Why don't construction prices go down?

Prices will not particularly decrease. Rather, capacities will be adjusted. No one can afford declining revenues in a general environment of rising prices.

As long as people pay almost any asked price without ever questioning or recalculating the costs, nothing will happen.

In the past, I paid somewhere around 15,000 euros for a normal house roof re-roofing. Five years ago. Today it is 60,000 euros.
Why?

Five years ago, the meter of roof batten cost 15 cents and the 120 sqm roof tiles on offer 1,000 euros.

Today, the meter of roof batten costs 80 cents and the tiles maybe 3,000 euros. But that does not explain the high price. And do roofers take longer today than five years ago? Four people easily cover such a roof in a workweek. Even at 80 euros billed hourly wage and 160 hours of work for the 4 roofers, I only come to a labor cost of 12,800 euros. Plus maybe very generously 6,000 euros material. So instead of 20,000, the roofer wants 60,000 today. Without any calculation basis.

Last Friday, offer discussion for a photovoltaic system. Renew 50 sqm roof with trapezoidal sheet, 5.5 kWP photovoltaic system with 4.5 kW storage
the guy wanted 48,000 euros plus 5,000 euros buffer for unforeseen changes.

For the same data, then on my house roof, he wanted 36,000 euros.

Everything just becomes unreliable.

The overall construction costs are already decreasing. Partly quite significantly. But not in the private customer sector. In the commercial construction industry (project developers, property developers). Meanwhile, GCs are offering both fixed prices again and lower prices - with the premise of completing the currently outstanding projects first. So from around the middle of the year. We are then talking about magnitudes of €10 million + (large) X. It will also happen for small craftsmen. It just takes a little longer.

As long as people pay almost every asked price without ever questioning or calculating, nothing will happen.

I think that is the biggest problem. People let everything happen to them. If everyone would finally reflect and not go along with everything, something would change, but definitely not like this!

4 men can easily cover such a roof in one workweek. Even with an hourly wage of 80 euros billed and 160 hours of work for the 4 roofers, I only get a labor cost of 12,800 euros. Add maybe a very high estimate of 6,000 euros for materials. So instead of 20,000, the roofer wants 60,000 today. Without any basis for calculation.

That is EXACTLY what I asked myself. For example, I had tiles laid, and most wanted about 30,000 EUR. FOR WHAT?
That was one week of work, I had provided the tiles. They wanted 5,000 EUR PER DAY for labor. PLEASE?!
What then does the tiler earn in a year? I don’t even want to calculate that.

That's called a defensive offer.
If your books are full and you don't want to tell the customer "Leave me alone, I don't need your stupid order," then you give them a sky-high price.
This sky-high price has to be justified, because if the customer still signs, you have to work on weekends or, in the worst case, bring in external help.

That's why I kept scratching my head regularly when, in the middle of last year, people paid every, really every price for photovoltaics and switching to heat pumps.
Even the most absurd amounts, which would never pay off, were paid...

They will be empty soon, you can already see it from all the insolvencies, more and more businesses are going bankrupt. Why? Because they have too many orders?

I would say they don't go bankrupt because they do great work but don't get customers. There are other reasons why a craft business goes bankrupt nowadays. With us, you hardly find anyone who isn't completely full of orders. We have an offer for a patio roof ... 27k for 4.5x5m. I would never pay that! Last year it still cost 18k.

I would argue that they don't go bankrupt because they do great work but get no customers. There are other reasons why a craft business goes bankrupt nowadays. Around here you hardly find one that isn't completely full with orders. We have an offer for a terrace roof ... 27k for 4.5x5m. I would never pay that! Last year it still cost 18k.

What is the roof made of?

We pay just under 10k for ours, about 4.5x3.5m, a wooden structure from the carpenter. And that is already quite a bit more expensive than our first one on the other side of the house. Same carpenter, slightly bigger, back then about 6.5k. If we had seen it all coming back then, we would have simply taken care of quite a few things right after buying the house and would have preferred to take on a bit more debt at the then extremely low interest rates. But hindsight is always 20/20. :)