Take money for free planning?

Exactly, and on the internet you then get them for a total price of 85, but without installation, purely dealer warranty and service.

Exactly, and on the internet you can get them for 85 total price, but without installation, just dealer warranty and service.

The 85 was only the surcharge between the cheapest included Toi in the offer and the next cheapest. I just wanted to show how the surcharges are there. It won't be like that everywhere, only there we noticed it exactly.

Where do you get this view from or what does he base his pricing on then?

Well, my statement was about his "you can't just charge a flat rate by square meters". I can understand where that comes from, according to your explanation, but I still think it's reasonable that he says "if your room is 20 m² instead of 15, the house does not become one quarter more expensive because there are many items that remain the same. Your house connections certainly do not get more expensive. The electrician then has to do a bit more chasing, needs a bit more cable, maybe you need an extra socket - that's your surcharge for a bigger room. But certainly not a flat one quarter more." That's roughly how he explained it to us and I thought that sounded fair. But you can only properly assess that once I've actually heard a number for our project. For that, the project would also have to be specified more precisely, and that's where it won't go further without plans.

The 85 was just the surcharge between the cheapest toilet included in the offer and the next cheapest. I just wanted to show how the surcharges are there. It won't be like that everywhere, it's just that we found out about it exactly there.

I only know it directly from the general contractor so far; we also paid, I believe, 125€ surcharge for another toilet. I don't really know how that was composed at that point. But you have to realize that you pay for the luxury of having a general contractor. One contact person for EVERY problem related to the house, no matter what it is. You just pay extra for that "service".

On the question of how it works without a sampling center, here is my report from March 9, 2017:

A bit of leftover vacation in March. We now had the sampling appointment. This morning at nine. Sampling at the medium-sized company. We are greeted by Mrs. L., the secretary with a coffee, Mr. K., the master carpenter, and Mr. R., the head of the masons and roofers. Mr. K. starts. In front of him is the construction plan of our house, next to him some laundry baskets with all kinds of stuff. Let’s get started. With the windows. He flips through the construction description. Ah, the ones from Poland. He rummages in a laundry basket, pulls out a profile sample. Veka, triple glazing, Roto fittings, Hoppe handles. You can also get the handles lockable, costs extra. But you only lose the keys, nobody needs that, and if the burglars want to get in, they get in anyway, it just breaks more... My wife scrutinizes the profile. Well, you can easily wipe the dirt off, right. And colored, she asks? Mr. K. dryly. Yeah, possible. But it is a waste of money, it looks no different when looking out... So it stays white. It goes on in that style with the interior doors (Jeldwen white), with the exterior window sills he reaches his top form. Yes, they are aluminum, white or nothing at all. He grins. And inside? Laundry basket. Granite slabs come onto the table. Four pieces. Two immediately disappear again because polished high gloss. That’s fussiness, there are flowers standing on them anyway, he reasons. My wife chooses one of the remaining ones. Bang, next. The roofing king chimes in. You. I have to leave immediately, want to check the roof first? He takes us outside. There lies a package from Braas with sample tiles. He picks out three. These, those, or those are allowed in the building plan. We pick the dark red one. Gloss coating against moss? Doesn’t help at all, there are no trees here. In standard German. You don’t need it, where you are building there are no trees at all. Okay, convinced. Roof is done. He leaves. Next inside. Front door, says Mr. K., that’s such an issue. So, here are the panels from Rodenberger, from K1 to K6 is without extra charge. The long handle costs 100 extra. The very long one 250,- But that one is no good, it’s flimsy. If then the one for 100,- We flip through. That one is good, he assesses. Stable, timeless, with K5 in the price okay, has some glass, lets a bit of light into the hallway, but not a department store door either. Bang... that’s it. Now the interior staircase, he judges... Yes, you take beech, it is a hard, quiet wood. It is painted with parquet lacquer, then it is also durable. And as a railing here a handrail with metal bars. He grins., done. Does it go differently? White? Mmm, he shakes his head. It is possible. But... it costs more, must be painted and sanded and filled more often. And I mostly get those in the house without scratches, that means rework. You can see on his face what he thinks of white stairs. I give in. Beech, parquet lacquer. Matt. Then he decides with my wife where the towel radiator should go. Here or there! And how and where tiling will be done... bang, done. Oh yes, the facade... we’ll do it like the garage, right? That’s then all almost and seamless. Base a little bit anthracite offset, everyone does that. He rummages some color samples for the base out of the basket. Yes, that will be it. Sampling at the medium-sized company. Two hours, one coffee, and not a penny extra paid. PS Tiles: He sends us to Tiles Harry in Lübeck: Pick something out there for 25,- net/sqm.

You can do it that way, but apart from the dialect and the fact that the surcharge screw wasn’t turned at any cost, I don’t find it very likeable. I think you shouldn’t push anything on the customer (well, in the end you probably wouldn’t have accepted everything you didn’t want at all, I know you too well here for that) and certainly not smirk at them. I think you should consider the customer’s wishes as best as possible and not steer them towards your own standard that suits you best. But well, tastes differ.

I did exaggerate it a bit. but the tenor was like that back then. Maybe the unspoken goal was also: Let's not hinder the construction progress, let's steer the customer so that we can take what we have or can order on short notice.... anyway, in the end it all turned out well.