Hello Musketier,
oh please – I don’t want to ignite a fundamental discussion whose end will be as predictable as the moon cycle
Do you always buy your car at the list price?
And have you never asked for a discount or rebate?
These are learned/inherited behavioral patterns that have about as much in common with buying/building a single-family house as "big" has with "small."
Aside from the fact that I would never buy a new car – I myself worked in the car business long before the bank; the pricing process considering depreciation is therefore familiar to me – of course I negotiate; it even gives me quite a lot of pleasure when I can go home with a success experience. But: the car business is not comparable to house building/property acquisition; here we are talking about completely different numbers! Fortunately, there are still no "list prices" for houses; I believe the day they are introduced, I will retire. It is already sometimes hard to bear that some potential builders think they have to explain my business to me...
If I remember correctly, we negotiated just over €2,000 discount and a few additional items outside the construction service description, like completion guarantee, sealing the ceiling joints, rainwater standpipes, etc. That’s not €10,000, but still a discount. And that belongs quite naturally in a business calculation and has nothing to do with unseriousness.
That, in my understanding, is not a discount, but the "thank you" for nice interested parties; for exclusively nice interested parties. I only bring that into play once the decision to buy from us has been made. Corresponding securities and guarantees are standard, closed ceiling joints anyway; the rest of your list are minor details. I have already written nothing else above "I generally do not grant discounts; sometimes a walk-in shower or a second washbasin on top, but that’s pretty much it overall." That is not set in stone, it can also be the second outdoor water connection or, say, some electric roller shutters, for which the self-imposed framework of the interested party left no room anymore. It depends on the construction project and must always remain within limits.
What the original poster imagines is, in my view, a discount. He "expects" a price reduction in the range of €10,000+ preferably even more.
Just because you don’t include a discount in your calculation doesn’t mean everyone else doesn’t.
No, but really no seriously calculating provider grants a discount in the amount the OP has suggested! What do you think actually happens at the cheap end "up front" with the "kitchen," the "iPad," or whatever that is so gladly "given" on top?
This is common practice in every industry, and you want to tell me that it is not done specifically in the construction industry?
Look it up at Dirk’s, at other builders who have built with comparable providers; whether prefab or solid house. You will have to realize unanimously that the discount stays within narrow limits. Again – what we are talking about here is not a discount in my view and I am convinced that if it were not rooted in the human desire to leave a contract negotiation with a success experience, then not only I would gladly do without catering to this urban feeling. Because it leads – after contract conclusion – to comparable conversations if you as a seller are not careful. Conversations like: "But you also had that," etc.; craftsmen will long-term cherish every seller who prevents such stumbling blocks in advance. Furthermore, it fuels the attitude latent in many interested parties anyway that sellers are all just crooks.
Basically, it is so simple to get the odd "treat" during the regular construction period. Every craftsman is grateful not to be treated as the greedy, sloppy villain many builders have already branded him as beforehand. For example, a water for the rough builder, a sandwich for the electrician, a friendly word for every craftsman, as well as meeting on equal footing. Not few builders (honestly, those who open their mouth wide upfront) would be surprised at how a meeting with mutual respect saves the plundered war chest.
I will probably need money from the bank soon. If you are right that it is common practice in "every" industry, surely the bank will also grant me a discount... maybe following the Greek example?
Rhenish regards