Own contribution - what did you do and would you do it again?

oh yes, we also laid the network cables ourselves.

Even with an annual gross salary of €70,000 for 35 hours/week, it only amounts to €24.50/hour net.

I would like that too, but isn’t 45 hours/week more normal? I’ll calculate with 220 working days at 9 hours each: With €70,000/year gross, I get about €35/hour gross.

On the other hand, not everyone has the option to simply work more to earn more money..

That is indeed the case, especially for "high earners." But overtime in the office might eventually lead to "career" (measurable?).

The saving on own labor roughly corresponds to the craftsman's wage plus VAT on that, minus costs for tools and possibly additional costs when purchasing materials (missing discounts). There may also be the effect that costs are spread over many weeks, whereas the specialist company might present the full invoice after three days of work (depending).

In the collectively agreed industries, e.g. IG-Metall Bayern, 35 hours are often the standard. I calculated with 222 working days at 7 hours = 1776 hours. 70,000 gross equals 43,000 net, 43,000€ / 1776h = 24.50€/h.

For 70,000€ gross, you must already be a long-serving engineer or executive within the IG-Metall tariff.

The average German earns about 40,000€ gross, 24,500€ / 222*8h = 14€/h!

But you also have to see that a [Gandwerkerstu] brings more to house building than my hour as a layman (hopefully!?)

If I take twice as long, we end up with the same "hourly rate" for the actual work.

- All floors (glue down parquet + lay tiles) - Tiling bathrooms - All final installations in bathrooms - Tiling stairs - All outdoor facilities (incl. 75sqm wooden terrace) except paving work - Priming + painting - Construction management

Nothing and I am glad, free time is more important to me than saving money. And you are never better as a layman than a good craftsman. Regards