New Home Prospect Interview

John Kaltenbach met with a prospective client this week. They had found John Kaltenbach Homes on the internet as they were firing a local production builder they had hired to build a standard floorplan on the owners lot (which is a little unusual.) Through various emails and phone conversations over the last year, it was apparent communication could be a problem.

The previous builder had actually taken ownership of their land to build the house. Most custom builders build on the clients lot and have them provide their own construction financing. The attorney they used to sue the builder to get their land back called a week or so before the meeting to let John know the meeting would be at his office.

Most of the talk of the meeting was about custom building versus production homes from a stock plan. The prospects settlement with the previous builder included a license to build the home. It was not a bad floorplan, and suited the family well.

When price came up, the prospects seemed surprised at the cost of a custom home builder. The amounts they were ballparking from the previous builder were very lowball, and not very upfront. Because John Kaltenbach always makes sure to pre-qualify the prospect before ever meeting them, it was disappointing that they were talking about numbers that were far below the range he had both emailed them and told them on the phone.

Looks like this is not going to be a relationship that goes any further. Too bad everyone's time was wasted and the potential buyer had to pay their attorney a couple hours in legal fees. They should have stayed with the other builder.