ᐅ Is it necessary to plan a house with multiple providers?

Hello.

In my considerations and planning phase, I am currently discussing with several providers (general contractors, prefab house companies, etc.) in the early planning stage.

So far, I have not signed any contracts.

All the companies are more or less diligent in preparing proposals, quotes, and cost estimates.

At some point, you have to choose one and turn down the others.

Those who are not selected are probably not happy that you decided to buy elsewhere.

Can they charge you for consultations or design drafts?

Do contractors expect that potential clients request multiple offers and drafts, or am I mistaken in doing it this way?

Are planners used to only selling three houses out of ten offers, or is the success rate even lower?

For such a major investment, you naturally don’t want to accept just any offer without having comparisons.

How did you handle it when choosing your house?

Of course, you have to make sure you can compare the offers yourself in terms of features and size.

Thank you very much.
Best regards

Ralf1980 schrieb:

In my considerations and planning, I am now in the rough planning phase with several providers (general contractors, prefab house companies, etc.).

Cool. Comparing apples to oranges in the end, as well as different construction methods, floor plans, and features. Classic.

What kind of professional support do you have to help you navigate this jungle?

Don’t worry, you’ll still get a detailed response from @11ant. But both he and I will definitely be shaking our heads at your approach.

Ralf1980 schrieb:

Can they issue an invoice for consultations or drafts?

Only if something has been explicitly agreed upon. That way you also understand what kind of service to expect compared to a paid designer.

Ralf1980 schrieb:

The contractors are all more or less skilled at developing proposals, offers, and estimates.

More or less...
For naive beginners like you, top offers are gladly prepared. At least until you start building and realize what is not the company’s responsibility or what wasn’t included in the offer at all.
That’s why, if you want to build like this, please don’t even look at the three cheapest offers...

Ralf1980 schrieb:

For such a big investment, you don’t want to just accept any offer without having comparisons.

How did you handle choosing your house?

Of course, you have to make sure you can compare the offers yourselves along with features and size.

With such a major investment, the first step is never to go it alone.
- You can choose a catalog home and have the scope of work checked by an external expert
- You hire an architect and then have two options (see posts by @11ant)
- You wade through 10 providers of various kinds and have a qualified expert at your side to review everything

What do all three options have in common? PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT.

You seriously don’t want to make such a decision by rough estimates, just reviewing the available offers and then building?

Ralf1980 schrieb:

Of course, you need to make sure you can actually compare the offers, including features and size.

That’s the tricky part. How do you, as a layperson, compare houses with different floor plans, different construction methods, varying builder services, and different building specifications?

Ralf1980 schrieb:

Those who didn’t get the deal are probably not happy that the client buys elsewhere.

That’s part of the sales process. The skill of a sales representative is to make the customer feel that something has been done for them while at the same time investing as little as possible in the prospective client. Accordingly, you don’t get a custom design but a standard house where you can move non-load-bearing walls and check some boxes in the options list.

Since I only need a shell construction, I have requested quotes from contractors solely for these services.

It will be a solid construction house 99% of the time, but at the beginning, I visited some prefab house providers to get an overview of the options available and to see how they handle things.

Some prefab and system house providers are actually very eager to submit an offer based on a design I provided (to keep it comparable), but the quotes vary from somewhat useful to not useful at all.

I do have some building experience—25 years ago, we almost entirely built a house within the family ourselves, of course based on an architect’s plan and with a site manager back then, but the trades were either carried out or contracted out by ourselves.

For the remaining providers, I naturally try to have them offer only what I need, and also at a comparable size.

Whether the interior walls are slightly shifted to the left or right should not make much difference, as the external dimensions remain the same.

The offers only include the shell construction, sometimes optionally windows and the roof structure. I have a few capable companies locally who might handle this, and price inquiries with them are still ongoing.

Ralf1980 schrieb:

Since I only need a shell construction, I have requested quotes from contractors for these specific services.

There is a 99% chance it will be a solid construction house, but initially, I visited some prefab house suppliers to get an overview of the available options and how they handle things.
Some prefab and system house suppliers are very eager to provide an offer based on a design I provide (to keep it comparable), but the offers vary in quality.
I have some construction experience: about 25 years ago, we nearly completely built a house within the family ourselves, of course following an architect’s plan and with a site manager at the time, but the trades were either done by ourselves or subcontracted directly.
With the remaining suppliers, I try to get offers only for what I need and for comparable sizes.
Whether the interior walls are slightly shifted left or right should not matter much, the external dimensions are the same.
The quotes only include the shell structure, sometimes optionally windows and roof framing, as I have some competent local companies that could handle these and for which price inquiries are still ongoing.

You fool. You’re asking in the thread title and text how others approached choosing their house, and now you come along asking only about the shell construction...

Anyone who only needs a shell construction will almost always work with an architect, since the shell is then part of the tender documents (including site development? earthworks?).

And if you are looking for a shell construction, you should already have building plans / a building permit. In that case, I don’t understand your question, because you would then be requesting the HOUSE itself, not various shell construction options.

KarstenausNRW schrieb:

Cool. Comparing apples and oranges in the end, mixing different construction methods, floor plans, and features. Got it.
What professional support do you have to help you navigate this jungle?
Don’t worry, you’ll get a detailed answer from @11ant soon. But both he and I will definitely be shaking our heads at your approach.

I hope I have already made it somewhat clear that there is definitely room for improvement in terms of smart decision-making ;-)

KarstenausNRW schrieb:

With such a large investment, you never go it alone from the start.
- you can choose an off-the-shelf catalog home and have the scope of work reviewed by an external expert
- you hire an architect and then follow one of two paths (see posts by @11ant)
- you make your way through about 10 different providers of various kinds with a capable expert by your side who checks everything

In this case, I certainly wouldn’t be that last expert: I do offer such comparisons, but expressly not in the form of “apples and oranges sprinkled with countless footnotes.” Instead, I provide active comparisons based on properly prepared tender documents. Which two paths are you referring to?

KarstenausNRW schrieb:

More or less...
For naive beginners like you, top offers are often written. At least they seem top until you start building and realize what is not included or what is not the company's responsibility.
So if this is how you want to build, please don’t even read the three cheapest offers...

That is exactly why you do an active comparison: so you don’t end up aging while trying to compare apples and oranges (which would require a companion whose time is priceless due to the enormous effort). Instead, you get offers precisely for the house you want. How much effort contractors put into proposals, offers, and calculations depends on several factors. Regarding proposals, it depends on the type of inquiry (cold calls from unknown parties usually get almost no effort), and calculations take time, so the likelihood of winning the contract is decisive. The bidder must be convinced they have a fair chance.

Ralf1980 schrieb:

Whether the interior walls are slightly further left or right shouldn’t matter much; the exterior dimensions are the same.
The offers only cover the shell construction, with windows and roof frame sometimes optional. I have some capable local companies who might handle that, and I am still waiting for their price quotes.

Whether walls exist at all already makes a big difference. A masonry shell builder can construct a shell with just exterior walls and load-bearing interior walls. A panel wall mason usually thinks within their all-in-one “all-purpose” system and will be quite surprised if you want to build additional interior walls separately. A timber frame builder offers a partially finished house stage in which all interior walls are also erected with one-sided sheathing. General contractors (GCs) usually are basically either masons and reinforced concrete builders or carpenters. Taking on GC roles (which generally means subcontracting) is only attractive to them if a suitable margin is involved. Warranty is also an important aspect and requires clear interfaces. In the end, I only see a weather-tight shell as a sensible combined lot—so no roof frame and windows to be added separately by the client. Practically, a single proper tender is advisable here—bringing us back to the initial strategic decision, because without deciding on the construction method, there really need to be two separate tenders.

The follow-up on the resting phase and strategic decision, titled “House Construction Roadmap Reloaded: A Valuable Active Pause,” was published nine days ago. As a preliminary draft in this sense, some of the designs shown here are quite usable.

In short, “stupid questions get stupid answers”: the quality of the offers—at least regarding their usability—is directly linked to how (un)skillfully the inquiry is made.

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