The Old Suffering - Turnkey/Individual Contract

We are currently in the process. We only had an architect until the building permit and are now awarding everything ourselves. My calculation based on experience (new builds from friends and relatives) is much more accurate and precise than the architect's... Honestly, I don't know where they get their numbers from. ops: Awarding the contracts independently is super exhausting and requires a lot of organizational talent. But it’s also a lot of fun and gives us much better equipment than if we had done the whole thing through a general contractor!

We are currently right in the middle of it as well. Like Kisska, we had an architect until the building permit (who still supports us with advice and assistance) and we chose all the craftsmen ourselves. Exclusively based on recommendations; unfortunately, the two craftsmen we chose without prior recommendation are now causing problems and delays in construction... But that is another subject. Compared to turnkey offers, we save almost nothing, but now have a much higher quality setup. However, I don't think we would do it again (feel free to ask me again in a year), as it is extremely exhausting and time-consuming. We both work full-time, have a long commute, and are on the construction site every day and weekend (even though we have outsourced 95% of all work to companies), plus the daily phone calls, emails, etc.

Individual contracting naturally also means that you first have to find craftsmen who send an offer. At least here in the area, they are all fully booked, for years already, and it keeps getting worse. For them, orders from individual builders are naturally not as interesting as larger projects.

From , and everything has basically already been said. We also build with individual contracts, can stick our nose into every detail, get an overall high-quality house, etc. We simply have control over everything. It is time-consuming, but worth it given the sums involved. I would feel uneasy if I just handed over >350,000 EUR to a general contractor without having any right or possibility to make corrections (or often only against extra costs), not being able to speak directly with the craftsmen who have authority, and maybe not even being allowed to enter the construction site until handover is completed.

What says is also true. In Berlin, the craftsmen are fully booked and appointments & callbacks are often wishful thinking. You have to follow up and show that you mean business and also control the work on the construction site.

... We simply have control over everything. It's time-consuming but worth it considering the amounts involved. I would feel uneasy just handing over > 350,000 EUR to a general contractor (GU/GÜ) without any right or possibility to correct anything (or often only for an additional fee), not being able to give instructions directly to the craftsmen, and possibly not even being allowed to enter the construction site until the handover has taken place.
....

Hmm, as long as you are building a turnkey house with a Gu/GÜ! and are registered as the builder, you are allowed to enter your construction site. Besides, you don’t just hand money over, you have a construction manager whom you can annoy with daily calls. Our corrections didn’t cost us anything during construction, and the craftsmen were happy about our special orders, which I gave them instructions for, because then they could write another invoice. When we didn’t want to anymore, we snuck away and left it to the construction manager.
And if something got screwed up, it was again the construction manager’s and the company’s responsibility to fix it, and we were out of trouble p

Regards, Yvonne

On the subject of costs for changes during the construction phase: a craftsman has nothing to give away for free; if you change your mind, it will be reflected somewhere on the/their invoice. A subcontractor bills the GU.

Which equipment should always be of higher quality in the case of individual awarding? I generally choose the equipment myself anyway. I also have control over what gets installed. It all seems somewhat generalized.