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Feuerwehr21 Apr 2016 20:43Dear builders community,
I am new to this forum. About 20 years ago, I built a solid (masonry) house and now I want to build/buy a prefab house from Fingerhaus. What surprises me is that the pricing is completely unclear and makes comparison practically impossible. A base price (“off the shelf”) for the house type is not provided, so any price increases or decreases due to the design changes I intend are not transparent. The seller refuses to provide a detailed quote—which is common practice in all other industries—citing protection of the construction plans. The attitude is basically: buy it or leave it!
Who would buy a car without being able to compare price lists and product specifications of different brands?
My question to you: is this common in the prefab house industry? How have you, as buyers, managed to deal with this?
Regards from Feuerwehr
I am new to this forum. About 20 years ago, I built a solid (masonry) house and now I want to build/buy a prefab house from Fingerhaus. What surprises me is that the pricing is completely unclear and makes comparison practically impossible. A base price (“off the shelf”) for the house type is not provided, so any price increases or decreases due to the design changes I intend are not transparent. The seller refuses to provide a detailed quote—which is common practice in all other industries—citing protection of the construction plans. The attitude is basically: buy it or leave it!
Who would buy a car without being able to compare price lists and product specifications of different brands?
My question to you: is this common in the prefab house industry? How have you, as buyers, managed to deal with this?
Regards from Feuerwehr
hmm, so we have received a concrete offer with figures. We were also aware of numerous additional costs before even considering signing a contract. Basically, there is a list price for each model in three versions at FingerHaus: shell construction, technical completion, and almost finished.
In the end, you will receive an offer and will know what is included and what is not.
Just compare several of these offers – I don’t find it particularly wrong that you are not handed the itemized lists; why should a provider do that...
then the customer comes with an item that was priced a bit high and wants it cheaper; of course, the cheaper items – compared to the competition – are not challenged.
Just compare several of these offers – I don’t find it particularly wrong that you are not handed the itemized lists; why should a provider do that...
then the customer comes with an item that was priced a bit high and wants it cheaper; of course, the cheaper items – compared to the competition – are not challenged.
We also received a very detailed and transparent breakdown before signing. I will soon start a small blog where I will list this, as I think it will be interesting for some. I was also surprised, but all prices were disclosed to me at any time.
However, you do need to ask and also know what to ask for.
However, you do need to ask and also know what to ask for.
Hello,
before deciding on solid construction, we also attended a consultation at Fingerhaus. There, the house had a base price per completion stage (see above), and additional costs for extra requests were also listed individually. Although we did not receive a detailed quote with the individual prices, we were able to easily take notes (the documents are still in my cabinet).
A truly transparent cost calculation will probably only be possible with an architect through separate contracts for each trade.
before deciding on solid construction, we also attended a consultation at Fingerhaus. There, the house had a base price per completion stage (see above), and additional costs for extra requests were also listed individually. Although we did not receive a detailed quote with the individual prices, we were able to easily take notes (the documents are still in my cabinet).
A truly transparent cost calculation will probably only be possible with an architect through separate contracts for each trade.