House offers - How to best compare them with each other?

Well, as soon as we finally had a plot of land, we went to the first construction company and discussed what ideas we had, etc. Some things were discouraged by them, other things were recommended to us...
At some point we had the first draft. That’s when we realized what we liked and what we didn’t. Then we received a second draft from the same company.
With a second construction company, we could already say more precisely what we wanted...

Anyway, we now have two drafts that are similar but by far not the same!
For both we have cost breakdowns and descriptions of construction services, but those cannot simply be put side by side either.

Assuming we refine a draft with one provider until we are completely happy with it, do I then take this draft, construction service description, and cost breakdown and go to provider 3 and ask for an offer if he builds exactly this kind of house for me???
One does all the planning work/consulting with you and then the other has it easy because he can just take over everything? Does it work like that? Don’t the providers have the "rights" to their work?

Apart from the fact that I’ll end up with three drafts [emoji6]
But it can’t work like that.
A general contractor (GU) is a GU because they have found, calculated, and marketed their standard as an offer. One builds with sand-lime brick, the other only with Poroton.
Their trusted window manufacturer uses Schüco windows, the other xy.
In the end, it’s all about features that you can have priced.

Is it a GU or a BU?
General contractor or builder?

Both are general contractors

We tried the list and entering it.
But as you already say: how am I supposed to know which windows are better or which staircase is higher quality?

One provider initially seems cheaper but I'm afraid that he simply didn't include many things that I, as a layman, don't notice. And later comes the shock

But as you already say: how am I supposed to know which windows are better or which staircase is higher quality?

You can't. For a lay client, it's practically impossible to know. There are too many things, and everywhere I would have to familiarize myself with technical special knowledge. But you can ask their reference clients: if they are satisfied, you have thereby obtained a layperson-understandable quality statement.

but I am afraid that he simply hasn't included many things that wouldn't be noticed by someone inexperienced like me.

There is only one solution: don't remain inexperienced, read along here for a while. About construction power and similar keywords. And learn to read: that "norm-compliant" means, for example, "standard and not a hair's breadth more." It'll be fine. The other clients all started "dumb" too :-)

Thank you! That really cheers me up right now!

Furthermore, the construction service description can be checked by experts.
Windows, for example, are determined by the U-value, in order to comply with the energy saving ordinance. That’s fine. That means: nothing can be bad there.

As already says: look at references and talk to the builders.

Absorb everything here in the forum, every thread, there is always something that makes you more knowledgeable.

Someone here once wrote that he compared construction service descriptions from 10! general contractors. That’s too much.

Also go with your gut feeling.

Although we ordered many catalogs, we only had a second appointment with one person, without comparing him: he had the house that not everyone had, but we wanted. He had a good price, references. He was the only one who had a wooden front door; between steel frame and wood we could decide, we could always choose between something that we also liked. In the end, we got what we paid for. If we wanted more, we would have had to pay more. But everything was very fair, and we almost always had a good feeling.

You always have to question prices for special equipment in advance: whether it’s a tile size, an outlet, or a roof window. You can do that with both providers and compare them... from that you recognize the company policy ;)

We recently had a very similar situation: 2 providers left out of 5 (1 large, 1 smaller regional general contractor), by now similar floor plans, both extremely likeable, house costs almost identical, scope of work descriptions also very similar at first glance.

While my better half was on a business trip, I used the evenings to create a table on the PC. I compared both scope of work descriptions trade by trade and added an extra column for everything that needs to be done by the builder, costs extra, etc.

It cost me many hours of work, but it helped us a lot.
Our experience was this: each scope of work description alone read completely logically.
By comparing, however, I read much more carefully and googled here and there to understand differences in the descriptions. This way I expanded my layman’s knowledge and got a better overview of everything that belongs to building a house.
I also found notes to the builders about what needs to be done by us very helpful in both scope of work descriptions. For example, it became really clear to me for the first time that earthworks are much more than just digging for the basement and refilling it. ;D

This way we were able to find out for ourselves that although both offers are indeed very similar, the local provider is always a bit better/does more/the equipment personally appeals more in various areas.

Additionally, last week we had appointments with former builders and a viewing of a house shortly before handover to the builder (still without floor coverings, paint on the walls, etc.). I can only recommend this as well. =)
We especially found the exchange with the former builders great!

Going from the floor plan of GC A to GC B probably wouldn’t have worked for us. Almost all the drafts we received explicitly stated that they are the property of the respective provider and transfer, etc. is only allowed with written permission.