ᐅ Today was the material and finish selection appointment, smile
Created on: 9 Mar 2017 13:40
N
Nordlys
Some leftover vacation days in March. We just had the selection appointment. This morning at nine. Selection appointment with the mid-sized company. Waiting for us were Mrs. L., the secretary, with a coffee; Mr. K., the master carpenter; and Mr. R., the head of masonry and roofing. Mr. K. starts. In front of him, the building plan of our house, next to him a laundry basket full of various bits and pieces. Let’s get started. With windows. He flips through the building specification. Ah, they’re from Poland. He rummages through the laundry basket and pulls out a profile sample. Veka, triple glazing, Roto fittings, Hoppe handles. The handles can also be lockable, costs extra. But then you just lose the keys, no one needs that, and if burglars want to get in, they will anyway; it just ends up broken... My wife examines the profile. Well, you can easily wipe off the dirt, can’t you? And colored, she asks? Mr. K., dryly: Yeah, it’s possible. But it’s a waste of money; it doesn’t make a difference when looking out either... So, it remains white. It goes on in that style with tiles, interior doors. When it comes to the exterior window sills, he really gets going. Yes, those are aluminum, white or nothing at all. He grins. And on the inside? Laundry basket. Granite slabs are brought to the table. Four pieces. Two disappear right away because they are polished high gloss. That’s nonsense, he says; anyway, you’ll just put flowers on them. My wife picks one from the remaining slabs. Done, moving on. The roofing expert chimes in. Hey, I need to take off some joints first, what’s the plan? He takes us outside. There lies a package from Braas with sample tiles. He picks out three. That one, that one, or that one is allowed in the building plan. We choose the dark red one. Gloss coating against moss? Doesn’t work, there are no trees here. In High German: You don’t need it because there are no trees where you are building. Okay, convinced. The roof is done. He storms off. Inside we go. Front door, Mr. K. says, now that’s a topic. So, here are the panels from Rodenberger; from K1 to K6 are included at no extra cost. The long handle costs 100 extra. The very long one 250. But that one is no good, it’s flimsy. Then take the short one for 100. We flip through. That one is good, he says. Stable, timeless, with K5 included, okay price, has some glass, lets some light into the hallway, but it’s not a department store door. Done... that’s the one. Now the interior staircase, he judges... Yeah, you take beech, it’s a hard, quiet wood. It’s coated with parquet lacquer, so it’s also durable. And as a railing, a handrail with metal rods. He grins, done. Can it be done differently? White? Hmm, he shakes his head. It’s possible. But... that costs more, you have to paint, sand, and fill more. You can see on his face what he thinks about white stairs. I give in. Beech, parquet lacquer. Matte. Then he and my wife decide where the towel radiator should go. Here or there! And how and where tiles will be installed... done. Oh yes, facade... we’ll do it like the garage, right? So, everything smooth and seamless. The plinth a little anthracite accent, everyone does that. He rummages for some color samples for the plinth from the basket. Yes, that will do.
Selection appointment with the mid-sized company. Two hours, one coffee, and not a penny extra paid.
Selection appointment with the mid-sized company. Two hours, one coffee, and not a penny extra paid.
KingSong schrieb:
If he works like that, I see trouble ahead for the build…I don’t even think that. He’s just pragmatic, not a salesman.
Now, the question arises as to who is actually the client here, or according to which taste the building is being done.
It's not mine if it's dictated to me. We ourselves were also indifferent about many things, meaning no extra costs, but whether I preferred a curved or straight stainless steel door handle was still our decision.
For me, such a selection process would rather be a negative experience!
Brief regards
It's not mine if it's dictated to me. We ourselves were also indifferent about many things, meaning no extra costs, but whether I preferred a curved or straight stainless steel door handle was still our decision.
For me, such a selection process would rather be a negative experience!
Brief regards
How does ypg know that we could choose exactly between crooked and straight? I still can’t help but smile when I think about the door handle sample case. It was huge—you’d think, now he’s going to open it, and there are exactly two handles inside. The straight one, the curved one! So, which one? We chose the straight one. It was just like in Büttenwarder....
haydee schrieb:
Really not good salespeople.
I would probably have felt comfortable there too. I prefer when someone honestly says something is rubbish or that it’s not necessary in their opinion, rather than someone standing in a nice showroom trying to force things on you.I’m just going to question the argument of the “salesperson” here.
They simply have no interest in dealing with unconventional materials!
Best regards in brief
With a bit of insight, there might be something else behind it. The company builds around 40 single-family homes per year without subcontractors because they handle almost all trades themselves. Only heating and electrical work are outsourced. Some of you were quite surprised when I shared the company’s price calculation here some time ago due to the affordable rates. It might also be a principle set by the owner: advise customers to stick as much as possible to our standard. This way, we have fewer errors in order processing, fewer complaints, better equity through large volume and few suppliers, and we are satisfied, the customer is satisfied, and anyone who finds this insufficient simply isn’t a good fit with us—they might prefer to build with Viebrockhaus instead.
So, it’s the Aldi principle: less, but what is offered is good. For those who want more, there’s Edeka next door. Karsten
So, it’s the Aldi principle: less, but what is offered is good. For those who want more, there’s Edeka next door. Karsten