Time needed for installing.
I noticed also that there are these flexible cables often used for bathroom water connections. Has anyone got a name/link to this? I never saw this in the UK (always had copper).
Flexschläuche
There is not really one name, but rather a whole bunch of manufacturers use their own branding for their flexible products like Rautitan from Rehau, Pushfit from Geberit, Unipipe from Uponor, Alupex from Henco, Pexfit from Viega, Multiskin from Comap sometime you can use them amongst each other, sometimes they need their own tools and connections. etc.. These are among the biggest ones and should give you enough to google for.
I think they've just become a lot more common in recent years, possibly also in the UK. In French they normally just call it 'un flexible', but that has dozens of possible meanings. Hornbach list it as a " Tuyau-de-raccordement ", so I guess Tuyau flexible de raccordement would be the whole descripion. I'm sure you can find it in German with a little browsing.
There are a couple of advantages, cost being one not that you will see that!, ease of use in new builds and it's technically possible to replace the inner pipe if it gets a hole in it. The hole will be installed by an electrician who is using a spider web as a wiring diagram rather than any logic of running cables!
OK so just renovated a bathroom and can tell you that the Swiss have indeed done a fine job of making up their own standards for plumbing which makes stuff from UK/EU mostly incompatible, so the plastic waste pipe diameter here is different from UK/EU, similarly the distance between centers on shower mixers is different here too (although quality fittings like Grohe have "S-unions" with enough adjustability to bridge the gap. Basic plastic supply pipes and unions are standard.