In addition, you could have the ground inspected. Land in the mountains can oftentimes be very steep, with some unpleasant “treasures” hidden in the ground. I’ve heard of two instances where dynamite had to be used to get rid of rocks (obviously not cheap). Worst case, you change the plans and build next to it, but if you have the building permit approved, I guess this could result in a fine by the local commune.
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I built a house. Not in Switzerland but across the border in France. I don’t know anything about the process in Switzerland but I have few general comments on building your own house.
First, it’s pretty time consuming. I had something to do or research all the time for a year and a half. You spend a lot of time wondering whether it’s better to have liquid radiators upstairs or some sort of underfloor heating and weighing up whether that means you’ll have to have engineered wood flooring rather than natural wood. You can never be an expert in everything but you probably want to at least be fairly well informed about most of the options for the build. This will take lots of time. It’s a commitment of several hours per week. Not to mention the need to spend days at the weekends choosing tiles or paints or bathroom fittings or light switches or door handles…
Of course you could probably avoid a lot of these decisions by giving an architect free reign but you’re the one who has to live with it so I don’t see how you can trust someone you hardly know to make the biggest investment you’ve ever made in your life.
Likewise for being present on-site. I visited about once a week and most weeks I’d find something that made me want to request a minor modification or clarify plans. I find the idea that you could just let someone else make all the decisions very scary. It’s your money and your home. No one else knows what you want and how you live. I think you have to get informed and take most of the decisions yourself.
Will you make money off the deal? Bear in mind that if it was an absolutely great deal a professional developer would have already done it. The land is priced based on the value of the house you can build on it. That said if you do a good job and get lucky with contractors you’ll probably make a bit of money and you’ll have had a life experience and got a house that you really love.
When pricing stuff up remember that unless you have a fixed price contract estimates are just estimates. If an architect tells you that it’ll cost X and it turns out that it costs X+20% it’s you who picks up the bill. Make sure you have a healthy contingency for unforeseen uplifts.
In short, build a house if you think building a house sounds like a fun challenge. If you just want somewhere to live just buy one that someone else has already built.
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Big developers would be more interested into multiple units housing. So there can be a gap when the zoning plan states “only allowed for Einfamilienhäuser” or something similar, which prevents it to come in as a developer. Or maybe the parcel is too small to actually do a big enough project.
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