Would you build yourself again or use a developer?

I believe it is like so many things here. If a person is satisfied with their decision, then that is, of course, the ultimate. Whether it’s the type of house construction, the kitchen appliance, etc. If you have a lemon or problems with the general contractor, architect, developer, then the phrase often is "never again like this!". But that is mostly purely subjective, or a general conclusion is drawn from one experience. And is renovation of existing [z. B.] better? There can also be pitfalls there.

I believe it is like with so many things here. If a person is satisfied with their decision, then of course that is the ultimate.

But that is usually purely subjective, or a general conclusion is drawn from an experience. And whether the renovation of existing property, for example, is better? Traps can also lie there.

What stresses people or makes them satisfied can be very different. This is a very important and not easily transferable key in the decision-making process. For someone who focuses on “traps” and is security-oriented, different actions do good than for someone who has no fear of mistakes or even failure. And that is only one of many aspects. A generalization into a “better” or “worse” way to homeownership is, of course, nonsense, within which polarizing and teasing can sometimes be quite nice (also not for everyone).

I think it’s like with so many things. If a person is satisfied with their decision, then of course that is the ultimate. Regardless of the type of house construction, the kitchen machine, etc. If you have a lemon device or problems with the general contractor, architect, developer, then it often means "never again like this!". But that is usually purely subjective, or a fundamental conclusion is drawn from one experience. And whether the renovation of an existing building is, for example, better?

That is true, but one thing is actually fundamentally different between individual contracts and building with a general contractor/general planner (GU/GÜ): The trades work for you. If you are not satisfied with a single trade or just can’t reach an agreement, you can (apart from the currently tight availability situation) replace them. With GU/GÜ, the trades work for that contractor/planner. Ultimately, they are not accountable to you but to them. That is of course later an advantage with warranty issues with the GU/GÜ, since you only have one contact person who is accountable to you, but during the construction phase, being at the mercy of exactly one partner is for some unacceptable or at least difficult to endure. A developer is, on the other hand, for those who don’t want to worry about anything during the construction phase, who perhaps simply have no interest in dealing with these matters. For people for whom the limitation to 5 different tiles and grout colors in the sales office is a blessing. So, depending on the buyer type, a general recommendation can indeed be made to some extent. But of course, it always depends on the details.

For me, the general contractor clearly has the advantage that you have ONE contact person and the specialist companies know each other well through years of collaboration and know what the other values. Mostly, these are also local companies that I can quickly get in touch with if something should happen. I do not have these advantages with individual contracts, and it is also questionable whether it would be cheaper... Our general contractor retained the respective discount from the trade for the coordination work, which usually lies between 2-3%.

For me, the general contractor clearly has the advantage that you have ONE contact person and the specialist companies know each other well through years of cooperation and know what the other values. Mostly, these are also local companies that I can quickly reach out to if something should happen. I don't have these advantages with individual contracting, and it's also questionable whether it would be cheaper... Our general contractor withheld the respective discount from the trade for the coordination work, which usually ranges between 2-3%.

With us, the general contractor grants us a 1% discount, which amounts to over €3,000. Of course, you don't know if he didn't factor that in beforehand.

As for the regional subs, this is usually only the case with smaller general contractors. The big ones often have subs from other federal states or abroad, which doesn't necessarily have to be negative.

we built with a small general contractor, and when I read reports here, we were lucky because this general contractor built relatively stress-free for us. A construction supervisor was regularly on site and confirmed to us a good house, minor corrections were done immediately and small issues did not become major problems ;) . The general contractor was recommended to us by the stone manufacturer, who had a small regional positive list for general contractors