Dear people, what world are you living in???
If you are not interested in your house, you will also hear it in the next appointments.
a conversation on equal footing, about what else can be done.
There is nothing else to "hear out," such a hefty price increase is not without reason at this steep level: it is an "argumentation aid." The contractor WANTS the customer to cancel. "25%" is deliberately loud enough that even customers with thick noise-canceling headphones can clearly hear the shot. It’s like holding a lighter right under the behind so that even the slowest don’t hesitate long to run away. It’s about the simple "mixed calculation": only if three quarters of the old tariff customers "go away by themselves" can one afford to still serve the rest at the promised price (probably also with sloppy subcontractors from the clearance rack).
Trying to respond to such a blow to the stomach with an effort for a conversation "on equal footing" has, in my opinion, already far crossed the line between pacifism and pathological naivety. With the "boss" as well – laughable: the boss is second, the one who came up with the brazen measure; and first, he is also the one who sends the sales rep ahead. And he probably does the latter partly because maybe some customers don’t react so obediently but at most place a bruise "on equal footing."
I would inquire whether the homebuilding company distinguishes between "simple" and "more complex" houses. For the simpler houses, the process is usually shorter because certain documents already exist ("model houses"). Here there might be some potential savings – provided that not everything has already been defined individually.
Maybe you could, so to speak, cozy up to their internal "cost-saving build standard," and thus you would be "Wunschlos family" whom they would gladly "take along."
The era of model houses is unfortunately history; today the credo is "we only do made to measure," and all processes are already planned to be maximally automated. For "less complex" houses, there are independent brands within the same group, a practice learned from the big car manufacturers. The Polo "from Ratiopharm" does exist, but then it would also be called "Fabia," and the VW dealer sends the customer to the Skoda colleague for it – naturally without taking over the price and delivery time guarantee; there is a new contract. And that is exactly what this is about here: of course, the customer can switch to the economy sister brand with multi-brand strategy providers, but then not while maintaining the agreed conditions. The exact cut of the old conditions is the purpose of this deterrent measure, the 25% heavy price increase club* to wield!!!
Here again it becomes clear that only the tough get through: in situations like this, the "winning" customer is the one who can now coldly carry out the contract (which, however, presupposes the discipline not to make the slightest modifications to the sample, so as not to open even the smallest cancellation flank!). Every other customer type would probably be advised to object to the increase and announce that they intend to engage Chuck Norris as an expert. A considerable cancellation premium could come out of that. However, it must also be considered that such a price increase measure is an indication of considerable nervousness on the part of the provider: if too many customers do not hear the shot and do not allow themselves to be "shown the door," the provider’s risk of insolvency is no small matter either. The "butcher’s house danger" has never been as high as it is currently.
*) You can be sure that this amount is no coincidence: there are probably whole shelves full of business administration books about the fact that a twelve-percent increase drives away twice as many customers as a ten-percent increase – if you can’t read the message of a twenty-five-percent increase, then there is no hope for you! – the purpose of choosing such a large-scale measure is maximum efficiency from a customer psychology perspective :-(