A house "off the shelf"? Prefabricated houses have discarded this negative image. Because there are many options for fulfilling individual wishes. However, interested parties also ask themselves the question: What about advice and service? A test will tell.
The German Institute for Service Quality has looked into the question of how things are in terms of advice and service from suppliers when it comes to prefabricated houses. Result: With 69.6 points, the prefabricated house suppliers only just missed an overall good result. While the on-site advice and the online service are convincing, there are weaknesses on the phone and in e-mail inquiries. Eight companies achieve the quality rating "good", three are satisfactory and one provider does not get more than an adequate result.
Professional advice in the model house
The companies show their strengths in the on-site consultations: In an attractive environment, the construction experts provide friendly, motivated and understandable advice. They take a lot of time for interested parties and answer all questions in the test correctly and competently. The advantages and disadvantages of prefabricated houses are also comprehensively presented in 80 percent of the consultations. A drop of bitterness: The financial background or the personal ideas of the customers are not always specifically asked.
While most websites score with extensive useful content on the subject of prefabricated houses - for example on construction, energy efficiency or funding opportunities - there are service deficits on the phone and especially with e-mail inquiries. Almost every second call to the hotlines is unsuccessful on the first attempt. There is no lack of competence here - all questions are answered correctly. However, the information is often superficial and not very individual.
Four providers didn't even answer half of the email inquiries during the test period: "insufficient". Markus Hamer, Managing Director of the German Institute for Service Quality, advises: "A visit to the show house is practically essential for interested parties. Not only to get a visual impression, but also to get good advice. To prepare for the conversation to recommend the websites of the providers as a source of information."
Fingerhaus emerged as the test winner with the quality rating "good" from the study. In the consultations in the show homes, the very friendly, motivated employees go into detail about the advantages and disadvantages, provide needs-based answers and ensure the best consultation experience in comparison. In addition, the website offers a very high information value and the best e-mail processing in the test is quick and individual.
Second place goes to Schwörerhaus (quality rating: "good"). On site, the employees are very confident and usually answer questions about the prefabricated houses in full. On the phone, the advisors provide understandable information and solve the caller's concerns in a simple manner. Schwörerhaus is also making a name for itself with its online service thanks to an informative website.
Scanhaus Marlow is in third place, also with a good result. The company offers the best on-site advice in comparison: The very competent employees always answer questions completely, respond very individually to the wishes and ideas of the customers and present very good solution proposals. The handed out offer documents are also well structured.
(This article was first published on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.)
