ᐅ Waiting Time for Floor Plans and Quotes

Hello everyone,

At the end of March, we had initial discussions with several providers. However, we have only received an offer (and further appointments) from one provider so far. At the first contact, all of them immediately mentioned that it would take some time because demand is currently very high.

Therefore, my question is: On average, how long did you have to wait before you could develop a floor plan and a project with a provider, which then resulted in a first offer? I am slowly becoming impatient, as we would like to start building next spring.

Do you already have a plot of land? Without that, you really can’t plan anything seriously.

In our case, we still had the notarization appointment ahead. But I already needed something for the financing, so I had started looking for construction companies.

The first offer came to me quite quickly. After that, things slowed down. Requests for changes or price increases sometimes took one to two weeks to be answered.

Floor plan drafts only started after the notarized contract was finalized. Even the general contractor pressured to speed things up at that point. So, within 4 weeks we went through three versions, including several detailed options (staircase window).

We already own a plot of land that is fully paid off.

In principle, there is still plenty of time until next spring, but if things continue at this pace.... 🙁

In February, we had an appointment with the architect to plan the extension and indicated that the targeted start of construction should be in spring 2022. According to the current schedule, we expect to receive the initial plans in July, provided that other construction projects do not unexpectedly require more capacity. So, at the moment, I would not expect a fast pace for custom-designed building projects.

Naturliebhaber schrieb:

Hello everyone,

We had initial talks with various providers at the end of March. However, we only received an offer (and further appointments) from one provider so far. At first contact, all of them immediately mentioned that it would take a bit longer because demand is currently so high.
Therefore, my question is: On average, how long did you have to wait before you could develop a floor plan and a project with a provider resulting in a first offer?
I am slowly getting impatient since we would like to start building next spring.

It varies. We contacted about 10 providers (both large and small) and had more or less personal discussions with them. With the first one, we then received a floor plan, which we used as a basis for further discussions and development. Everything started about a year ago. In September 2020, we then gave a construction company the go-ahead. The building permit application was submitted in December 2020. We signed a project contract where only the planning phase was paid for, but at the same time, a commitment for the construction contract was made. Now we are almost done with the final selection of materials and fixtures (the last appointment today: bathroom). The construction contract will be signed soon (prices from last year’s offer are still valid). The building permit (due to the land re-zoning) is expected around mid to late July 2021.

In the end, we chose a local provider who neither has a model home nor glossy brochures. They also do almost no advertising. All of their new projects come through word of mouth.

If we could submit the building notification (which should be sufficient in our case) by the end of the year, I would be completely satisfied. It is still quite achievable.

We have contacted three local companies and one national company and have had initial discussions with all of them.

I keep wondering whether we should also get in touch with an architect.