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

Why would you even go so deep into the bidding without having had the construction specification beforehand?
We always made sure to receive the construction specification before the appointments, that way you know what you're dealing with.

Well, in 99% of the construction specifications it probably just says 1 washbasin in the bathroom or 4 sockets in the hallway, etc. that doesn't help you except for a direct performance comparison in a standard style.
But that still says nothing about the surcharge if you want a few visually appealing items.

Of our 5 favored construction companies, only one offered us a preliminary sampling before signing the contract, another had advertised that we could submit the EAN number and they would take care of the offer/order.

Whether that depends on the salesperson I don't know, but he was under pressure since we had basically already decided.
But it was the right move, he even accompanied us to the sampling center and was able to give us approximate prices.
Advantage for us, of course, also with the bank since we knew what extras we wanted.

"according to the homepage"
In our 3 equipment centers you can design your dream house. Our equipment experts advise you and plan everything down to the smallest detail. Even before signing the contract, you can visit our equipment centers; just make an appointment with your building consultant.

ps. we already had the plot, that was always the first question in the model settlements.. that pissed me off because it really felt like you only existed if you had a plot in prospect.

I was solely concerned that without a construction service description or a known scope of services, it is not or hardly possible to communicate with a provider. Additional charges are of course another matter.

If it is a small provider with only 50 houses a year, they probably won't have a showpiece sampling center. Because to keep it up to date, suppliers must regularly come by and exchange the samples. Whether this is worthwhile with such small quantities is debatable. That may be a reason for this dismissive attitude towards samplings.

The main thing is that I can get an idea before signing whether I am fine with the standard and if not, roughly what the extras cost.

You should definitely do that. We had several providers include all individual prices bindingly in the offers, whether it was a single window, a specific floor, a staircase in a certain design, color of the exterior plaster, a flat rate for 50 additional sockets, or anything else. They all did it without any problems!

Besides, if I were you, I would request all prices or brands of installed items.

Absolutely. Especially since well-known brands also have their cheap lines. Perfect for advertising: I have sanitary fittings from XY !!!! ... PS: Unfortunately only the cheapest line available. It’s worth taking a close look at what is actually being offered.

Yes, I hope so too. Thanks for the tip about the prices. At least, for example, he already said yesterday that the price for tiles up to €25/m² is included. And he also mentioned some items from the list — for example, what the solar system would cost, what the chimney would cost, etc.

You should, as mentioned above, fix all surcharges and options with prices in writing! This includes in detail what a single window costs, alternative flooring per square meter, a burglary protection standard RC X, and so on. This is no challenge for the providers if they design the house in software that automatically calculates the price of the equipment in the background.... It’s all possible, they just have to want to do it ;- )))

Ah, I overlooked that this is a company building 50 houses per year.
They usually have all kinds of fittings on a _small_ scale, such as doors, window frames, interior doors, handles, bricks, etc.
In our BU, everything fit into 20 sqm, otherwise please make appointments with the craftsmen...
The rest is arranged with the respective craft companies, provided it is changed by the construction service description.
For example, €25/sqm tiles up to 30/60 included, sampling in every specialist shop, surcharges for stainless steel rails and others with the tiler, surcharge for sockets e.g. €40, with the electrician himself €30... the smaller BUs usually have no interest in dealing with the "small things": either hefty surcharges or delegation to the SUBs.
So I am surprised that this BU even has a sampling center....
like e.g. Viebrockhaus: there you can wander around in a hall... everywhere the price for standard bathroom plus or exclusive is displayed...
for clinker there is a wall with different types of clinker, everywhere the surcharges.
Others do it so that you get a CD showing 20 different tiles...

I wouldn’t want that at all, pure authoritarianism, adapting to the standard mainstream

Regards, Yvonne

ps. we already had the plot, that was always the first question in the model settlements.. that pissed me off because it really felt like you only mattered if you had a plot in sight.

I consider that a misinterpretation. It may be true that some providers use "already having a plot" also to filter out serious builders from dreamers and those who just want to look. But above all, "existing plot" also means "framework within which it can be built", while plots offered by the provider are checked for suitability for the models they have in their program. And by the way, "is an apple turnover (uh, a plot) still coming?" is a question of whether one can still make a profit on the plot.

Thanks for your recent replies! Somehow I didn’t receive any notification about them and only just saw them by chance.

So we are generally satisfied with the standard. But still, I want to know it beforehand and possibly the extra costs if we do want to deviate sometimes. How much that could be... that simply depends on what the house itself costs. We don't want to exceed the overall budget; in case of emergency the house will rather be a bit smaller. We are definitely not people who need everything extra large and extra great. We are currently living on 98m2 of pure living space and have absolutely no space problems. The equipment was normal after first occupation, which is completely sufficient for us—and it would be the same in the house.

Currently we are in talks with Rensch-Haus. The consultant is very open, seems knowledgeable, and a pre-selection—also together with her; we could even ride along with her (3h one way)—is no problem at all.
Talks with 3 other providers are scheduled (Bien-Zenker, Schwörerhaus, Finger); let’s see how they are.

All in all, from the overall impression and also regarding price transparency, just a huge difference compared to the other provider, now with Rensch-Haus, where we already came out with a good feeling after the first conversation. No “sales talk,” but everything structured, competent, many practical suggestions were given, and detailed advice provided.