Timeline house planning

I found the conversations with the home construction companies partly very informative, so I would also suggest making an appointment with a home provider already

Some of them also send invitations to housewarmings or construction dates of customer houses in the area if you are on their email distribution list.

Hmm....so, we were at a house building fair last March in the early stages of our planning. The result: piles of brochures, emails, phone calls, invitations to model home tours. It was somehow just confusing. Everyone praises themselves and badmouths the others. And as a customer, you feel like you're among vultures, but you're the carcass. The problem was, we didn’t yet know what we wanted. Should it be a prefabricated house or solid construction? Three or four rooms? Is 95 enough or should it be 120 sqm? 95! You don’t want to put yourself through such a shack! Direct quote among vultures....What really moved us forward in the end was the concrete comparison in a 120 minute conversation with the head of our construction company between the plot, needs, money. After that, we knew what we want and what we can do. The rest was details. Therefore, my advice is, narrow down your options, otherwise it gets confusing. Karsten

We want to start building the house in spring 2019

What exactly does start mean? Earthworks? Signing the contract?

From my own experience. There are a few prefab house companies that currently take 12-14 months or more from clearing all reservations (i.e. financing is secured, etc.) until the house is delivered.

Business is booming after all. And the builders of solid houses are not waiting for customers either at the moment

Hm....so, last March we were in the early phase of our planning at a home building fair. The result: piles of brochures, emails, phone calls, invitations to model home visits. It was somehow just confusing. [...] Therefore my advice: narrow down your options, otherwise it will be confusing.

Yes, twenty years ago, the "(few) websites were still made up of static content, you got through them faster." Thirty years ago, an architect would give you a brief overview of avoiding the most classic planning mistakes during half a dozen adult education classes and a homebuilder's manual from a specialist publisher. Today, sorting through the flood of information can take longer than the period from purchasing the plot to the basement ceiling—or up to the topping-out ceremony, depending on the participants in the discussion.

And of course: the construction boom is also a factor. Good contractors have waiting lists like specialist doctors.

What does beginning mean? Earthworks? Signature on the contract?

From personal experience. There are a few prefabricated house companies that currently take 12-14 months or more for house delivery after clearing all reservations (meaning financing is secured, etc).

Business is booming. And the most massive ones are not waiting for customers at the moment

Starting means start of construction.

A prefabricated house is definitely not an option for us.

Why actually wait another 2 years? If you have the plot of land, you should start as soon as possible... For us, it took 1.5 years from finding the plot to the start of construction... But it could have gone faster too