Take a targeted look around the new housing developments and ask the builders. Look at the company logos on the cars. Not everyone has a homepage. Some rely on word of mouth. Do you have a weekend paper like that? The free ones with lots of ads. Occasionally, construction site tours are advertised there. That's how we found ours. It's actually so tiny.

place more trust in my "business partners"

No, not necessarily.

There are different phases on the way to the first groundbreaking, which vary in prominence depending on the company (structures).

In small companies, this tends to be more blurred and details are discussed and priced from the very beginning. The larger the company, the stricter the separation becomes. The actual sales process is general and standardized, specific wishes and details are only taken into account later during the execution planning. Everything has its advantages and disadvantages.

It has already been mentioned, but always keep in mind: you build only one house, but have (for example) 5 offers made. That means 4 "sellers" come up empty, one hits the jackpot. On average, from the seller’s perspective, that would be a 20% success rate. Unfortunately, this leads to the fact that the sellers’ efforts sometimes reduce to only 20% for each customer.

Do sellers really expect you to just hand over your entire fortune on a leap of faith? Or do other homebuyers actually part with their money more easily? You know what, I’m starting a new thread based on this question because I’m really interested.

Look, that’s what contracts are for. You don’t just put all the money on the table. Payment is made according to the stage of construction.

A small prefab house general contractor from the region would be my preference, but despite weeks of research, I haven’t found anyone like that.

Try looking for carpenters or regular homebuilders... there should be quite a few.

The insight from this and my other threads is for now that I should place more trust in my "business partners."

A healthy distrust is absolutely appropriate in this industry—especially in boom times, when the level of botched work traditionally rises. But this should still not mean control mania, where you sit on the executor’s neck with constant oversight.

There are different sellers, different company philosophies.

Even big names with otherwise high quality levels and price appeal unfortunately rely on commission whores in sales, whereas the small general contractors (regardless of construction type)—usually competently owner-managed—the seller is also the boss in one person and addresses complaints preventively through communication.

A small prefabricated house general contractor from the region would be my preference, but despite weeks of research, I simply haven’t found anyone like that.

Take a targeted look around the new development areas and ask the builders. Look at the company signs on the cars. Not everyone has a homepage. Some rely on word of mouth.

The small timber builders don’t call themselves "prefabricated house manufacturers," but "carpenters" or similar, likewise the solid builders call themselves "construction companies." It’s unfortunately no guarantee, but almost a sure sign to recognize solid small general contractors: they don’t waste their energy on flashy websites. On the contrary: I myself have done well for decades in a completely different industry with the strategic decision to keep the general public away with a terribly hard-to-find website, customers I don’t want anyway. In referral business, the saying goes "the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree," meaning a satisfied customer doesn’t recommend a service provider to the biggest idiots they know, but to good acquaintances. That means you don’t get an unpunctual, nitpicking pain in the neck as a new customer recommended by a friendly, reasonably communicating customer.

It has already come up, but always remember: you only build 1 house, but get (for example) 5 offers made. That means 4 "sellers" go empty-handed, and one wins the jackpot. From a seller’s perspective, that’s an average success rate of 20%. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to sellers’ efforts being reduced to only 20% per customer.

If that were the case, that would be nice. Unfortunately, many prospective builders first get an overkill of offers before they (at least sometimes) get brought down from their dreams by forums like this, realizing they can’t set up a castle in the air on their plot at prices from just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. So first, 5:1 is by no means accurate (because for every 5:1 customer who signs with one of the five providers, there are still two 5:0 customers who only realize their daydreaming after the inquiry), and second, the remaining one often takes so much time that the salesperson has already left the company. Seen that way, one should be able to understand the sellers.

First of all, 5:1 is not nearly accurate (because for every 5:1 customer who signs with one of the five providers, there are still two 5:0 customers who only realize their daydreaming after the inquiry), and secondly, the remaining one often takes so much time that the salesperson has already left the company. Seen in this way, one should be able to understand the salespeople.

Looking at it as you do, one can only advise the "salesperson" to pursue professional further training.

There is a difference between a salesperson and a consultant. A salesperson does not send out so many blind offers. They recognize during the conversation how far along the prospect is and what conditions they bring. If it looks promising, they explore the wishes, longings, requirements, priorities, and fears of their prospects in the course of an excellent consultation, which helps the prospect gain enormous clarity. Afterwards, they assess whether it is worth preparing an offer. They already have a probability of greater than 50% for closing the deal. The busy work of writing offers is left by the good salesperson to the often non-selling consultants.

As customers, we appreciate good consultants. Most of the time, they do not get our orders.

That is exactly what I wanted to make clear: if it were to work like in the paradise you described (where the salesperson is a consultant instead of a seller), he would have to be commissioned for consulting instead of selling. Theoretically, this could also work indirectly, by the fact that better consulting quality increases his probability of closing a deal – but in practice, the "calculation" is disturbed by the consulted non-buyers (i.e., those who do not buy anywhere else either). In reality, therefore, I do not see this desired calculation working out.