What to do if the construction time is not met

: Thank you for your constructive criticism, but that neither answers my original question nor helps anyone.

My response was not meant to help "anyone," but to make you reflect on your behavior towards your contracting partner! You express unfounded fears but have signed a contract, thus placing trust in your contracting partner. Why don’t you just let them do their work? At the current temperatures, a floor slab can only be poured if it is constructed differently from the usual construction specifications. If you are willing to bear the additional costs, inform your contracting partner. If not, you must wait until a constant 5°C or above is reached.

Phew. We don’t have a contract at all. Just a description of services with deadlines and a payment schedule, and a handshake on it... it will probably be fine. So far he’s doing everything as agreed.

Well, you have an oral contract.

I’d say this: the contract usually only comes out when there’s a dispute. Before that, I would always try to communicate differently, without using the phrase "But our contract says that...".

If you agreed on a construction period, you can claim damages for delay. Even if it wasn’t explicitly agreed upon. However, this will usually only be enforceable with a lawyer, because the contractor will regularly reject the amount of damages claimed as unreasonable.

I'm not worrying about that. Our children built with him, all good. A hundred others too.... and I think the original poster should also approach the matter a bit more calmly.

We are currently concerned that the start of our construction keeps being postponed and would like to resolve this in a clarifying conversation. However, one might still have to consider what happens if the delay continues indefinitely.

For now, he still has time before he has to start. Depending on the weather, it might be postponed again. Next, the 6-month construction period would be shortened, but it is still not excluded that the craftsmen can make up 1-2 weeks. I think only at 5 months before handover can it be assumed that the construction will not be finished on time if it hasn’t started yet. Then you could start putting pressure on the company. Your alternative would be to push through a contractual withdrawal in court and hire another company. But that wouldn’t get you into your house any sooner.