Realistic construction time for a bungalow?

You seem to have somewhat misunderstood the franchise system à la Town & Country.

I can't rule that out, but then why don't you explain? Town & Country doesn't operate with local GUs who build under the franchise brand and execute the standard house designs created by them?

Or a botcher might have pulled himself together because he is running out of orders.

I just had to quote that separately *ROTFL* A camel is more likely to go through the eye of a needle ...

I can’t rule it out, but then explain? Town & Country does not work with local general contractors who carry out the standard houses designed under the franchise brand?

The winter roads were barely passable, so I first had to quickly do the shopping. Exactly: they operate, they don’t cooperate; your earlier description

There are nationwide general contractors who definitely work with local ones, probably all for certain trades or when there are capacity bottlenecks or planning problems. Or when the whole business model is built on that (franchise like ).

could be read/interpreted as if a franchise model like that of Town & Country is built on working with local subs or even entire general contractors together. In fact, as far as I know, the headquarters here does not have its own direct business at all (which I would actually see as a disadvantage—especially as a franchisee), so it directs the inquirer directly to the franchisee. This one then practically "treats" the customer like a local general contractor (except, of course, that there are no special requests; at McD you don’t get Whoppers or homemade potato salad). Such a franchise is ideal for general contractors who just want to "work," without the stress with rhyme-princesses who want to turn staircases seventy-something times, share bathrooms, or balance façades—or people who fiddle with the construction specifications until the blue trout becomes a hunter’s schnitzel or vice versa. Just work and that’s it; even the cancellation policy is the responsibility of the headquarters. What the Steinbauer system headquarters all do not do, as far as I know, is assemble national teams from the cadres of their franchisees for individual friendly matches. Among timber construction general contractors, the most common practice as far as I know is to deploy their own crews in the regularly worked action area up to the weatherproof shell (and in diaspora only for the erection) and then preferably involve local subs for the finishing trades. Many customers do not consider this and specify the largest possible tiles ;-(

To be honest, I haven't read everything through, but we are building a bungalow in Lower Saxony. We signed with the [GU] in April and have been planning, waiting, etc. since then, and have now submitted the building application. We cautiously expect to move in by December 2023. If we include the time it took us to choose a company, it amounts to 2 years.

I myself said that the assembly team, even if it comes from Bulgaria, can initially work just as well as any other. But since the assembly team lacks the personal connection - once they are done, they are gone and never see you again - you no longer have any attachment to a craftsman when building a house, where you want good service for at least 5 more years.

Hmm. When I listen around the neighborhood, those who have already moved in. The regional general contractor has not addressed defects for months, the regional painter ignores his last 10% and simply no longer answers the phone, even though some areas were terribly painted. The regional tiler ordered the wrong tiles... twice...

If you know the craftsman personally, it might be different.

Otherwise, you are just another customer to them. They sleep soundly, even if they have 100 missed calls from very angry customers on the phone.

I can't rule it out, but then explain? Town & Country does not operate with local GUs who execute type houses designed under the franchise brand?

Yes. But since these local GUs and also the headquarters have no permanent employed craftsmen of their own, everything is done by mostly local companies.
Statics, building application, energy demand calculation, everything is done externally.
The shell builders were from a local GU who builds turnkey houses themselves.
I have also seen the electricians and installers at at least 4 other GUs or their houses.

And that they say to themselves, "Today we are working for xyz, let's really botch it..."