Solid house or prefab house - experiences?

Back then, we also traveled a lot to prefabricated house exhibitions and building fairs and talked to many house construction companies. However, we always had a strange feeling during the conversations with the salespeople. Especially because when we talked about the budget, we were always smiled at and immediately told, "You can forget about that." In the end, based on a recommendation, we ended up with a local architect who works with many different regional craftsmen. The architect’s cost planning was spot-on, and during construction, we were able to discuss everything again on site with each trade. We never regretted it and are still glad today that we did it this way. We still have contact with some of the craftsmen, and more work has been commissioned over time. A few years later, the roofing company installed a skylight for us afterward and sealed the terrace roof that had been built later. The tiler came by twice in the meantime and even after 6 years, carried out small repairs completely free of charge. In return, he was allowed to replace the laminate flooring in the entire ground floor, which we originally installed ourselves, with tiles two weeks ago (even though he certainly is not the cheapest). Many of the craftsmen are from our town, and we see each other again and again at festivals or sometimes while shopping.

will surely help you too.

Otherwise, you are mixing up many things.
First of all, a prefab house can also be a solid house.

Yes, that is correct. I wouldn’t build the timber frame construction with small, unknown companies – I trust the big ones (and those are almost exclusively prefab manufacturers) to have more experience. I couldn’t find any providers of solid prefab houses here, so for us the definition (even if not entirely correct) is prefab house = wood, solid house = local construction company.

What I don’t see from you is a clear strategy. Who is actually planning the house according to your wishes? If it is supposed to be individual (and with a sensible floor plan), then really only an architect remains.

Well, several sources (including an architect) told us that it is difficult to transfer an architect’s design to a prefab house because they have many peculiarities, such as the wall structure, etc. Therefore, it would make more sense to plan with the respective architect who is familiar with the respective manufacturer.
So we concluded that you should at least make this choice in advance?

The draftsman of the general contractor also plans for you, but he doesn’t care whether the floor plan makes sense or not. He also doesn’t care about any special requests – you pay for everything and he plans in the interest of the general contractor. The architect plans exclusively for you. And whether the finished plan then results in
- a prefab house or a house from the general contractor or with individual trade contracts
- a solid house or a timber frame house
remains to be seen. But as I said, you will get enough feedback on that.

But if I hire an architect, I pay him just the same, right? And if the general contractor hires the architect or commissions a plan, can’t I also say that it doesn’t suit me and look for another one... I don’t quite understand the argument.

At least the budget fits (for a nice house). Calculate with the minimum figures of €3,000 per sqm of living space plus ancillary costs plus basement plus garage plus outdoor facilities. Then add a 10% buffer and the house can be built.

If I understand the calculation correctly, our house ends up quite small... With €700,000 minus 10% buffer = €635,000 - €200,000 (ancillary costs, basement, garage, outdoor facilities) = €435,000 / 3,000 = 145 sqm
Or where am I mistaken?

I wouldn’t lump the providers together with the sellers [...] Whether a relationship that was troubled from the start is a good basis for collaboration is, of course, questionable.

Yes, that’s exactly it. The seller makes a calculation on which we base our signature. And we’re not talking about a few euros. No matter how good the manufacturer might be in the background, if there’s already a hitch there, hardly anything good can come of it – even if it’s just that afterwards we have not a single power outlet or light in the basement, because it isn’t just that simple to quickly pull some cables on the construction site in an unobserved moment.

(Of course, an air-to-water heat pump costs more than an air-to-air heat pump, but it’s actually worth it to me – there have already been various more or less appreciative discussions about this. Short version of why I don’t want the air-to-air heat pump: commitment to this one system, closed system with no local support, mixed to poor feedback from the environment. The result for me was that I prefer to rely on an air-to-water heat pump.)

Thanks, that basically matches my research as well...

There’s no construction project where nothing goes wrong. The question is how do the companies deal with problems! Are they solved? Are they postponed? Are they passed on? That needs to be asked.

Of course there are always problems – but naturally the talks went beyond just that question. And no, the problems were not satisfactorily resolved. A customer who has a problem with a product and is helped successfully is more satisfied than a customer who never had problems. When a provider is vehemently advised against...

Here I would urgently recommend asking for concrete conditions. Just some current daily numbers, which can change daily:

At the moment I rather have the feeling that the general contractors aren’t really interested in a new construction project... It’s already hard to reach anyone at all or to get an appointment. On the phone, they say, “Then just write to info@,” and then they don’t get back to you. Even from the general contractor with whom I had longer phone calls, there has been no response for over a week to my emails with the development plan, etc. Maybe our project is too unrealistic, or maybe I’m just unsympathetic, or I don’t know... I think we can do without the KfW subsidy, but the house should still reach a certain energy standard.

Good luck!

Many thanks and thank you for your reply!

We felt overwhelmed at the beginning as well. Try smaller providers. Which part of Bavaria are you from? Albert Haus can do slopes, basements, and quite individual designs. You don’t hear anything bad about them. We also live in a house from them.

We are building in Günzburg. As I said, it’s not really a slope; it will be leveled. But I’m always thankful for tips!

I can only answer a small question but at least: don’t install an air heating system, I would stay away from that. You are always very dependent on the technology, a water-based system is much more flexible.

Thank you for the affirmation. But of course the manufacturers insist on how great it is. We were also shown with a thermometer that the floor is 24°C and the wall 23°C - no problem at all...

Yes, that is correct. I wouldn’t build timber frame construction with small, unknown builders – I trust the big ones (and those are almost exclusively prefab house manufacturers) to have more experience.

Big mistake! Small does not mean bad or inexperienced. Regional and experienced = ask for good references. Then I would always prefer the "small" one and not the inflexible "big" one.

Well, here we were told by several sources (including an architect) that it is difficult to transfer an architect's design into a prefab house, as these have many peculiarities, such as the wall construction, etc.

See previous answers. Detach yourself from prefab houses. But even here it works – the big ones have problems though. See also first answer.
Prefab parts require, and that's the only "problem," good planning. No more and no less.

So we concluded that at least this choice should be made in advance?

No. You first have to know what the house should look like. Off the shelf or individual. And then you can think about other topics like wall construction, general contractor, etc. Wrong approach, which often ends in a dead end.

But if I hire an architect, I pay him the same anyway?

Yes. But you pay him directly, and he does what you want. The draftsman of a general contractor/system house provider gets his salary from company XYZ and (almost) exclusively represents their interests (= get everything done as simply as possible and make a lot of money with you in the process).

And if the general contractor hires the architect or commissions a plan, can I also say, that doesn’t suit me and look for another one… I don’t quite understand this argument yet.

Who decides the music in the club? You, because you pay the entrance fee, or the club owner, because he pays the DJ? I prefer to be the club owner = pay my own architect.

Or where is my mistake?

No mistake. But 145 sqm well planned is better than 170 sqm with lots of useless traffic areas, unusable rooms, etc.