Not jerry-built

I don't normally walk in our own village. Has always puzzled me why our very rural parish has a "dogs on lead" bye-law, something you won't find in towns or even cities. Bavaria's law says dogs must be supervised in public areas and generally should be kept within 20m within town areas and 50m in the countryside. Goes on to detail certain places where they are banned eg hospitals, churches or where they must be on lead eg cemetries, processions, restaurants.

However limited by the snow and time pressure, went for the easy option. We went through the new housing estate on the edge of the village. Had never walked through it. Was planning to Blip a nearby 5 year old house that causes mixed views. On the walk, realised there are lots of houses begging to be future Blip fodder.. You are warned.

Abandoned my original plan and went for the house above. Thought we should start at the beginning of German housing.

I guess the planning laws in the UK and here are fairly similar. In-filling is the norm and relatively easy. Everything else is difficult. Very common is that the parish council will decide there is a need for new housing, find a suitable piece of land, buy the land, build the road and services and then sell it in single lots, normally at a discount to existing residents. There is normally a "must build by ..." date to stop speculators.

In over 20 years in Bavaria I don't ever remember seeing a building company housing estate. In towns there are blocks of flats built on "speculation" by building companies but it's very rare to see a family house built on this basis.

Design permission is very varied. Some parishes trying to protect the village image eg for tourists, will regulate everything from roof tiles to exterior colour. I suspect our parish has little regulated but then the only tourist buses are those whizzing past on their way to Ottobeuren.

The norm is to buy the building plot and build your house according to your skills level/money in the bank. Some try to do the whole thing themselves, using specialised firms to do anything they can't. Others will contract out all the various tasks to lots of different, usually local small builder, plumber, joinery etc. Often an architect is engaged who will accompany the build, checking quality and signing off payments. Few will give the job to a company who do a complete "front door key finished" service.

The building process and materials used are very varied. Becoming very popular is the pre-fab house. From "cheap" Polish import  to very expensive, organic, wood, as supplied by "Baufritz" just down the road and probably Germany's leading company in the quality field.(Also have a UK office). Prefabs available in all various stages from outside skin to front door key versions.

Note to the history freaks: Pre-Fab housing is a British invention and dates back to 1837, a London carpenter making the sections then shipped to Australia. This is from Wiki which goes on to describe something I find so remarkable that I have to copy it word for word:

In 1855 during the Crimean War, after Florence Nightingale wrote a letter to The Times, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was commissioned to design a prefabricated modular hospital. In five months he designed a 1,000 patient hospital, with innovations in sanitation, ventilation and a flushing toilet. Fabricator William Eassie constructed the required 16 units in Gloucester Docks, shipped directly to the Dardanelles. Only used from March 1856 to September 1857, it reduced the death rate from 42% to 3.5%.
(My first experience in 1980 of a British hospital ward at St.Richards, Chichester, was in a pre-fab Nissen Hut! About 30 beds in one room and I came out alive, but that was due to fear of the wrath of Matron if one was to die on her ward.)
The build in the Blip is that usually seen. Thick large format bricks later plastered in and out and painted. All services are built in to the walls. You will never see water pipes in German houses and taps are directly connected to the mains, the reason you can have a good shower here. If the purse allows, most will include a cellar as hobby/laundry room.

I chose this "closed for winter" building site as one can see the crane which is also used on almost all builds except pre-fabs that only require a mobile crane. The cranes are remote contolled, electrically driven. They are quickly erected/dismantled and transported on a truck. One can rent them (about 1200 Euros/month) but many buy a second hand one (5000-10000 Euros) and resell when finished. I believe they hold their value well. They have to be checked by an independent body once a year. Just out of shot on a neighbouring plot is a large silo tank for ready mixed plaster. You rent the tank and this is filled as required by tanker.

Talking about building your own house - I need to thank PurbeckDave for a very special present of a lifetime. He organised the building of his own house, I think MrsPD was the architect. He used solid material connected with his Blip name. I guess 40 years later, it must now have lost it's new look and have mellowed to the lovely colour of the old local buildings. Future archaelogists will no doubt be puzzling about the house name plaque. They will have to search outside of Dorset to find the timber framed, wattle and daub house it is based on. His nephew spends most of his working time with wattle and daub and so is the ideal person to crack the code.
Sadly MrsPD doesn't Blip as she is a very talented photographer. However she is very busy with the duties as Gran and amateur choir singer but I must add the word "international" which can be seen on David's Blip. I wonder, given the families close connections with Winchester, if she will be singing there at the same time as RedFlash.

NB "Jerry build" has nothing to do with the word connected to Germans. No one really seems to know where it comes from. Theories include it derives from "Jury rigging", as in broken mast (rather than corruption),  to an association with Irish builders and even the walls of Jericho.