Sweden house: Selection criteria for wooden house manufacturers?

Hello,

we recently bought a dream property in a great location. There is currently a biocide- and asbestos-contaminated bungalow from the 60s on it, but in the long term a nice new building is to be created here. We want a Swedish house and already have very specific ideas for the floor plan and design. But what we – like many others – have difficulty with is choosing the right building partner.

Generally speaking: What are criteria that one should consider when making the choice?

The criteria I have in mind are:

Manufacturing quality/construction method:

[*]Wall structure: Every company promotes their wall structure as particularly good in the brochures, sometimes especially eco-friendly or healthy to live in, sometimes especially airtight, sometimes especially energy-saving. Ultimately, the question is: What difference does the wall make? The U-values are usually similar and one probably doesn’t feel the differences when living in the house. Correct?
[*]Assembly: Here the wheat is apparently separated from the chaff, horror stories can be found plenty in construction blogs. Assumption: With large providers, the premium segment gives a certain security, with regional providers with some luck you can see/talk to construction sites or builders. Ultimately hardly assessable in advance.
[*]"Real Swedish houses" partly do not comply with German standards, KfW subsidy eligibility is not guaranteed, spare parts are sometimes hard to get. German houses in "Swedish look" are not quite as authentic (windows don’t open outwards, fewer embellishments, etc.)

Heating technology:

[*]Every provider has their preferred system that the salespeople like to sell (currently often air-to-air heat pumps :rolleyes: ). Ultimately, every manufacturer so far has indicated that I can get what I want.
[*]The ventilation systems presumably don’t differ much.

Pricing

[*]After superficially comparing some larger and smaller, nationwide and regional providers, I get the impression: The same house in the same quality costs roughly the same in the end. Some manufacturers advertise with bargain prices, but then little is included in the standard and you have to upgrade heavily. Other manufacturers seem expensive at first, but much is already included. Large manufacturers spend a lot on marketing and their salespeople, but benefit from synergy effects and large quantities, so small ones are not necessarily cheaper.

Payment terms/financial strength

[*]Payment according to construction progress is usual. On the other hand, a large provider (sch...) entices with 90% of the purchase price only due after handover. I find that a great security because the provider is advancing payment and absorbs many risks. (Moreover, interim financing is not required.)
[*]With some providers, I found looking into the Federal Gazette sobering. If there is heavy over-indebtedness according to the balance sheet, it is hard for me to entrust such a person with the contract for a single-family house.

Sympathy:

[*]In the end, you have to feel comfortable with "your" provider. Advertising material and above all the person of the salesperson must convey security and sympathy. I believe the art is not to be lulled. In conversation, however, it becomes clear how critical questions are handled and whether the willingness for solution-oriented cooperation exists.

Experiences/internet reviews

[*]I find it extremely difficult to decide which online reviews and experience reports are genuine, which are the frustrated exceptions, and which are basically “bought”. Moreover, these are always just highlights, there can be outliers upwards or downwards everywhere.

I would be glad to hear from you: What have I overlooked? What are your "touchstones" for prefabricated house manufacturers? What were the decisive features for you as to why provider X convinced you?

Best regards
Stefan

Hello Stefan,

we are currently building a prefabricated house ourselves, namely with the company Gussek Haus. You can find my construction blog with decision criteria for choosing a provider and various other aspects as well as the construction diary if you Google "Gussek Haus ratgeberportal kigorosa."

But I can also address one or two points here again.

Assembly: Gussek Haus is one of the larger and at the same time relatively affordable prefabricated house providers. The assembly went smoothly and in a very short time with us (foundation slab: 1.5 days, house erection: 1.5 days, roof covering, finishing work and cleaning: 2.5 days). The assembly team consisted of five people, was well coordinated and seemed very professional. Since the construction site is near us, we were on site several times a day and could always address our questions and concerns directly. On the last day, we were invited by the site manager for the internal acceptance. Apparently, the assembly team receives a commission for good work. With us, there was only a slightly damaged interior windowsill and a missing shower board. Both will be delivered with the interior finishing.

Heating technology: I have also written about this in more detail. In short: after comparing all costs, our ranking is district heating, geothermal energy, and air-water heat pump. Regarding the ventilation system, we had a price difference of 15,000 euros among our three finalists, although not all were willing to completely exclude the ventilation system if it was not desired.

Pricing: I partly agree with that. We received very different price offers for the same house – even after cost adjustments. It is also crucial whether you need the best equipment in all areas or partly average is sufficient. In the latter case, it is important whether the provider offers products and services in both price categories.

By the way, our most relevant decision criteria were 1. provider size, 2. price-performance ratio, 3. construction time. Less important were the personal conversation, the impression in the model home park and the house factory, recommendation, and regional proximity.

Do you already know the prefabricated house compass? A look into it might also help.

Best regards
Kirstin

Thank you, Kirsten, for your detailed response. I read your construction blog with great interest.

Do you already know the Fertighaus-Kompass? A look into it might also help.

You mean the one from Capital? I found the older version (2018) with its categorization of assessments somewhat helpful, the newer one (2019) rather sparse, because in the end you only get to see the overall ranking. Experiences with the construction process and an objective evaluation of the quality of actually built houses are completely missing. The entire ranking is based on manufacturer information. As a house manufacturer, one could optimize their information materials and certifications so that a good rating comes out there, but the biggest mess could still happen on the construction site... (although there is probably a correlation between quality standards and quality). - By the way, Gussek Haus is completely missing from the Fertighaus-Kompass 2019.

Best regards
Stefan

Hello,

we recently bought a dream plot in a great location. Currently, there is still a biocide- and asbestos-contaminated bungalow from the 60s on it, but eventually, a beautiful new building is to be constructed here. We want a Swedish house and already have very clear ideas about the floor plan and design. However – like many others – we find it difficult to choose the right building partner.

Speaking very generally: What are the criteria to consider when making the selection?

The criteria I have in mind are:

Build quality/construction method:

[*]Wall structure: Every company promotes their wall structure in brochures as particularly good, sometimes especially eco-friendly or healthy to live in, sometimes particularly airtight, sometimes especially energy-saving. Ultimately, the question is: What difference does the wall make? The U-values are mostly similar, and you probably don’t feel the differences when living in the house. Correct?
[*]Assembly: Here, apparently, the wheat separates from the chaff, and horror stories in building blogs are abundant. Assumption: Large providers' premium segment gives you a certain security; with regional providers, you can sometimes be lucky to see or speak to construction sites or homeowners. Ultimately hard to assess beforehand.
[*]"Real Swedish houses" sometimes do not meet German standards, KfW funding eligibility is not guaranteed, spare parts are sometimes difficult to get. On the other hand, German houses in "Swedish look" are not quite as authentic (windows do not open outwards, fewer embellishments, etc.)

Heating technology:

[*]Every provider has their preferred system that salespeople like to sell (currently often air-to-air heat pumps :rolleyes:). Ultimately, every manufacturer has so far signaled to me that I can get whatever I want.
[*]The ventilation systems probably don’t differ much.

Pricing

[*]After superficially comparing some larger and smaller, nationwide and regional providers, I get the impression: The same house in the same quality roughly costs the same in the end. Some manufacturers advertise bargain prices, but then there is little included in the standard, and you have to heavily upgrade. Other manufacturers seem expensive at first, but much is already included. Large manufacturers spend a lot on marketing and their salespeople but benefit from synergy effects and large quantities, so small ones are not necessarily cheaper.

Payment terms/financial strength

[*]Payment according to construction progress is common. On the other hand, a large provider (Sch...) lures with 90% of the purchase price being payable only after handover. I consider that a great security because, in this case, the provider pays in advance and cushions many risks. (Moreover, interim financing is eliminated.)
[*]I found looking into the Bundesanzeiger disillusioning with some providers. If the balance sheet shows heavy over-indebtedness, it is hard for me to award a contract for a single-family house to such a person.

Sympathy:

[*]In the end, you have to feel comfortable with "your" provider. Advertising material and especially the person of the salesperson must convey security and sympathy. I believe the art is not to be lulled. But in conversation, it shows how critical questions are handled and whether there is a willingness for solution-oriented cooperation.

Experience/internet reviews

[*]I find it extremely difficult to decide which online reviews and experience reports are genuine, which are the frustrated exceptions, and which are practically "bought." Also, these are always just snapshots; there can be outliers both upwards and downwards everywhere.

I would be glad to hear from you: What have I overlooked? What are "touchstones" for prefab house manufacturers for you? What were the decisive features for you why provider X convinced you?

Best regards
Stefan

The agony of choice. You have to filter out.

Pick what is important to you.
Healthy living
Swedish look
KFW

For us, it was a passive house on a steep slope, wall structure didn’t matter.
If you like a Swedish house, I would say Swedish house, no look-alike, KFW doesn't matter.
You have to decide what is important to you.
Then sort out.

Air-to-air heat pump max in the passive house.

Our experience was the same regarding price.

Bundesanzeiger.
All insolvencies I have seen professionally had good balance sheets and still good ratings. It can happen quickly.

You have to feel comfortable with your provider.

Our neighbors live in an Eksjö Hus, Sweden original. A beautiful house. But the wooden houses from Fjordborg here in the settlement are also nice. Those from ccanhaus marlow seem somewhat cheaper, and probably are. With Eksjö there is everything genuinely Swedish, white aluminum gutters, wooden aluminum windows opening outwards, softwood interior doors...

Eksjö Hus, Sweden original

We also have a catalog from Eksjöhus; some houses can practically serve as a reference for the word "Swedish house." However, if you quickly search on Google, you will find several builders who apparently had bad experiences with the distribution for northern Germany (or are still in ongoing legal disputes). I recently met someone who worked in sales for this company, and the consensus was, "Everything delivered from Sweden is top quality, but what the construction team in northern Germany does with it unfortunately looks quite different."

That is too risky for me.

In general, genuine Swedish house manufacturers do not seem to offer turnkey construction, i.e., no comprehensive warranty from a single source. As a risk-averse prospective builder, I want to outsource as much trade and coordination risk as possible to the house manufacturer.