Prefabricated house construction period - What should I expect?

Hello dear forum community,
we are still at the very beginning of our house building idea. This came about quite spontaneously due to a job-related move.
Currently, we live about 360 km away from the future construction site (our old home). My husband received a job offer there on relatively short notice.
To skip the "interim rental" and spare our children two moves (including changing daycare, etc.) in a short period of time, the idea arose to build directly. Until then, I would stay with the children at the current place of residence.
We would like to build a turnkey house with a prefabricated house provider (including the plot). What timeframe should I roughly expect from the decision-making/contract signing to moving in?
I have read reports where the process only took a little over half a year. Others speak of a year. What is realistic?
This is important insofar as we would have a long-distance relationship during the construction period, which would certainly be the most difficult for the children (but not extremely drastic, since my husband already works a lot now and only sees the children briefly in the mornings). However, if one should rather plan for a year or longer, it would probably make sense to first look for something to rent as a transition.
Unfortunately, we are absolute beginners and still have to thoroughly familiarize ourselves with the topic and have little experience in our circle of friends.
I would be very happy about a few answers!
Best regards, Schnuppen

If you still have to look for a plot, then decide what to build and whether you can afford it, etc., you should plan on at least 1.5 years until moving in. You are starting from scratch, and many people in the forum report such long time frames. Many prefab house providers are currently so busy that the waiting time until production of the house parts is one year.

Have you already considered an existing building?

edit: Current example: A colleague of mine wants to build with a local prefab house provider. If he signs now, the installation date is expected to be August 2017.

I would definitely first look for a rental apartment/house and live there temporarily. It may be sensible if your husband looks around a bit first to find the right area before you move, but even then I would only rent in the area at first and calmly choose the right plot of land and the house together.

You want to live in the house for decades, take enough time to plan it thoroughly!

Pressure when building is extremely expensive and stressful. In comparison, in my opinion, two moves in two years are a walk in the park. Also, building the house is easier when both are nearby and actively involved in the construction.

Depending on the workload of the individual provider, it definitely takes 12-24 months including planning.

Just my 2 cents...

The truth lies somewhere in between. Of course, the region you want to move to/build in also has a strong influence. If it is somewhere in MVP near the Polish border, you will probably find land more easily than, for example, in metropolitan areas.

Don't forget, at the moment we have enormous demand, which on the one hand can lead to a price increase and on the other hand to longer waiting times.

Even if everything goes optimally, you decide quickly, and administrative matters are processed promptly, expect a minimum of one year. The distance naturally makes things more difficult; you can't just spontaneously arrange an appointment. 360 km and children are already a huge restriction on spontaneity.

Whether you will be faster with something used can work out, but it doesn't have to.

I would advise you to look for a nice rental apartment close to your desired place of residence and then deal with the topic of new construction from there. With luck, kindergarten/school will remain the same.

counteridea: buying a house? at best it takes a few weeks to months and the matter is settled. since your husband is already on site for work, he can look at the houses in the evening and if he likes them, you come by on the weekend and you look at it together again.

regarding financing: your husband has a new job, so he is in the probation period. you are probably currently a housewife or only working part-time. so it is very unlikely that any bank will give you a loan, unless you can score so well with equity that it will never be a break-even for the bank (40%+)

Thank you very much for the answers! I can already see that this was probably a naive idea... ;) We definitely have time over the summer to get information from some providers; we will probably see things much more clearly afterwards. To me, these offers sounded so incredibly simple: we buy the plot + house from the provider (as long as both fit, of course) and then it starts! In any case, I had found some construction blogs where it was that easy. But probably that really is not the rule. And I hadn’t even thought about the currently increased demand! Maybe we can at least manage to purchase a plot this year (because we won’t be moving before the end of the year anyway), so that we then know exactly where we’re going and still rent there for a while. Then another move would be annoying, but not associated with a change of location.

We are definitely keeping an eye out for existing properties, but the market in this region seems rather sparse (at least with what we have in mind).

Financing should not be an issue. My husband is not changing his employer and enough equity is available.