A couple of weeks after
our trip to the architect, we went to see our first building company. The
company in question is a small, family-run company located in the town where
our land is situated. In fact, they are one of only two building companies in the
town, the other having been initially shortlisted but then removed from our
list as we realized that we’d been a bit blinkered by them being local and
that, on second inspection, we didn’t actually like any of the houses that they
had built.
We met the remaining
building company in the small village
that they keep in the town, which comprises a number of rather beautiful and very
old buildings that they have restored and used to showcase their work. As we
headed through the village to their office, we noticed the wide array of
different wood types on display and their apparent expertise at reusing and
reclaiming old materials. The oldest building was particularly beautiful.
We sat with K, the son of
the owner at a table in their office and he asked us about the land we had
bought. We told him about our plot and he quickly recognized it, having been
there previously with some other potential buyers. This made us feel rather
good, almost as if we had a bit of a head start even if the vindication for
‘going local’ was merely confirmation bias.
Together, we ran through
the usual questions about our plans and our budget and what was most striking
was how easy the conversation proved to be. Not only was K insightful but he
was also kind and understanding and struck a perfect balance between asking us
questions and explaining both the area and the process. It was such an easy
conversation and it felt like we were making lots of progress, learning a great
deal at the same time.
Perhaps the most exciting
aspect of all of this was that K actually speaks good English and has worked
with foreign customers before. His willingness (and lack of fear!) in speaking
English really helped me in particular to feel comfortable about what we were
discussing. T, the architect we had seen a couple of weeks previously, had been
great at using technical terms in English but this was a different level
entirely. K could actually explain things in English!
The company itself builds
exclusively wooden houses and also specializes in the importation and
installation of British and Canadian wood burning stoves. It was pretty cold
outside when we met them so the smell and the warmth from the stove burning
next to us was especially appealing. Quite the sales technique perhaps but we
were quickly sold on the notion of having one in our house if we built
something made of wood.
We were shown lots of
different types of wood in a rather novel way. Rather than just getting out
samples to show us, we just walked around the old building with K pointing out
different woods being used for floors, walls, ceilings etc. Where the architect
had been less forthcoming in terms of pricing, K would tell us the relative
cost of everything and where people tend to use each type. Cheap woods were
frequently designated as being for the ‘kids’ room’ with more expensive materials
for the living room or study.
We passed through the
large tatami room, impressed by the dark exposed beams made out of wood that
was over 100 years old, and onto their kitchen display. We talked about the
large Japanese kitchen makers and how they tend to change their parts and
fittings regularly, use poor quality synthetic products and give an illusion of
customizability despite actually restricting you to a pretty narrow set of
choices.
K, on the other hand,
said that they would produce a simple, custom kitchen to our specifications
using real materials and German parts for durability. Of course this was a
sales pitch of sorts but there was no pressure and no hard-sell. What he said
made sense and we liked what we saw but it was too early to tell how this would
stack up against alternatives. What did make a difference, however, was when he
told us that a previous couple had installed their own Italian kitchen and that
they had simply prepared the space for them.
This was a really
positive sign. One of the things that we were most wary of in talking to
builders was getting trapped into all sorts of agreements where we must use
Supplier X or Product Y. Japan is notorious in the building trade as something
of a racket with kickbacks and commissions elevating both the price of building
and the builder’s profits. “We’ll design something but you don’t have to use
it” was certainly a good thing to hear.
When we’d finished up, we
discussed the notional next steps which would be to meet again with their
in-house architect and discuss our plans and ideas in more detail. They also
suggested that we go and visit a house that they were building. Completion was
scheduled for 3 weeks after our meeting so we tentatively blocked the date in our
diaries.
We said our goodbyes and
headed off to the station, turning down the offer of a lift so we could walk
and discuss as usual. Whilst we still had no idea exactly what type of house we
could or would build with K, we both absolutely agreed that we could work with
them and that the experience had been overwhelmingly positive, even fun.
One thing that was
starting to becoming clear to us was that the personal relationships between
the company and the client are really important, perhaps even more so than the
process through which the house ultimately gets built. We had started to think
less in terms of architect v builder and more in terms of who we wanted to
share this process with. Evidently, we had some more thinking to do!
