Hello everyone!
We are currently considering three companies as potential builders. One of them is Laux Fertigbau from Saarland. They have offered to design our house according to our wishes (we sent them a list in text form). They have their own draftsmen but also work with architects.
The agreement would be that we pay €1500 (about $1600) for this planning work if we decide NOT to choose the company in the end. However, we would receive the plans and drawings and could have the house built by another company if we wanted to. If we decide in favor of Laux, then this planning is part of the project and costs nothing extra.
Overall, I find this arrangement fair, and I think it’s interesting to see what a local architect comes up with if given free rein. Still, I have some reservations about paying this money upfront because I worry it might create a sort of "pre-selection" for the builder and that we might then feel influenced to go with them, just so we don’t waste the €1500.
The second company (currently ranked third in my mind) is called DHI, and the third one is a very local provider with no website or brochures but has been building houses in the region for over 20 years and relies almost entirely on word-of-mouth recommendations. I had a long phone conversation with them, and it was all very likeable. However, I don’t have a price estimate yet, and their aversion to anything digital (no smartphone, no website) puts me off a bit. On the other hand, their workload despite having no advertising clearly speaks in favor of the builder.
Best regards,
Kati
We are currently considering three companies as potential builders. One of them is Laux Fertigbau from Saarland. They have offered to design our house according to our wishes (we sent them a list in text form). They have their own draftsmen but also work with architects.
The agreement would be that we pay €1500 (about $1600) for this planning work if we decide NOT to choose the company in the end. However, we would receive the plans and drawings and could have the house built by another company if we wanted to. If we decide in favor of Laux, then this planning is part of the project and costs nothing extra.
Overall, I find this arrangement fair, and I think it’s interesting to see what a local architect comes up with if given free rein. Still, I have some reservations about paying this money upfront because I worry it might create a sort of "pre-selection" for the builder and that we might then feel influenced to go with them, just so we don’t waste the €1500.
The second company (currently ranked third in my mind) is called DHI, and the third one is a very local provider with no website or brochures but has been building houses in the region for over 20 years and relies almost entirely on word-of-mouth recommendations. I had a long phone conversation with them, and it was all very likeable. However, I don’t have a price estimate yet, and their aversion to anything digital (no smartphone, no website) puts me off a bit. On the other hand, their workload despite having no advertising clearly speaks in favor of the builder.
Best regards,
Kati
Myrna_Loy schrieb:
The highlight was when one of the bricklayers needed a tool because his had stopped working, and I gave him my Hilti. He seriously asked me if my husband was okay with me lending out the tool.As Reinhard Fendrich already pointed out: "Macho macho you can't learn, macho macho you have to be" 🙂https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
My mom (150cm (5 feet), 45kg (99 lbs)) was never really seen as the more skilled one in terms of handiwork between my parents. My dad truly is all thumbs. Both my wife and I took crafts and practical skills classes, but we never learned any real trade skills. However, we enjoy diving into any new topic as best as we can. Recently, I tiled five tiles, which went reasonably well. Still, I wouldn’t have wanted to do the entire ground floor myself (although this was seriously considered for a while). I do do more around the house, but mainly because my wife can’t manage everything due to health reasons. Otherwise, she would probably be the more active one.
In conclusion. In 2017, I posted this because I really appreciated that there was no attempt to charge us an excessive amount. Previously, in 2016, before we decided on this building company, we had an appointment at a selection center in Schleswig Schuby with a rather large provider. The house price was set and reasonable; we wanted to finalize it, so we both went there. The sales representative was expecting us, and we walked through a showroom that offered everything good and expensive, much like a home improvement store. He kept explaining what was included as standard in the price and what would cost extra, regularly recommending more expensive options. The house price, initially affordable on paper, kept increasing and increasing. We became quiet and politely left without signing. In the car, we both agreed that we had been taken advantage of. That provider was out of the picture.
With Specht Fehmarn, it was the opposite. We were hardly ever encouraged to choose high-priced options, and the standard items were almost never criticized. It was always pragmatic—what do we actually need, what is nice to have, and what is unnecessary? Glazed bricks, for example, in an area without trees. Or those really annoying keys for window handles, which always go missing; we once had those in our first detached house.
That is also very valuable—knowing that you are dealing with honest people rather than a hard sell.
Now Kati has to decide what is important to her and whether she prefers to be courted or simply served properly.
With Specht Fehmarn, it was the opposite. We were hardly ever encouraged to choose high-priced options, and the standard items were almost never criticized. It was always pragmatic—what do we actually need, what is nice to have, and what is unnecessary? Glazed bricks, for example, in an area without trees. Or those really annoying keys for window handles, which always go missing; we once had those in our first detached house.
That is also very valuable—knowing that you are dealing with honest people rather than a hard sell.
Now Kati has to decide what is important to her and whether she prefers to be courted or simply served properly.
Tolentino schrieb:
My wife and I both had practical work and vocational education, I would have liked to have had more vocational education, but Latin isn’t completely useless either ;-)
Nida35a schrieb:
Given your history, I would want to know the extra cost for the flight path option near FFM from the general contractor, I think she is closer to HHN than to FRA...
Nordlys schrieb:
Before we decided on this building contractor in 2016, we had an appointment at a sampling center in Schleswig Schuby with a fairly large company. Did you already know all the contractors you contacted from your previous work?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/