Only one in twelve property managers mentions new-build experience

Everything new, nothing broken, no legacy issues: from the outside, managing a new-build property looks like the easy case. In reality, the early days of a newly formed condominium owners' association (WEG) are the most demanding phase a property management company can face. There are no previous year's accounts to use as a guide, no established routines, no community whose members know each other. Everything is being done for the first time, and much of it comes with deadlines.

What our analysis shows

We analyzed which services the property management companies in our directory list on their own websites. On the subject of new builds, the result is thin:

• New-build or initial management is mentioned by only one in twelve property management companies.
• For comparison: nine out of ten offer WEG management in general.

For context: we evaluate what a company itself states publicly. A firm that has handled new-build projects but does not say so on its website will not show up in this figure. The gap to general WEG management is so wide, however, that the direction is clear: across the industry, new builds are a niche.

New builds are a craft of their own

The reason lies in the work itself. A new build is not WEG management with fresh walls, it is a different job:

• The acceptance of the common property has to be organized before each buyer signs off individually.
• Defects have to be documented over years and pursued with the developer, with an eye on the running deadlines.
• Accounts, the budget plan and the maintenance reserve are set up for the first time, with no figures from a previous year to build on.
• And strangers who happen to have bought in the same building have to become a community that can pass resolutions and talk to one another.

A company that has never done this before will learn it on your property. There is no shame in that, everyone starts somewhere. But it is a good reason to ask about it specifically rather than assume it, because the supply is narrower than most buyers expect.

Four questions for the selection interview

You do not need expert knowledge for this. Four questions are enough to tell whether someone is speaking from experience:

• How many new-build projects have you managed so far?
• Who in your firm pursues defects with the developer?
• How do you set up the maintenance reserve in the first year?
• How do you organize the first owners' meeting?

Anyone who answers these concretely rather than in general terms has done it before. That is exactly the value of these questions: they are harder to fake than a list of services on a website. And because the qualification is rare, it is a useful distinguishing criterion. How a new owners' association works and which tasks it faces in its first years is summarized in our guide WEG basics. What to expect for the monthly service charge (Hausgeld), especially the reserve in the first year, is explained in our guide Hausgeld.

Basis: our own analysis of the information published on the websites of the property management companies in our directory, as of July 2026.