Supply problems, lack of raw materials - as of October 2022

In addition, there is a shortage of skilled craftsmen that has existed for years and is becoming increasingly acute. Whether one believes it or not does not really matter. It is the reality, and it is better to plan the move-in date later than the general contractor promises.

You really can't see it that simply. There is also a payment plan, I assume? Not every home construction company can just advance unlimited payments. When you select samples and they have to order, they also have to pay their suppliers for the materials. But if in your case that stuff is only installed a year later, then they are missing that money for quite a long time. If all homeowners want to see it that way, a company quickly has problems paying its bills. Have you asked where this whole delay is coming from? Staff shortages are certainly one possibility, and prefabricated houses in the factory probably don't build themselves entirely with a magic machine.

So if every employee has Corona twice a year and is out for 2 weeks, that results in an 8% reduction in work performance over 250 working days per year!
After 2 years of the pandemic, this should no longer cause the planning to double 100% in delay.
We are not talking here about the local craftsman who promises to complete something in 4 weeks, but then misses 2 weeks due to Corona. This is a cross-year overall planning with many employees! Such effects quickly average out.

And as far as material shortages already affecting the timing of choosing the scarce material... I don't see a real causality there.

yes, that is controlling theory. Then try very practically to plan work that must be done by teams around Corona, vacations, workplace accidents, and delivery delays.

I see it exactly the same way...


Thanks for your post, exactly the kind of posts I wish to see here and not some know-it-all-everywhere-is-exactly-like-my-place wisdom from some others...

That sounds very good and I’m happy for you too!
I just spoke with the basement builder so as not to experience another surprise here, he told me everything is in the green zone, not as great as before, but with sufficient planning it works quite well.


We were told about missing raw materials, but I will follow up again, because as it seems, other companies that use the same resources obviously manage it better...

They told us there were missing raw materials, but I will follow up again, because as it seems, other companies that work with the same water can do it better...

Then you have to go to these companies. Telling your general contractor that other companies could do it better will neither speed up your house construction nor improve your chances of goodwill, whatever it may be for.

PS: By the way, it is downright idiotic. I wouldn’t go to VW and tell them that Opel is actually much better and faster to deliver. Then I would just buy the Opel?

They told us there were missing raw materials, but I will follow up again, because as it seems, other companies who work with the same water can do it better...

It can't hurt to ask for more details there again. They are stalling you for months, not just a few days. We actually always get very concrete updates from the BU. Last time we had to wait 2 weeks for the concrete ceiling. But that was because they had no drivers / trucks / crane available to bring the parts to the construction site earlier. So the stuff was actually ready but waited a few days at the plant. Then we had a 2-week delay because the architect had Corona. Things like that. But we always specifically heard "time period X" (manageable time periods), and why. I wouldn’t just accept a general "yes, everything takes 6 months longer because of material shortage". They should be able to explain that. Otherwise, how do you pay them? It can't be in the company’s interest that they don’t get their money for ages. It’s probably different with prefabricated houses because they have little upfront costs?