Solid or prefabricated house

Solid house or prefabricated house in timber frame construction?

Both are concepts that have proven themselves. Every sixth house in Germany is a prefabricated house in timber frame construction. Many prejudices against prefabricated houses still come from the 70s and 80s, when the prefab companies were not as well established. Today, wooden houses, for example, can be planned just as individually as solid houses.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of wooden houses:
+ Computer-assisted and weather-independent prefabrication of walls in fixed production processes and with high quality control in the factory
+ no drying times for the walls (screed also requires drying time)
+ earlier move-in date (e.g. 6 months after building application instead of 9 months after building application)
+ better thermal insulation or lower heating costs (e.g. KfW-55 standard) easy to achieve
+ possibly lower price
- possibly lower resale value (Is this still the case today?)
- impact sound insulation worse because the wooden ceiling is not as heavy as a concrete ceiling
- no increased interest from many prefab companies in taking over points such as earthworks, basement construction, wall and floor coverings, outdoor facilities, etc.

Two other potential disadvantages:
Correct me if I am wrong: Possibly compared to a solid architect-designed house the prefab house is only individually planned/constructed to a limited extent. For example, one plans a single-story basement with garage driveway and residential floors above. In my opinion, this is not offered in prefab houses because it cannot be manufactured so easily at the factory. On the other hand, shifting walls, etc. is possible to some extent.

The second disadvantage is that you cannot or can only with restrictions build certain plots with prefab houses.
For example, we have a plot with a slope. Our house was built so that the rear wall was built into the slope. Our living room is on the upper floor (full floor) and through a terrace door we can thus access/use the rear part of our plot.
Our neighbors built a prefab house. They had to completely excavate the plot at the back, then build retaining walls and restore the excavated plot (topsoil, etc.).

Although this can of course also be the case with solid houses that come "off the shelf" or where the architect does not put much thought into it — this has also happened with neighbors.

In short, we have no reservations against one or the other and find the religious wars often fought on the Internet somewhat exaggerated. (Comparable religious wars actually only still exist regarding child rearing...)

There is still one "religious war topic" in house building: ventilation ;).

Two more potential disadvantages: Correct me if I’m wrong: Compared to a massive architect-designed house, the prefabricated house is only individually planned/built to a limited extent. For example, you plan a single-story basement with a garage driveway and residential floors above. In my opinion, this is not offered in prefabricated houses because it is not easily manufacturable by the factory.[..]

I have to correct you – it always depends on the construction company what is possible and what isn’t. Whether it’s a prefabricated house or completely masonry-built plays only a minor role. More decisive is whether an architect is involved who only approves the building application drawings, or whether an architect is involved who actually plans and has engaged with the corresponding concepts. Example: For us (prefabricated house on a masonry basement), nothing comes from the standard 08-15 builder’s kit of the manufacturer – the manufacturer actually doesn’t have a standard builder’s kit. The whole thing was planned by an architect from the neighboring town, adapted to the plot... Other buildings by this construction company sometimes have quite interesting mixed constructions (a concrete wall inside the house to realize a special staircase construction). Whether the walls/ceilings/roof are prefabricated in the factory and then assembled on site (Lego for adults – there are even masonry versions) or whether they are constructed on site first (there are also wooden versions – the intermediate state reminds more of a domino game – another construction company in this town did that), is simply a matter of implementation.

Thank you very much - learned something new again. Since we wanted a solid house from the start, we had only dealt with prefabricated houses on the sidelines.