Awarding to developers / Is price a matter of negotiation? (with survey)

Hello everyone,

We will soon be awarding the construction of our new house to a GÜ. I would be interested to know if you negotiated after calculating the total price and, if so, how much your GU deviated from the total amount.

The differences are probably very large (especially depending on how big the GU you are building with is). But generally, I hope to get a sense of how much leeway there actually is.

First of all: A property developer sells land and house together. In the case of prefabricated or turnkey houses, the room for negotiation is, in my experience, low (down to almost 0%) – exceptions of course are always possible. Unlike furniture or car dealerships – which from the outset calculate and work with discounts and offers – this is uncommon with house providers, where concessions are rather practiced in the fittings.

I consider a practical comparison of the room for negotiation with property developer offers difficult, since, as mentioned above, the connection between land and house exists. Due to this peculiarity, there is rarely the possibility of a direct comparison – unlike with offered houses. The state of mediation or demand at the specific location, i.e. the land, varies so much that an average calculated room for negotiation is of little significance for another concrete situation.

Hello Baucoach,

Thank you for your assessments! You are of course absolutely right - I used the term "Bauträger" incorrectly. I have changed it to Generalunternehmer.

I am interested in turnkey houses without land.

Hm, annoying - I just see that I probably can't edit my post afterwards anymore.

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Done

Kind regards

Hello,

we will soon be awarding the construction of our new house to a general contractor. I would be interested to know if you negotiated after the calculation of the total price and if so, how much your general contractor deviated from the total sum.
The differences are probably very large (especially depending on how big the general contractor you are building with is). But in general, I hope that you get a feeling for how much leeway there actually is.

You are mistaken if you believe that you can reduce the price within a margin of "x" percent!

Last week at the fair, I was asked this question often and always answered the same way: Nobody has anything to give away, not even the builder/general contractor! This also applies, by the way, to so-called extended offers, for example if a kitchen is included in the sales price: the purchase price of the kitchen is always included in the overall calculation. Therefore, the "gift" turns out to be a sham, because the builder always pays for it.

As Baucoach correctly described, "discounts" can at most be achieved through upgraded equipment. For example, instead of the "normal" shower tray, a walk-in variant or similar. To achieve a "better" equipment in negotiations, it is advisable to treat your general contractor as you rightly expect to be treated; building always means a short-term partnership in which the partners should meet on equal footing! If these conditions are met, it usually works out with one or the other (small) concession.

Kind regards

Hello construction expert,

Thank you for your assessments! A reasonable cooperation is, of course, a matter of course for me.

My question was more about whether it has become common in the construction industry (like with car dealers) to add a few percent to the initial offer because everyone expects to get a discount later anyway. In such a case, I would be annoyed if I didn’t negotiate then. But that doesn’t seem to be common (or only in rare cases).

A general contractor I contacted about six months ago during the first orientation phase had included a "one-time spring discount" of 5,000 EUR in the offer back then. Now in autumn, when we are getting serious with our planning, we contacted him again and now he has included a "one-time autumn discount" of 5,000 EUR. Well, something like that is obviously obvious and probably more of an idea from the marketing department, but generally I find the topic quite interesting, how much is usually secretly factored in.

Your answers reassure me a lot, since apparently the calculation is simply "honest" (and the general contractor has to live off something too).

Best regards,
Michael