Prefab house expert - sensible or wasted money?

When you then sneak quietly through the side door and find a group of craftsmen discussing, and one who is standing with his back to the door is just suggesting not to tell the builder... priceless! "She is right behind you!"

There was always a crate of beer/shandy on the construction site, at times coffee, breakfast rolls, lunch... in return, the groundworks contractor even screwed on the mailbox!

I really can’t see anything good in this little game. I have no objection to small niceties, as do I or the mysterious OP, but if I configure, order, and pay for a car today, I expect to find said car on the exact specifications on day X. And with a house it’s even more extreme. It will very likely be the most expensive purchase of your life, you take on debt possibly for the rest of your life, and then you don’t even get the work you contractually agreed on. I don’t want to accuse anyone, but if it’s so necessary to constantly be at the construction site, this means in reverse that if you’re not there, the workers take advantage of you, are lazy, and don’t do their work even though they are paid for it. Yes, sure... a house is not a car.

Sorry, but I cannot share this romantic view of hanging around the construction site all the time and watching the workers’ every move just because "that’s how it’s always been done." Personally, I deeply hate such behavior from a boss or client; it only shows that you don’t trust the person who is supposed to do the work and/or consider them incompetent.

Those who cannot accompany the construction themselves at all (timewise, technically) need someone to take over. That someone must be found and paid by yourself (important!!), so that this person works for the builder!! This construction supervision is absolutely not wasted money - regardless of the construction method used for the house.

I fear (it probably won’t be cheap) that this will have to be the solution for us. In fact, my old office specialized in construction supervision, but on large projects and not on small single-family homes. But yes, it can’t hurt to ask my ex-boss if he has one or two contacts.

Nevertheless, it was often: "Can you come by, we want to discuss how it should be done" and it wasn’t about expertise but often about where exactly something should go and whether it’s okay there, etc. "Look at this sample, which glass should we choose?"

Then I am mistaken if I assumed that a construction performance description is supposed to prevent exactly that: namely that it precisely describes all work and materials used so that you don’t have to ask the builder extra how he wants it.

Because interior finishing was also mentioned quite often. The OP wants to do many things (not everything) himself. These include all floors (without screed), hanging interior doors, tiling, drywall (puttying, sanding, whitewashing). He assumes the help of his brothers and father (who do not yet know how lucky they are but have lots of practical experience).

From my point of view and experience, the pros and cons of wood and stone (and prefabrication and on-site construction) roughly balance each other out on average, so both "sides" should be considered impartially - regarding the individual concrete builder, this means: not to commit too early (and thus unnecessarily limit your options)

I would have wished for a contribution like this at the beginning; it could have saved the OP very unpleasant labels like "naive," etc.

And now comes the big but... as I learned today, the land value in the mentioned municipality was drastically increased by 73% for 2018 up to the end of 2020! That’s another 200,000 euros on top of everything. With that, this project is dead for the foreseeable future. Thanks also to all the investors who massively increased the average prices. We are currently totally disillusioned. It wouldn’t have been our (how I can’t stand this expression anymore) dream house anyway, but the reasonable answer to the ever crazier rents in Munich (and the surrounding area). Just a simple but modern house without much frill. Let’s see what the "inquiries" with the mayor bring, who recently even praised me for my social commitment. Let’s see what that is still worth oops: when one of his citizens vents about the almost doubled land value. But that’s really another topic.

That's intense. Also for the [Einheimischenmodell]

Deal with the developer. They deliver finished houses. The so-called prefab house builders usually do not.
Prefab house refers to the wall and not to move-in ready.

A house, even a timber frame one, is individual and evolves. Especially with good craftsmen who understand their job, there are questions.

Then I am mistaken if I assumed that a construction performance specification is supposed to prevent exactly that, namely that it precisely describes all work and materials used and that one does not have to ask the client separately how they would like it.

Yes, you are indeed mistaken. It is a pure text that, as Reich-Ranicki put it, closes the curtain and leaves many questions open and by no means is a complete script – in times when execution plans are regularly considered unnecessary, it is insufficient if not supported by the accessibility of the clients.

I would have wished for such a contribution at the beginning,

I have been writing that here since February 2017 (? ? ?)

Sorry, but I can't get behind this romantic view that you have to constantly hang around the construction site and watch the workers’ every move just because that’s how it’s always been done. Personally, I deeply hate that kind of behavior from a boss or client; it just shows that they don’t trust the person doing the work and/or consider them incompetent.

There is nothing romantic about this approach; it’s pure self-protection (this is about your own money and your own nerves). It’s not like the people in construction are stupid and lazy!
It’s about recognizing improperly performed work or answering the workers’ questions, because if they don’t get told, they just do it somehow, and somehow that’s usually wrong!
If you hire a building expert, at 10 appointments totaling 3–4k€, you can imagine how often he notices something on site during an estimated generous construction period of 12 months!

But nothing more needs to be said about that; if you had been following here for a while, you would know what can happen.

Yes, I have often heard that the municipalities around the Munich area charge heavily. But selling BRW through the municipality apparently is only still possible in very rural areas (without metropolitan area) at a distance of 30 km, and basically still usually 50% cheaper than from private sellers.

but if it is so necessary to be constantly on the construction site, that means, conversely, that if you are not there, the workers take advantage of you, are lazy and do not do their work even though they are paid for it.

Sorry, but I cannot agree with this romantic view that you have to hang around the construction site all the time and watch the workers like a hawk just because that’s how it has always been done.

Neither of these things is written here. There is no such converse conclusion just because you take care of your own matters yourself.

The idea that you can specify every tiny detail in advance so that no further questions are ever necessary seems absurd to me. That might work with a property developer who has a standard that applies unless the client defines otherwise. But okay, my project was also a single contract with a construction manager, so there was no construction performance description, just offers from individual craftsmen. And sometimes we only finalized the exact execution on site. Building a house is a complex task involving 10 or more initially independent trades that partly depend on each other. One does x, the next does y, and then the first can come and do z. That requires coordination, and someone has to provide it.

The comparison with a car is wildly off, since all parts there are standardized and always combined in the same way. Of course, in variants that result in the desired equipment. All parts are produced mechanically, i.e. always in the same way. The house, on the other hand, is individual in many places and is partly made by hand. I just find it a pity when a project like this is initially labeled "impossible!!". It must also be impossible for someone to visit the construction site, since that also must be unnecessary.

Still very unfortunate if you cannot take on the project at all because the plots of land are becoming too expensive.