Hello everyone,
We are currently in the process of planning our house. We already have a clear idea of how we want it to look. We found a great house online with some modifications.
Now we visited a builder who is requesting a deposit of 4,000 EUR. The reason behind this is understandable: they put in the work, and in the worst case, we might take the drawings to another builder.
However, to me, the amount seems quite high! 4,000 EUR is easily at least half a month’s salary for a draftsman. Or am I mistaken in this?
Basically, I would like to have at least two offers to be able to compare prices.
I have contacted another builder who provided me with a first draft over the weekend without any charges.
What do you think? Deposit yes or no? And if yes, how much?
Best regards,
Antonio
We are currently in the process of planning our house. We already have a clear idea of how we want it to look. We found a great house online with some modifications.
Now we visited a builder who is requesting a deposit of 4,000 EUR. The reason behind this is understandable: they put in the work, and in the worst case, we might take the drawings to another builder.
However, to me, the amount seems quite high! 4,000 EUR is easily at least half a month’s salary for a draftsman. Or am I mistaken in this?
Basically, I would like to have at least two offers to be able to compare prices.
I have contacted another builder who provided me with a first draft over the weekend without any charges.
What do you think? Deposit yes or no? And if yes, how much?
Best regards,
Antonio
First of all, I think it's great that the general contractor (GC) immediately provides the costs.
However, I find the statement confusing that you found a house online and then approached a GC with it. Am I understanding correctly that the GC is now expected to create a complete floor plan/house design based on your ideas just from pictures?
In that case, I can understand the requested payment, as this involves a significant additional effort compared to simply adapting one of their standard floor plans briefly for you. The GC also knows that you have no problem taking his work to other contractors if necessary, so he wants to be compensated for this extra effort.
However, I find the statement confusing that you found a house online and then approached a GC with it. Am I understanding correctly that the GC is now expected to create a complete floor plan/house design based on your ideas just from pictures?
In that case, I can understand the requested payment, as this involves a significant additional effort compared to simply adapting one of their standard floor plans briefly for you. The GC also knows that you have no problem taking his work to other contractors if necessary, so he wants to be compensated for this extra effort.
Mike29 schrieb:
He also knows that you don’t mind, if necessary, taking his work to other general contractors. He wants to be compensated for that effort. The motivation of the general contractor is certainly understandable. However, that doesn’t make it any more reasonable to waste money on preliminary drawings. My main point was intended this way: with the sign "many wishes, little knowledge, easy target" on your forehead, this won’t be the last :-) "hey sweetheart, why don’t you give me some of your money already" type of offer you receive.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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Antonio29083 Feb 2021 16:4011ant schrieb:
Then you’re even further away than the Marlboro Man walks in a whole week from needing drawings.
If you have land and your desired house in mind, the first step is to check whether the zoning plan is on your side and permits your dream house, and whether it fits within the building envelope and the floor area ratio / plot ratio limits. After that, you ask the bank how much mortgage they would be willing to offer you. You can also calculate how much you need based on the original model home design — no need to redesign the bathtub yet.
For someone still in the full bloom of innocent ignorance, mixing up basic terms, you’re actually doing quite well with only four thousand they’re already trying to squeeze out of you 🙂Of course, we have already looked into the zoning plan 😉 We are pretty confident that we align well with the given regulations based on our expectations. Since this is a larger version of the model home, we are naturally expecting higher costs. The model home we found was priced around 350,000 € (approx. 390,000 USD), but we are budgeting about 450,000 € (approx. 500,000 USD). However, we want to have this offer documented clearly in writing.
Ultimately, what concerns me right now is the process with the developer regarding this down payment...
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Antonio29083 Feb 2021 16:42Mike29 schrieb:
First of all, I think it’s great that the general contractor immediately states the costs.
However, I’m a bit confused by the statement that you found a house online and then approached a general contractor with it. Am I understanding correctly that they are now supposed to create a complete floor plan/house design for you based on pictures and according to your specifications?
If so, I can understand the requested fee, since this requires significantly more effort for them compared to simply adapting one of their standard floor plans "quickly" to your needs. Also, they know you aren’t afraid to take their work to other contractors if needed. They want to be compensated for that effort. I didn’t just find the house from the outside that suits us, but also the complete floor plan for that house. Ultimately, this house is supposed to be expanded from two to two and a half stories and adjusted according to our maximum buildable area. I think 4,000 EUR is too much for that?!
There’s no question that it involves work! But it should be billed proportionally…
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Antonio29083 Feb 2021 16:46ypg schrieb:
So you’ve understood the post from @MM1506zzzz now? No developer -> general contractor
I would first filter out whether the GC is even an option, especially if you’re already digging deep into the details. The choice should come down to who, besides price, also gives you a good gut feeling as the right contractual partner. The construction scope description also plays a role. What good is a building partner who doesn’t build according to your expectations? Yes, I now understand that when a building plot is already available, the "developer" is called a general contractor 😉
A gut feeling should of course also be right. But above all, the satisfaction of previous clients matters! Of course, I don’t only get information from the internet...
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Antonio29083 Feb 2021 16:50halmi schrieb:
For a detailed quote, a clear cost breakdown, a description of the scope of work, and proper floor plans that can be used are needed. These tasks are clearly sales responsibilities during the acquisition phase.
But what if the person only delivers junk? Then the money is gone for nothing. If you notice that after 1-3 meetings everything is moving in the right direction, you can then discuss further planning and costs. However, you alone bear the risk—he can present whatever he wants, but he already has your money for sure.
That would be an absolute deal-breaker for me. We also talked to 6-7 companies; if it became clear it wouldn’t work out, we didn’t waste anyone’s time and canceled after the first meeting. Thank you for your input. Yes, I agree with you. But I believe that due to the high workload of general contractors, they can choose how to proceed here...