Pre-sampling / Sampling / First conversation with the house provider

Hello!

We are still in the early stages of planning our house construction. Yesterday we had the first meeting with the targeted house provider. It went quite well. We like the system and it is still in an affordable price range (according to initial estimates^^).

However, the topic of preliminary sampling came up. This house provider is from the region, so the sampling center is only about 45 minutes away. The advisor, however, insisted that no house provider does preliminary sampling and they don’t do it either (otherwise there would be a bunch of people who are not yet customers walking through the sampling center, etc.). Only after signing. Even though I expressed my concerns, he did not want to discuss it further. That really annoyed me a lot. In general, the advisor was rather a typical salesperson, in a negative sense. He mentioned some extra charges from the list, e.g. for a solar system, etc.
When I order a new car at a dealership, I don’t sign for the Porsche first and THEN look at what the standard equipment is and what the extras cost.

Since I have been reading in this forum for some time, I know from a reliable source that many house providers do offer this. Should we better distance ourselves from this targeted house provider now? He basically lied to our face, who knows what else he’s hiding?

Of course, we will get several more offers anyway; we are in no rush. If everything fits, we want to build in 2019. But the system was really our favorite and independent of the advisor, it still would be – if it weren’t for the issue of the missing preliminary sampling.

What are your experiences? Who has bought without preliminary sampling? Is it maybe possible to skip the advisor and talk to someone else from the company?

I have serious concerns. Afterwards, we have no "leverage," no basis for negotiation anymore and probably, who knows, how high additional customization costs...

There are all kinds. Some providers are very open and offer EVERYONE the viewing of the sample halls including price tags without any ifs or buts (for example, in the north we have eco Haus from Neumünster - highly recommended!). Others offer it to interested customers if they genuinely have an interest in building. Yet others offer, for example, everything that a certain building center offers. Then you can simply go there yourself and look at everything. (The selection is, of course, also the largest then).

Signing without a viewing of the sampling is somewhat like buying a pig in a poke. You really have to be able to see what you can get. If they don't want to, then just choose another company. Otherwise, at the very beginning, the sampling might be too early, or with such companies, wrongly timed, and is better suited to the more open companies with more transparency.

My opinion:
If a construction company has its own sample showroom and does not want a pre-selection, hefty surcharges will come later.

Our construction company gave us a list of companies they work with. There you could pre-select and also negotiate and settle directly with the companies, without the construction company charging extra.

Firstly: just because you claim to have read something about various preliminary samplings here, you do not know it from a "reliable source". I have read about 95% of the posts here in this forum over the last 3 years most of the time – so those exact statements about preliminary sampling must have actually "escaped" me. Could you link one or two or send them to me via PN? In that respect, he did not lie to you either.

Edit: except for open samplings in construction and specialist centers.

When you order a new car, you also don’t walk through a showroom where all upholstery options and equipment variants are displayed. There are 2/3 models... it’s the same with a BU, except that it either has only 1 house or a sample park. A house is simply not a configurational item. You can get the prices for all features and special equipment – if he doesn’t give you the individual positions, I would avoid him as a partner.

If I could choose customers as a home builder, I would not take you. There is too much distrust behind it for me, which is not good for a partnership.

Who are we talking about?


Best regards in brief

As a seller, I wouldn’t want to go through the whole process with everyone who might want to build in two years. Is the plot of land available and was this mentioned?