ᐅ "Traditional" Approach to Selecting a Contractor – To-Do List
Created on: 29 Jul 2020 18:38
M
Mlt1402
Dear Forum,
Now that the ink on the notarized contract for the land purchase (in 64625 Bensheim) has dried, we visited the prefabricated house center in Mannheim for the first time and feel overwhelmed by all the options.
At first glance, we don’t see major differences between the providers—promotional videos and catalogs, of course, only show the positive aspects. On the other hand, you can find some negative comments and reviews online about almost every provider. Moreover, I find it risky to choose a supplier solely based on one consultant.
Without solid reasons, there were still a few prefabricated house manufacturers we felt “sympathetic” towards. These are Bien-Zenker, Weiss, Schwabenhaus, Bittermann and Weiss, Fingerhaus, Hanse, and Weberhaus.
In addition, there are two regional concrete (or masonry) builders we had good initial contact with.
The question we’re asking ourselves is: what is the best way to proceed now?
Should we narrow down our selection or even widen the circle? Should we have a consultation with every company? Should each company plan a house based on our wishes so we can make a meaningful price comparison?
We are at a loss.
Therefore, I hope to receive some tips from you. Is there an approach that has proven effective? How did you proceed?
I look forward to your input.
Best regards and have a pleasant evening
Now that the ink on the notarized contract for the land purchase (in 64625 Bensheim) has dried, we visited the prefabricated house center in Mannheim for the first time and feel overwhelmed by all the options.
At first glance, we don’t see major differences between the providers—promotional videos and catalogs, of course, only show the positive aspects. On the other hand, you can find some negative comments and reviews online about almost every provider. Moreover, I find it risky to choose a supplier solely based on one consultant.
Without solid reasons, there were still a few prefabricated house manufacturers we felt “sympathetic” towards. These are Bien-Zenker, Weiss, Schwabenhaus, Bittermann and Weiss, Fingerhaus, Hanse, and Weberhaus.
In addition, there are two regional concrete (or masonry) builders we had good initial contact with.
The question we’re asking ourselves is: what is the best way to proceed now?
Should we narrow down our selection or even widen the circle? Should we have a consultation with every company? Should each company plan a house based on our wishes so we can make a meaningful price comparison?
We are at a loss.
Therefore, I hope to receive some tips from you. Is there an approach that has proven effective? How did you proceed?
I look forward to your input.
Best regards and have a pleasant evening
I’d like to help you by explaining step by step how we approached our building project:
A brief overview of our timeline:
Everything started in February, and currently we are considering three construction companies. Within an estimated 4-8 weeks, we plan to narrow this down to one company with whom we will ultimately build! All the effort has definitely paid off, and we are very happy to have reached this point. We know exactly what we want, and in the end, it comes down to small details, personal rapport, and of course the price that decide on that ONE construction company.
We initially visited a display home park in Villingen-Schwenningen (a relatively small show home park here in the south of Germany) and had discussions with all the prefab house suppliers like Schwörerhaus, Schwabenhaus, Hanse Haus, Haas, Weberhaus, and 2-3 others.
To start with: We were totally focused on the prefabricated house route – timber frame construction, though I can’t really say why.
We spent our first few months (2-3 months) here, thoroughly comparing options.
--> Lots of internet research including various forums like this one. If you put in the time and effort, you will find a lot of information online. --> We had initial meetings on site with various prefab house suppliers and filtered from what felt like hundreds of them down to 4 remaining options based on factors like personal impression, references, online presence, reviews from other homeowners, and conversations with people in new developments who had also built prefab houses. Believe me, try to filter quickly and don’t waste time with 10 different prefab suppliers. You will repeatedly see the same company names in your research — those are the ones with a good reputation and will stay in your memory. Take a close look at the company philosophies and then just hope that when you dig deeper, your contact person is competent and you feel comfortable as a potential client.
If you want help with your selection, I can’t provide direct support here but I could send you some documents, information, and tips privately.
--> Have initial meetings with a few selected companies and just get some advice. See what happens. You’ll quickly notice who is just trying to sell and who is genuinely helpful.
--> After these first meetings, it’s up to you how deeply you want to get involved in the house-building topic. We went into a lot of detail and were rewarded step-by-step because we then knew exactly which company suited us and which didn’t.
--> Really educate yourself on all aspects: timber frame construction, interior walls, exterior walls, ceilings, roof, windows, stairs, heating & ventilation, additional services, etc. If you do this, you might end up knowing more than your contact person. This is extremely important nowadays since we have experienced how much low-quality stuff is actually sold.
--> Create comparisons of construction and service specifications. Request the specifications from each company, create a spreadsheet with the most important points, and compare. You’ll quickly see what a “budget provider” offers versus quality. Of course, it always depends on what you expect from a house. This really helped us a lot because we kept diving deeper into the house-building topic and gained a lot of knowledge.
--> Think carefully about your floor plan and house design. This will make it easier in the second and third meetings to compare apples to apples. Naturally, the more you engage, the more ideas you will get, but comparing similar houses really helps a lot.
--> Get initial clean cost estimates/quotes and try to figure out if some providers should be ruled out. You might then contact some companies again for more input or further comparisons. But don’t engage with too many at once – it gets overwhelming and you’ll just be dreaming about specs and descriptions.
--> Weigh everything carefully, dive deeper into the offers, and stick with the companies that really speak to you. Key factors for comparison include quality, floor plan, your personal feeling about the contact person (crucial), company references and experience, and clearly the price.
--> Be very cautious with prefab house suppliers... There is often a lack of cost transparency and enormous sales pressure. The clear goal is to sell you a house quickly, ideally get you to sign within 4 weeks. Very IMPORTANT: Take your time and allow plenty of time for planning. It can take between 9 months and a year to reach the point you want to be at, depending on how much time you invest.
---> After about 3 months, we decided to move away from the prefab route and are building with a regional solid construction company. I’ve already explained the reasons above, and you can find plenty of information about this online too. There are pros and cons for every option; ultimately, it’s a personal preference what, how, and with whom you want to build.
--> I can only say—definitely compare offers from regional solid construction companies as well. In the end, you will not be more expensive; on the contrary...
These are the first steps; everything else will definitely come on its own, I’m sure! The most important thing is: inform yourself extensively and then make proper comparisons. Only this way can you get the best outcome for yourself.
I hope this helps you during the first weeks and gives you an idea of how to start. The beginning is hard – it was the same for us. And it definitely won’t end anytime soon either.
A brief overview of our timeline:
Everything started in February, and currently we are considering three construction companies. Within an estimated 4-8 weeks, we plan to narrow this down to one company with whom we will ultimately build! All the effort has definitely paid off, and we are very happy to have reached this point. We know exactly what we want, and in the end, it comes down to small details, personal rapport, and of course the price that decide on that ONE construction company.
We initially visited a display home park in Villingen-Schwenningen (a relatively small show home park here in the south of Germany) and had discussions with all the prefab house suppliers like Schwörerhaus, Schwabenhaus, Hanse Haus, Haas, Weberhaus, and 2-3 others.
To start with: We were totally focused on the prefabricated house route – timber frame construction, though I can’t really say why.
We spent our first few months (2-3 months) here, thoroughly comparing options.
--> Lots of internet research including various forums like this one. If you put in the time and effort, you will find a lot of information online. --> We had initial meetings on site with various prefab house suppliers and filtered from what felt like hundreds of them down to 4 remaining options based on factors like personal impression, references, online presence, reviews from other homeowners, and conversations with people in new developments who had also built prefab houses. Believe me, try to filter quickly and don’t waste time with 10 different prefab suppliers. You will repeatedly see the same company names in your research — those are the ones with a good reputation and will stay in your memory. Take a close look at the company philosophies and then just hope that when you dig deeper, your contact person is competent and you feel comfortable as a potential client.
If you want help with your selection, I can’t provide direct support here but I could send you some documents, information, and tips privately.
--> Have initial meetings with a few selected companies and just get some advice. See what happens. You’ll quickly notice who is just trying to sell and who is genuinely helpful.
--> After these first meetings, it’s up to you how deeply you want to get involved in the house-building topic. We went into a lot of detail and were rewarded step-by-step because we then knew exactly which company suited us and which didn’t.
--> Really educate yourself on all aspects: timber frame construction, interior walls, exterior walls, ceilings, roof, windows, stairs, heating & ventilation, additional services, etc. If you do this, you might end up knowing more than your contact person. This is extremely important nowadays since we have experienced how much low-quality stuff is actually sold.
--> Create comparisons of construction and service specifications. Request the specifications from each company, create a spreadsheet with the most important points, and compare. You’ll quickly see what a “budget provider” offers versus quality. Of course, it always depends on what you expect from a house. This really helped us a lot because we kept diving deeper into the house-building topic and gained a lot of knowledge.
--> Think carefully about your floor plan and house design. This will make it easier in the second and third meetings to compare apples to apples. Naturally, the more you engage, the more ideas you will get, but comparing similar houses really helps a lot.
--> Get initial clean cost estimates/quotes and try to figure out if some providers should be ruled out. You might then contact some companies again for more input or further comparisons. But don’t engage with too many at once – it gets overwhelming and you’ll just be dreaming about specs and descriptions.
--> Weigh everything carefully, dive deeper into the offers, and stick with the companies that really speak to you. Key factors for comparison include quality, floor plan, your personal feeling about the contact person (crucial), company references and experience, and clearly the price.
--> Be very cautious with prefab house suppliers... There is often a lack of cost transparency and enormous sales pressure. The clear goal is to sell you a house quickly, ideally get you to sign within 4 weeks. Very IMPORTANT: Take your time and allow plenty of time for planning. It can take between 9 months and a year to reach the point you want to be at, depending on how much time you invest.
---> After about 3 months, we decided to move away from the prefab route and are building with a regional solid construction company. I’ve already explained the reasons above, and you can find plenty of information about this online too. There are pros and cons for every option; ultimately, it’s a personal preference what, how, and with whom you want to build.
--> I can only say—definitely compare offers from regional solid construction companies as well. In the end, you will not be more expensive; on the contrary...
These are the first steps; everything else will definitely come on its own, I’m sure! The most important thing is: inform yourself extensively and then make proper comparisons. Only this way can you get the best outcome for yourself.
I hope this helps you during the first weeks and gives you an idea of how to start. The beginning is hard – it was the same for us. And it definitely won’t end anytime soon either.
11ant schrieb:
I can’t imagine any contract terms specifying when a general contractor will assign which site manager to which location – that seems like an unrealistic expectation. Not that, but there are general contractors who don’t have fixed site managers assigned to a project, so as a client you don’t have a consistent point of contact.
Whether the site manager is called Müller or Schmitt doesn’t matter.
By the way, we met the site manager responsible for us before signing the contract.
haydee schrieb:
By the way, we met the site manager responsible for us before signing the contract. However, this already assumes a very reliable general contractor (GC). No GC will openly admit to the client if they have a high staff turnover. Also, it is unlikely you will get honest information about whether a site manager is overseeing four or thirteen construction sites. For quite a few GCs, a site manager is someone who is only planned to be present when stairs or precast ceilings are installed, and otherwise only steps in if there are disputes between subcontractors or if the building inspector needs to discuss something.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
exto1791 schrieb:
I’d like to help you and explain step by step how we approached this:
A brief overview of our timeline:
It all started in February, and currently we are considering three construction companies, which we expect to narrow down to one within 4-8 weeks, the one we will ultimately build with. The whole effort has really paid off, and we are very happy to be at this stage. We know exactly what we want, and in the end, it comes down to "small things," personal liking, and of course, price, which are decisive for the ONE construction company.
At first, we visited the model home park in Villingen-Schwenningen (a relatively small model home park here in the south of Germany) and had discussions with all the prefab house providers such as Schwörerhaus, Schwabenhaus, Hanse Haus, Haas, Weberhaus, and 2-3 others.
In advance: We were fully committed to the prefab house route – timber frame construction – but don’t ask me why.
We then spent most of our initial time (2-3 months) here, comparing as much as possible.
--> Lots of Internet research including forums like this one; you will find a huge amount online if you put in the effort and time --> multiple initial on-site meetings with various prefab house providers, and from the 100,000 prefab house providers we filtered down by personal impression, references, online presence, reviews from homeowners, conversations with people in new neighborhoods who also built prefab houses, so that in the end, we still had 4 prefab house providers "in the running". Believe me, try to filter quickly and don’t waste time with 10 different providers. When researching, you will always come across the same reputable names that stick in your mind. Look closely at the philosophy of the companies, and then just hope that when you dig deeper, the person you are dealing with is competent and you feel well taken care of as a prospective client.
If you want help with the selection, I can privately send you some documents, information, and tips, but I can’t provide that support publicly here.
--> Have initial consultations with the few companies you have chosen and just get some advice. See what happens. You will quickly realize who just wants to sell and who doesn’t.
--> After the initial meetings, it’s entirely up to you how deeply you want to dive into the topic of building a house. We took it very seriously and were gradually rewarded because we knew exactly which company was right for us and which was not.
--> Really educate yourself on all the topics: timber frame structures, interior walls, exterior walls, ceilings, roofs, windows, stairs, heating & ventilation, additional services, etc. If you do this, you may end up knowing even more than the person you are talking to. In my opinion, this is extremely important nowadays since we experienced how much rubbish is actually sold.
--> Create construction and service description comparisons. Get the building and service specifications from each company, make an Excel spreadsheet with the key points, and compare them. You’ll quickly see what a “cheap provider” means versus “quality.” Naturally, that also depends on what you expect from your house. This helped us a lot because we kept learning more about house building and gained a lot of knowledge.
--> Think carefully about your floor plan and house shape, and be clear about what you want. It makes the 2nd, 3rd, and subsequent conversations easier, and you can compare apples to apples. Of course, as you deal with it more, other ideas will come up, but it really helps to compare similar houses.
--> Get your first detailed cost estimates and offers and try to figure out if one or another provider can be eliminated. You might also contact some providers again if you want more input or comparisons. But don’t get involved with too many at once – it becomes pure stress, and you end up only dreaming about construction and specifications.
--> Weigh everything carefully, go deeper into the offers, and stick with the companies that really speak to you. Important factors for comparison are quality, floor plan, your personal impression (critical), company references/experience, and of course price.
--> You must be very cautious with prefab house providers… There is a strong lack of cost transparency, and sales pressure is enormous. It’s very clear: they want to sell you a house quickly, ideally you sign within four weeks. Very IMPORTANT: Take your time, allow yourself enough planning time. You will need between 9 months and 1 year to get to the point you want, depending on how much time you invest.
---> After 3 months, we decided to leave the prefab route and build with a regional solid construction company (massive construction). I have already explained the reasons above, which you can also find all over the internet. Every method has its pros and cons; ultimately, it’s a personal preference what/how/with whom you want to build.
--> I can only say: definitely compare offers from regional solid construction companies as well. In the end, you definitely won’t pay more; on the contrary...
These are the first steps; everything else will definitely follow, I am sure! The key is: research, research, research, and then compare properly. Only in this way can you get the best outcome for yourself.
I hope this helps you in the first weeks and gives you an idea of how to start. Every beginning is difficult – it was the same for us. And it certainly doesn’t end there.Many thanks for the great input!
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