Is house planning with multiple providers necessary?

Hello.

In my considerations and planning, I am now with some providers (general contractors, prefab house companies, etc.) in the rough planning phase.

I have not signed anywhere yet.

The contractors are all more or less diligent in preparing the proposals, offers, and calculations.

At some point, there comes a time when you have to choose one and reject all the others.

Those who do not get the job are certainly not happy that you end up buying elsewhere.

Can they charge for the consultations or designs?

Do the contractors expect that you will obtain several offers and designs, or am I mistaken in doing so?

Are the planners used to selling only three houses out of 10 offers, or is the success rate even lower?

For such a large investment, you don't want to accept just any offer without having comparisons.

How did you handle it when choosing your house?

Of course, you have to make sure that you can compare the offers yourself as well as the equipment and size.

Thank you very much Regards

In my considerations and planning, I am now in the rough planning phase with some providers (general contractors, prefabricated house companies, etc.).

Cool. Comparing apples to oranges in the end, as well as different construction methods, floor plans, and fittings. Great.

What professional support do you have by your side to help you fight your way through the jungle?

Don’t worry, you will still get a detailed answer from . But he and I will definitely be shaking our heads at your approach.

Can they send you an invoice for consultations or drafts?

Only if something explicit was agreed upon. But then you also know what service you can expect compared to a planner you pay for.

The contractors are all more or less diligent in working out the proposals, offers, and calculations.

More or less...
Top offers are also gladly written for naïve laypeople like you. At least as top until you build and realize what is not the company’s task or what was not included in the offer at all.
Therefore, if you want to build like that, please don’t even read the three cheapest offers...

For such a big investment, you don’t want to accept just any offer without having comparisons.

How did you handle it when choosing your house?

Of course, you have to make sure you can compare the offers yourself as well as fittings and size.

With such a big investment, you don’t start out alone.
- you can choose a catalog house and have the construction service description checked externally
- you hire an architect and then have two ways (see posts by )
- you muddle through with about 10 providers of all kinds and have a capable expert by your side who checks everything

What do all three variants have in common? PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT.

You don’t seriously want to make such a decision roughly and check only according to the available offers and then build?

One must of course make sure that one can compare the offers oneself, as well as equipment and size.

That is the crux of the matter. How do you, as a layperson, compare houses with different floor plans, different construction methods, different on-site services, and different construction descriptions?

Those who did not get a chance are certainly not happy when one ends up buying elsewhere.

That is part of acquisition. The art as a representative consists in giving the customer the feeling that something has been done for them while investing as little as possible in the potential customer. Accordingly, you do not get an individual design, but a standard house where you are allowed to move non-load-bearing walls and tick a box for the equipment options.

Since I only need a shell construction, I have only inquired with the contractors about these services.

It will be a solid construction house 99% of the time, but initially I visited some prefabricated house providers to get an overview of what is available and how it is solved there.

Some prefabricated house and system house providers are even really eager to submit an offer based on a design provided by me (to keep it comparable), but the offers are sometimes usable and sometimes not.

I do have some construction experience; 25 years ago, we almost completely built a house within the family ourselves, of course with an architect’s plan and construction manager at the time, but the trades were either done by ourselves or contracted out by ourselves.

With the remaining providers, I try, of course, to have only what I need offered, and also in comparable size.

Whether the interior walls are a little further to the left or right should not play a big role; the outside dimensions are the same.

The offers only include the shell construction, partially optionally windows and roof truss; I have some capable companies locally who may be able to do that, and price inquiries are still ongoing.

Since I only need a shell construction, I only asked the contractors for these services.

It will be a solid construction house 99% of the time, but at first I visited some prefabricated house providers to get an overview of what is available and how it is solved there. Some prefabricated and system house providers are even really eager to submit an offer based on a design provided by me (to keep it comparable), but the offers are sometimes usable and sometimes not. I do have some construction experience; 25 years ago, we almost completely built a house within the family ourselves, of course with an architect's plan and construction manager back then, but the trades were either done by ourselves or contracted out by ourselves. With the remaining providers, I naturally try to have them offer only what I need and also of comparable size. Whether the interior walls are slightly more to the left or right should not play a big role; the exterior dimensions are the same. The offers only include the shell construction, sometimes optionally windows and roof truss, I have some capable local companies on hand who might be able to do this and whose price inquiries are still pending.

You blockhead. You still ask in the thread title and text how others proceeded in choosing their house, and now you come around with the pure shell construction...

Who only needs a shell construction builds 99.5% of the time with an architect, because the shell construction is then part of the tenders (with development? with earthworks?).

And if you are looking for a shell construction, you should already have a building plan / building permit. In this respect, I do not understand your question, because then you will be requesting THAT HOUSE and not different shell construction variants.

Cool. Comparing apples and oranges in the end as well as different construction methods, floor plans, and fittings. Works.
What professional support do you have by your side to then fight your way through the jungle?
Don’t worry, you will still get a detailed answer from @11ant. But he and I will definitely be banging our heads over your approach.

I hope I have already somewhat clearly indicated that there is room for improvement in terms of cleverness ;-)

With such a large investment, you don’t go it alone first and foremost.
- you can choose a catalog house and have the construction service description checked externally
- you take a and then have two ways (see posts by @11ant)
- you muddle through with about 10 providers of different kinds and have a capable expert at your side who checks everything

I would certainly not be the latter in this case: I do offer such comparisons, but expressly not in the form of "apples and oranges, each with countless footnotes," but exclusively as active comparisons based on professional tenders. Which two ways do you mean?

More or less...
Top offers are gladly made for naive laymen like you. At least top until you build and realise what is not the company’s responsibility or what was not included in the offer.
Therefore, if you want to build like that, please don’t even read the three cheapest offers...

That is exactly why one compares actively: so that you don’t grow old and grey comparing apples and oranges (for which a companion would be priceless due to the immense time required), but instead get exactly the desired house offered. How much the companies put effort into proposals, offers, and calculations depends on various factors. Regarding proposals, it depends on the type of inquiry (practically none in the case of cold calls from unknown parties), and calculations take time, so here the probability of an order is decisive. The bidder must be able to recognise that they have a fair chance.

Whether the interior walls are a bit further left or right shouldn’t matter much; the exterior dimensions are the same.
The offers only include the shell construction, partly optionally windows and roof truss; I have some capable companies locally who might be able to handle that, and their price inquiries are still running.

Whether walls are present at all already makes a big difference. A stone-on-stone shell builder can also build a shell construction from just exterior walls and load-bearing interior walls. A wall panel stone builder usually thinks in a closed "all purpose" system and will at least look stupid if you want to continue building inside otherwise. And a timber builder offers a shell stage where all interior walls are also erected with single-sided sheathing. General contractors are usually essentially either masons and reinforced concrete builders or carpenters. Becoming a general contractor at all (which generally means subcontracting) is only attractive to them if there is a corresponding margin involved. And warranty is also an important issue and requires clear interfaces. Ultimately, I see here only a weatherproof shell as a sensible combined package — so no adding roof truss and windows by the builder on-site. Practically, one professional tender is therefore recommended here — so we are first at the point of setting the course, because without a construction method decision, there would have to be two tenders.

The episode concerning dough rest and setting the course "House construction roadmap reloaded: a valuable active pause" was published nine days ago. As a preliminary draft in this sense, some of the designs shown here are quite usable already.

It can be shortened to the formula "stupid questions get stupid answers": the quality of the offers — already regarding their usability — is directly causally related to how (un)skillfully you handle the inquiry.