ᐅ When did you sign the construction contract? Was there any prior planning?
Created on: 18 Jul 2016 10:43
M
Mizit
Our current situation: We are waiting for the approval of a building preliminary inquiry and, if the response is positive, we would purchase a plot of land soon after.
This process has been taking longer due to several reasons, and we have used the time to gather information and plan the house as much as possible without having bought the land yet.
Initially, after some online research, we were interested in three general contractors (GCs).
With one of them, even receiving a catalog took forever, scheduling a suitable appointment was difficult, and they didn’t consider prior information about the plot important. That gave us an immediate bad feeling, so we didn’t pursue it further or look deeper into their home portfolio.
With another, we had two conversations, but overall, we felt like they were trying to push us too much toward a specific building style that didn’t fit our budget. We liked their basic house offerings, but not the consultant 🙂
With the third provider, we have been extremely satisfied so far. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to name them here—I don’t want to engage in covert advertising—but they were the only ones willing to have a meeting at our home (due to the baby and everything), who viewed the plot onsite beforehand, who gave us thorough but unobtrusive advice via email, who accompanied us with a groundworks contractor to the plot, and who arranged visits to customer reference homes, among other things. Of course, one might say that such service is standard in project development, but apparently, the other GCs don’t see it that way, and so far, we are only interested parties, not customers.
And that brings me to my point: although we feel confident from an intuitive perspective that we want to build with this provider, since they offer two house models that appeal to us, the consultation has been good, and we couldn’t really find any negative experiences with them online—and the price seems reasonable—we aren’t sure if it’s wise to focus exclusively on one provider for such a big decision. I must admit, we have no real knowledge about building materials and comparing providers’ construction quality in an informed way is very difficult for us as laypeople. Regarding price, we think a good house has its cost, and a quote that’s, say, €30,000 cheaper might not really be cheaper if it comes with poorer quality. Still, people usually say not to go with the first option... hmm. How many providers did you research, and how many did you talk to? From our gut feeling, there’s nothing against our favored provider as far as we can judge, but they are a larger company, and that’s certainly not a “mistake.” Still, I’m a little uncertain now because we simply don’t “know” any other providers.
Regarding the planning, we now have two floor plans that we like, and we know quite precisely what changes we would want to make. The next step would be very detailed planning, including discussions with the architects and getting an exact price quote with the planned modifications, etc. But we are still interested parties, not clients—we haven’t signed anything. Nobody pressured us to sign, not a single word. But I find it “awkward” to have them plan everything in detail and then maybe decide later to go elsewhere? A freelance architect wouldn’t work that way either, right? On the other hand, if we blindly sign a building contract now, committing to building with them before finalizing details, we might put ourselves in a weaker negotiating position as customers. How did this work out for you?
This process has been taking longer due to several reasons, and we have used the time to gather information and plan the house as much as possible without having bought the land yet.
Initially, after some online research, we were interested in three general contractors (GCs).
With one of them, even receiving a catalog took forever, scheduling a suitable appointment was difficult, and they didn’t consider prior information about the plot important. That gave us an immediate bad feeling, so we didn’t pursue it further or look deeper into their home portfolio.
With another, we had two conversations, but overall, we felt like they were trying to push us too much toward a specific building style that didn’t fit our budget. We liked their basic house offerings, but not the consultant 🙂
With the third provider, we have been extremely satisfied so far. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to name them here—I don’t want to engage in covert advertising—but they were the only ones willing to have a meeting at our home (due to the baby and everything), who viewed the plot onsite beforehand, who gave us thorough but unobtrusive advice via email, who accompanied us with a groundworks contractor to the plot, and who arranged visits to customer reference homes, among other things. Of course, one might say that such service is standard in project development, but apparently, the other GCs don’t see it that way, and so far, we are only interested parties, not customers.
And that brings me to my point: although we feel confident from an intuitive perspective that we want to build with this provider, since they offer two house models that appeal to us, the consultation has been good, and we couldn’t really find any negative experiences with them online—and the price seems reasonable—we aren’t sure if it’s wise to focus exclusively on one provider for such a big decision. I must admit, we have no real knowledge about building materials and comparing providers’ construction quality in an informed way is very difficult for us as laypeople. Regarding price, we think a good house has its cost, and a quote that’s, say, €30,000 cheaper might not really be cheaper if it comes with poorer quality. Still, people usually say not to go with the first option... hmm. How many providers did you research, and how many did you talk to? From our gut feeling, there’s nothing against our favored provider as far as we can judge, but they are a larger company, and that’s certainly not a “mistake.” Still, I’m a little uncertain now because we simply don’t “know” any other providers.
Regarding the planning, we now have two floor plans that we like, and we know quite precisely what changes we would want to make. The next step would be very detailed planning, including discussions with the architects and getting an exact price quote with the planned modifications, etc. But we are still interested parties, not clients—we haven’t signed anything. Nobody pressured us to sign, not a single word. But I find it “awkward” to have them plan everything in detail and then maybe decide later to go elsewhere? A freelance architect wouldn’t work that way either, right? On the other hand, if we blindly sign a building contract now, committing to building with them before finalizing details, we might put ourselves in a weaker negotiating position as customers. How did this work out for you?
Masipulami schrieb:
We only signed the construction contract after completing the several-week-long planning phase and making some change requests.What exactly do you mean by planning phase: Did you have the provider do the planning, or are you referring to your own considerations at home?
Or, to put it bluntly: Is it possible that they met with you several times over a few weeks, that there were multiple revisions, and that you could still have decided at the handover of the final design, “Sorry, we don’t want to build with you”?
Masipulami18 Jul 2016 22:04Yes, that's exactly how it happened with us.
Curly schrieb:
Hello,
first of all, I would buy the plot of land and then proceed with the house design. I would plan the floor plan as much as possible and also include the desired extras (e.g., colored windows, fireplace, external blinds, etc.) in the quote.
Best regards,
SabineBasically, of course, yes—the whole process depends on the plot of land.
However, since we didn’t want to wait idly (we need more space!!!), it seemed sensible and interesting to start looking through floor plans and visiting customer houses. By now, we have a pretty good idea of what we want.
So you think it’s reasonable and expected that we review the detailed selections beforehand, have calculations done, and tell the architect that we want to widen or enlarge certain parts, add this window, make that one floor-to-ceiling, insert a partition wall here, and get all that planned and priced without having to commit absolutely by signing anything upfront?
Mizit schrieb:
So you’re saying it should be expected that we thoroughly review the material selection beforehand, have calculations done, and tell the architect that we want to widen or enlarge this or that, add this window, make this part floor-to-ceiling, or add a partition wall—basically have all of this planned and calculated—without having to fully commit by signing anything in advance?No!
Just because some people have pushed it to the limit doesn’t mean you should take it even further.
What are you waiting for? What do you expect?
That the company will advance five-figure costs upfront?
Everything is a matter of give and take.
The company has sent you signals; now it’s your turn.
There’s nothing more to say.
Sir_Kermit19 Jul 2016 06:24Hello,
At this point, I expect the client to compensate these services. Either there is a paid offer or a signature. From my perspective, these are services that require time and therefore money in the form of several man-hours. Even though computers can do a lot "at the push of a button," often a person has to press that button after time-consuming thinking.
Kermit
Mizit schrieb:
So you think it must be "expected" that we thoroughly review the selections in advance, have calculations done, and tell the architect that we want to widen or enlarge this and that, add this window, make it floor-to-ceiling here, place a partition there, and have all of that planned and calculated without committing ourselves firmly by signature beforehand?
At this point, I expect the client to compensate these services. Either there is a paid offer or a signature. From my perspective, these are services that require time and therefore money in the form of several man-hours. Even though computers can do a lot "at the push of a button," often a person has to press that button after time-consuming thinking.
Kermit