What own contributions have you made?

It wasn’t a new build for me, but a complete renovation:
- Emptied a fully furnished two-family house and disposed of everything (A LOT of driving to the recycling center, waste disposal, etc.)
- Stripped everything down (removed wallpaper, water pipes, sewage pipes, electrical wiring, radiators, bathrooms, etc.)
- Electrical work with a friend electrician. He relocated the distribution box, I made the chases, laid empty conduits, pulled cables, connected switches and sockets
- Complete interior and exterior painting
- Plaster repairs (filling + sanding)
- All floor coverings except tiles
- Sanded and re-painted doors + adjusted their height to match the new flooring
- Knocked down walls, supported a large breakthrough with a T-beam, built up walls
- Removed old radiators, bricked up radiator niches, installed new radiators (heating pipes were extended by my father-in-law)
- Assembled the kitchen
- Insulated the top floor ceiling
- All necessary breakthroughs for new water and sewage pipes
- Plastering work, where I mainly did the preparation work and had two experienced acquaintances do it, they were super quick.

I can’t think of anything else right now. I had the rest done. Windows, new heating system, chimney renovation, etc. were too risky for me as a layperson without an expert at hand.

I did everything during holidays and weekends. For a year, practically nothing else.

Two companies estimated the complete renovation at around 250,000 euros. I ended up spending 71,000 euros and now know exactly where which pipe runs, where what is installed, etc.

Yes, I would do it the same way again!

I find the thread interesting. We might have a new build coming up soon. We still have to explore what is possible in EL.

Best regards
Specki

Hi

I'll write this the other way around for simplicity.
For the earthworks, we had a civil engineer with an excavator and a compactor for about a week.
For the shell construction, a carpenter with a crane for about two weeks.
I had the windows and doors installed. A friend is helping with the electrical installation.
I will still need a screed layer.
The rest of the small jobs will be done by myself.

Olli

Painting work and floor coverings in EL: 3 1/2 weeks for upper floor walls and sloping ceilings to fill, sand and paint again. Carpet in the upper floor. That was our annual vacation in November. In December then 2 days of wellness at the Baltic Sea. That should be enough. Garden came later and separately.

Hello everyone,

I would be interested in the following:

[*]Which trades did you complete yourself?
[*]Would you do these again yourself or rather not, and why?
[*]Did you explicitly plan vacation for the construction phase or did everything happen alongside, in the evenings and on weekends?

Thanks

1. Not very much self-performed work, some electrical, some carpentry, some landscaping... The main self-performance was in coordination, presence, and detailed decisions on site.
2. I just wanted to fully enjoy the time together with my wife. That required a professional reorganization. The entire construction phase was a very good time.
3. The professional reorganization resulted in me working on average about 5 days per month over several months. Now I want to get the engine running again and am curious what will come.