ᐅ Today was the material and finish selection appointment, smile
Created on: 9 Mar 2017 13:40
N
Nordlys
Some leftover vacation days in March. We just had the selection appointment. This morning at nine. Selection appointment with the mid-sized company. Waiting for us were Mrs. L., the secretary, with a coffee; Mr. K., the master carpenter; and Mr. R., the head of masonry and roofing. Mr. K. starts. In front of him, the building plan of our house, next to him a laundry basket full of various bits and pieces. Let’s get started. With windows. He flips through the building specification. Ah, they’re from Poland. He rummages through the laundry basket and pulls out a profile sample. Veka, triple glazing, Roto fittings, Hoppe handles. The handles can also be lockable, costs extra. But then you just lose the keys, no one needs that, and if burglars want to get in, they will anyway; it just ends up broken... My wife examines the profile. Well, you can easily wipe off the dirt, can’t you? And colored, she asks? Mr. K., dryly: Yeah, it’s possible. But it’s a waste of money; it doesn’t make a difference when looking out either... So, it remains white. It goes on in that style with tiles, interior doors. When it comes to the exterior window sills, he really gets going. Yes, those are aluminum, white or nothing at all. He grins. And on the inside? Laundry basket. Granite slabs are brought to the table. Four pieces. Two disappear right away because they are polished high gloss. That’s nonsense, he says; anyway, you’ll just put flowers on them. My wife picks one from the remaining slabs. Done, moving on. The roofing expert chimes in. Hey, I need to take off some joints first, what’s the plan? He takes us outside. There lies a package from Braas with sample tiles. He picks out three. That one, that one, or that one is allowed in the building plan. We choose the dark red one. Gloss coating against moss? Doesn’t work, there are no trees here. In High German: You don’t need it because there are no trees where you are building. Okay, convinced. The roof is done. He storms off. Inside we go. Front door, Mr. K. says, now that’s a topic. So, here are the panels from Rodenberger; from K1 to K6 are included at no extra cost. The long handle costs 100 extra. The very long one 250. But that one is no good, it’s flimsy. Then take the short one for 100. We flip through. That one is good, he says. Stable, timeless, with K5 included, okay price, has some glass, lets some light into the hallway, but it’s not a department store door. Done... that’s the one. Now the interior staircase, he judges... Yeah, you take beech, it’s a hard, quiet wood. It’s coated with parquet lacquer, so it’s also durable. And as a railing, a handrail with metal rods. He grins, done. Can it be done differently? White? Hmm, he shakes his head. It’s possible. But... that costs more, you have to paint, sand, and fill more. You can see on his face what he thinks about white stairs. I give in. Beech, parquet lacquer. Matte. Then he and my wife decide where the towel radiator should go. Here or there! And how and where tiles will be installed... done. Oh yes, facade... we’ll do it like the garage, right? So, everything smooth and seamless. The plinth a little anthracite accent, everyone does that. He rummages for some color samples for the plinth from the basket. Yes, that will do.
Selection appointment with the mid-sized company. Two hours, one coffee, and not a penny extra paid.
Selection appointment with the mid-sized company. Two hours, one coffee, and not a penny extra paid.
Winniefred9 Mar 2017 20:08That sounds very appealing to me as well, even though I’m young AND a woman^^. Driving three hours to the selection center and deciding between 3,000 different options from morning till evening is not really our thing. I don’t have a problem with three window colors, three exterior colors, two door handles, five interior doors, etc. We can make decisions quickly; we don’t need to spend ages thinking and comparing. That approach would work well for us too. We are fine with a limited selection that’s included in the standard price. In a rental apartment, I’ve never given much thought to window colors, door handles, or whatever else. We’re more the “good enough” type and tend to focus on the price rather than the “best possible” options that are theoretically available.
K
Knallkörper9 Mar 2017 20:20sven0924 schrieb:
Well, we’re quite relaxed about selecting materials with an architect. Several appointments, some of which have already taken place, are planned for that. We also had to let some decisions sink in and decide a week later. The architect is very patient. We didn’t want to do catalog-based selection either. Tomorrow: 3 hours for plumbing and 3 hours for tiling.
That wouldn’t be for me. I’d have to take time off work, phew! We probably spent a total of about 10 hours choosing EVERYTHING, from the facing bricks to the flooring to the interior doors. You basically already have your ideas and picture the house in your mind—that was the case for us: bricks: red-multicolor, doors: white lacquer in a country style, floors: oak planks plus natural stone, roof windows and shutters: all gray, and so on. Too many choices overwhelm me, but the quality has to be top-notch.
Sascha aus H9 Mar 2017 20:25I find it fascinating to see how different people really are (and this is not meant as a judgment!).
For example, we spent 4 weeks just looking for the right brick, visiting countless new housing developments, spending countless hours online, and eventually traveling 250 km (155 miles) one way, just to see the desired brick actually installed before placing the order.
But that’s what makes the world interesting and not so boringly the same.
For example, we spent 4 weeks just looking for the right brick, visiting countless new housing developments, spending countless hours online, and eventually traveling 250 km (155 miles) one way, just to see the desired brick actually installed before placing the order.
But that’s what makes the world interesting and not so boringly the same.
K
Knallkörper9 Mar 2017 20:45For me, material quality always comes before aesthetics. Granite flooring instead of laminate—whether green or blue is secondary. Roof tiles had to be glazed and matte—there were only two color options anyway, and one was not allowed according to the building permit/planning permission. Especially with the bricks, I actually only got as far as deciding on “impregnated”; luckily, my wife pushed it a bit further.
I originally wrote this around midday, influenced by those two guys who tried their hand as salesmen this morning and impressed us with memorable lines between baskets and suitcases. I still can’t help but smile about “colored windows”? What a waste of money, you don’t look out any differently anyway.
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with what he says; his straightforward logic is somehow disarming.
Could the material selection process be handled differently? Certainly.
Of course, it went quickly because we were prepared and had everything agreed upon. First, you have the building description. If it says interior doors, for example, JelDwen Optimal 30, you look that up online beforehand. And if it says Weber exterior plaster by Saint-Gobain, you can find information about it on the internet. And so on.
The most important things, and for these I’m grateful to the craftsmen, were the small practical improvements. Moving the kitchen door 10cm (4 inches) to the north created space for an outlet and a switch. The walk-in shower was set a little deeper, so water no longer splashes against the door.
The advice to raise the bathroom tiles a bit higher near the toilet’s water box, without extra cost, was missed by the site manager, according to the foreman. “We only sell houses that work”… so having the large suitcase with two handles included or the set of white aluminum exterior window sills or nothing at all is definitely bearable. Karsten
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with what he says; his straightforward logic is somehow disarming.
Could the material selection process be handled differently? Certainly.
Of course, it went quickly because we were prepared and had everything agreed upon. First, you have the building description. If it says interior doors, for example, JelDwen Optimal 30, you look that up online beforehand. And if it says Weber exterior plaster by Saint-Gobain, you can find information about it on the internet. And so on.
The most important things, and for these I’m grateful to the craftsmen, were the small practical improvements. Moving the kitchen door 10cm (4 inches) to the north created space for an outlet and a switch. The walk-in shower was set a little deeper, so water no longer splashes against the door.
The advice to raise the bathroom tiles a bit higher near the toilet’s water box, without extra cost, was missed by the site manager, according to the foreman. “We only sell houses that work”… so having the large suitcase with two handles included or the set of white aluminum exterior window sills or nothing at all is definitely bearable. Karsten
After going through that marathon of selections back then, I also had the thought that, in the end, it’s all more or less a fairy tale.
Selection of door handles: we had 8 door handles to choose from. Three were included in the price, five came with an additional cost. Just like that, five were dropped because you often don’t notice the extra charge anyway. So, we just picked between square, round, and half-round styles.
Next, the interior doors. There were 6 doors available with no extra charge, 4 in various wood finishes and 2 white doors. One white door looked very cheap, and the other was modern with stripes. Everyone building with the company and visiting homes was choosing the white door with stripes – so did we.
Moving on to the roof tiles. There were easily 20 options, 18 of them at an additional cost. Without extra charge, you could choose between Jakobi 11 or the counterpart from the other well-known brand. The building company said 90% pick Jakobi 11. We went with that too, since for a townhouse nicer colored roof tiles don’t really make sense (you hardly see them anyway).
For the staircase, we initially wanted the standard beech option (included in the price), when the stair builder told us that, for some reason, a stained staircase was included at no extra cost. Suddenly, painting the stair frame wasn’t expensive anymore, and the steps were then stained. The real choice was only between natural beech, stained, or our version. All other options would have exceeded the budget.
A real decision only came with the electrician because we had already budgeted an additional 4,000€ upfront. In the end, though, the amount for the money spent seemed surprisingly “little.”
And so it went from trade to trade. There was always some kind of choice, but in the end, there usually wasn’t a real choice. Everything that wasn’t “standard” instantly cost so much more that you felt like you had bought double.
What was important was to really think beforehand about what you TRULY want. We consciously chose the standard sink because any idiot can replace that later. For the shower and bathtub, we took the larger sizes right away because upgrading afterward can be difficult or impossible.
We wanted a front door with a full-panel covering on the leaf, so we picked one. (pretty expensive)
The bottom line is this: whether the tiles are gray level 1 or level 2 seems great when choosing, but once they’re installed, you don’t really care. Eventually, you get tired of making choices, and later no one cares about small color differences anymore.
Selection of door handles: we had 8 door handles to choose from. Three were included in the price, five came with an additional cost. Just like that, five were dropped because you often don’t notice the extra charge anyway. So, we just picked between square, round, and half-round styles.
Next, the interior doors. There were 6 doors available with no extra charge, 4 in various wood finishes and 2 white doors. One white door looked very cheap, and the other was modern with stripes. Everyone building with the company and visiting homes was choosing the white door with stripes – so did we.
Moving on to the roof tiles. There were easily 20 options, 18 of them at an additional cost. Without extra charge, you could choose between Jakobi 11 or the counterpart from the other well-known brand. The building company said 90% pick Jakobi 11. We went with that too, since for a townhouse nicer colored roof tiles don’t really make sense (you hardly see them anyway).
For the staircase, we initially wanted the standard beech option (included in the price), when the stair builder told us that, for some reason, a stained staircase was included at no extra cost. Suddenly, painting the stair frame wasn’t expensive anymore, and the steps were then stained. The real choice was only between natural beech, stained, or our version. All other options would have exceeded the budget.
A real decision only came with the electrician because we had already budgeted an additional 4,000€ upfront. In the end, though, the amount for the money spent seemed surprisingly “little.”
And so it went from trade to trade. There was always some kind of choice, but in the end, there usually wasn’t a real choice. Everything that wasn’t “standard” instantly cost so much more that you felt like you had bought double.
What was important was to really think beforehand about what you TRULY want. We consciously chose the standard sink because any idiot can replace that later. For the shower and bathtub, we took the larger sizes right away because upgrading afterward can be difficult or impossible.
We wanted a front door with a full-panel covering on the leaf, so we picked one. (pretty expensive)
The bottom line is this: whether the tiles are gray level 1 or level 2 seems great when choosing, but once they’re installed, you don’t really care. Eventually, you get tired of making choices, and later no one cares about small color differences anymore.
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