself. The excavated soil is stored on the side, but only that. The soil remains on the property until you decide on site what to do with it – you pay a horrendous amount for removal. Disposal is often more expensive than the excavation work. Not just the removal trips, but also the acceptance at a gravel/disposal plant. The decision for removal usually has to be made promptly, otherwise you won't be able to access the pile of soil anymore.