What cost you the most nerves during the house construction?

Really? No one else does that here. (scnr)

The problem is: partner dancing requires two people. And if one doesn't dance along or dances to different music, you step on each other's toes. Even if it doesn't hurt sometimes, it's always annoying.

You also just got lucky with your general contractor, I admit that, but you can't assume it always works out like that with preparation and reading up. On the contrary, with the wrong partner it even goes smoother if you don’t know anything and just idioticly nod along to everything they suggest. Stress only happens when one messes up and you notice it.

Absolutely right.

However, I would also argue that our research and a lot of reading up was what led us to find the right general contractor for us in the first place. That alone took quite some time.

In other words: searched for a long time and finally found one.

Every day our choice of general contractor is confirmed again and again.

But sure... it can also go differently, you are absolutely right... some luck is involved as well.

And yes, it always depends on what you even know and what is important to you. A "simple" builder who has no connection to the house and really only sees it as a "box to live in" will surely claim right away: Everything went well for me xD

The more demands, the more you know - the harder it certainly gets and the harder it is to satisfy you.

The slowness of the building authorities. They really exhausted every deadline to the maximum, then sent a comment or a request for additional information and the deadline started over again. Completely understaffed, constant absences due to illness... We could have easily finished 1 year earlier. Our neighbors are going through the same drama right now. Corona made it even worse.

We are only at day 5 of the actual house construction and my broken foot from day 3 is definitely the top priority (especially since I am scheduled quite firmly as a helper). Otherwise, some items were missing that were not delivered correctly by the manufacturer, which was quite annoying. We are now waiting for everything else. The first meeting with the trades on the construction sites was very pleasant, hope it stays that way (we are doing individual contracting).

Definitely the building permit, which came several months late. 1-2 trades that were apparently too cheap. That was annoying during construction and unfortunately affects the quality. Garden landscaping was awarded within the extended family, it dragged on like rubber. Would build again anytime.

Most annoying? The craftsmen^^. We renovated. The craftsmen came and went as they pleased, didn’t finish, performance mostly mediocre at best. Being dependent on them annoyed me the most... Otherwise, nothing else bothered me extremely. We did a lot ourselves, with a lot of enthusiasm. I actually enjoyed it, even though I sometimes fell asleep on the sofa in the evening from exhaustion. Occasionally, I stayed on the construction site until after sunset (in summer!) because something had to be finished urgently. You really have to develop some ambition there.

"The one" neighbor who called the police multiple times because we are working on the construction site at times that she doesn't like.

And, did she get a hazard briefing on the third time?

The problem is: partner dancing requires two. And if one doesn't dance along or dances to different music, you step on each other's feet.

Pogo is not partner dancing.