New single-family house construction through individual tendering - Topic "Own Material"

We had a water damage during the new construction back then. It was the washing machine that the moving company had connected but did not include on the invoice. How could they, you give the helpers 20 € in hand and say, come on, just quickly hook it up.

The insurance was being difficult and wanted to avoid paying the damage. Since I had a good policy, they covered it.

But with the 20 €, I never thought about such damages, just wanted it done quickly.

You’re always wiser when it happens. Next time, I will book a service with the machine.

We are also building a house in Upper Bavaria and are awarding everything ourselves or doing a lot ourselves. We have obtained two quotes from plumbing companies. The first company was somewhat larger, with a nice showroom, and only wanted to install sanitary fixtures that they themselves supply. The second company is smaller, doesn’t even have a website, and wants us to supply the sanitary fixtures ourselves, but in consultation. He says he doesn’t have to charge a markup because he doesn’t have to maintain a showroom and can keep his inventory smaller. I would simply inquire with the companies about how they want to handle it.

With our general contractor, that was absolutely no problem. The entire roof insulation came from us just like all the products in the bathroom. We chose the tiles up to a certain price. His craftsmen knew him and we were partly also offered to buy some things ourselves so that they could install them; that was sometimes easier for the craftsmen if the stuff was simply on site the next day because of us. Apparently, that is not the standard, but we clarified or requested that from the very beginning; the fact that the general contractor was otherwise rather weak had nothing to do with this issue. For us, it was also no problem, for example, to arrange directly with the plumber that he lay the water piping for the shower in the wall so that we wouldn’t have to use a shower rail there; this in particular is apparently highly marked up during the listing (which I find rather incomprehensible). If something doesn’t work later, it usually isn’t because of the installed product, but rather the installation or the interaction of various things. Complaining about some faucet or similar would never occur to me, instead I would have it repaired on my own initiative. But that has nothing to do with whether someone has warranty/guarantee, but rather that I rarely wanted contract partners during construction who also wanted to be responsible for something. Fortunately, I have had no major damages or problems so far. For us, it was actually the case that we only had to pay the real additional cost of the products for something like cubic meter price for stronger rafters, sockets or similar. The roofer charged a handling fee because he installed “foreign” insulation but overall, this was not a cost driver for us as I often read here. Despite all the hassle during our build, this point was downright brilliant financially; that makes me look back on our construction period more peacefully. So there are definitely craftsmen who do that or only charge their working time, you just have to find them. I generally see it differently and don’t quite understand why a craftsman has to add a significant profit margin through product sales on top of his hourly rate. I often perceive the reference to warranty/guarantee as a pretext because for my well-paid craft work I can indeed provide warranty (responsibility). I don’t mean that I want to deliver the entire house in all parts myself but especially in the bathroom area I wanted to decide that myself and freely. Our general contractor said that dealing with thousands of bathtubs and faucets was too stressful for him, so we should buy those and then they would install them.

- How do I go about this most skillfully?

It is wise to ask the craftsman company beforehand if they have a problem with it. And then coordinate with them on the further procedure.

Please come into the 21st century. After 25 years, it would be time.

Well, you have quite a cheerful tone. Show me such a legally secure template. When our roof was covered with Autarq solar tiles in 2019, the warranty issue definitely could not be resolved with a template from the Chamber of Crafts.

Twenty years ago, all that worked. Today, probably still. My tiler, for example, said he would only lay my tiles if he supplies the adhesive. Then there is also a warranty.