Focus on 3.15 │ The quotation trap of the whole assembly company leads to the quality crisis. How do consumers avoid the pit？

According to the construction area or measured area quotation, determine the design scheme, sign the renovation contract, the owner can rest assured that the house will be handed over to the whole company? The answer is: NO!

On the eve of "March 15th" in 2022, beijing business today reporter took a set of two-bedroom old houses in Dongcheng District, Beijing with a building area of 62 square meters as the sample, and applied for quotations from five Beijing whole-fitting companies, such as Ai Space, Van Gogh Hakka Dress, Long Ding Decoration, Sanhao Tongchuang Decoration and Yishu Times. It was found that the quotations of all brands were very different, but the real problem was that different quotations also meant different quality.

Beijing business today’s "March 15th" special plan in 2022 —— "Revealing the whole package trap" (the third) tried to uncover the hidden quality crisis behind the quotation trap of the whole package company, and gave consumers five tricks.

Different quality behind different prices

Beijing business today reporter found that for the same 62-square-meter house, five whole-fitting companies offer different prices, and there are huge differences in the brand and quality of the main materials.

The main materials of the love space with the highest total quotation for the owners to choose are basically the first-line big names, such as the floor is nature and living home, the switch is Bull and Siemens, the furniture is customized by Sophia, the hood cooker is the boss and Fang Tai, the ceiling is AIA and Op, the tiles are Kyle Polo and L&D, and the toilet is Kohler.

The main materials for the owners to choose from for the Van Gogh Hakka clothes ranked second in the total quotation are also gathered in the first-line home brands, and there are many kinds, such as Kyle Polo, Oushennuo, L&D, Guanzhu, Enoch, Jin Yitao and Nobel, Lu Sen, Feimei, Life Home, Shiyou, Icon, Nature, TOTO, Wrigley, Huida and Faenza in the bathroom, and gold-medal kitchen in the cupboard.

The main materials provided by Sanhao Tongchuang Decoration with the lowest total quotation are not only one or two big brands, but also some unknown brands, such as Toyo Akiki and Gehlsen, Nanfeng Merrill Lynch, Boruisong and Yipin for wooden doors, and Oboya, Everbright and Senlu Dihao for cabinets. Even for big brands, the quality of materials used is low-grade. For example, the door panels of European cabinets are made of Aijiaban, which is an economical and practical door panel material made in China, with relatively low price and very general quality.

The main materials provided by Sanhao Tongchuang Decoration are mostly unknown.

For the products of the same brand, the whole assembly company often presupposes several grades, euphemistically for the owners to choose, which is often the lowest configuration when quoting. In actual operation, the designer persuades the owners to upgrade to a higher configuration, so the total price further soars. For example, Frank, a cabinet brand provided by Long Ding Decoration, is a typical non-mainstream brand, and the plates are divided into imported Aige board, imported Kronos State and domestic Lushuihe board. The price difference between domestic and imported plates is more than 20%.

Frank cabinets provided by Long Ding Decoration divide plates, cabinets and door panels into three grades, and the prices are quite different.

After construction, the owner is in a dilemma.

Quotation is only the first step for some assembly companies to get customers. After the start of construction, events such as additions, delays and low quality frequently occur. At this time, the owners fall into another trap of the assembly company and are often in a dilemma.

A typical case reported by beijing business today is that at the end of September 2020, Mr. Yin, the owner, signed an overall decoration package contract of nearly 100,000 yuan, including cabinets, wooden doors and other main materials, and a third-party supervision agreement of Qijiawang Qijiabao, stipulating that the construction period is 3 months, that is, from September 23 to December 23, 2020. However, during the construction process, items were continuously added, the project was inferior, and the construction period was seriously delayed. Until May 2021, it lasted for more than seven months and was still hopeless after being overdue for more than four months. Take the addition as an example: the niche took 600 yuan, only three pieces were built, and 1000 yuan was handed over to complete it; The kitchen ceiling is only part of the area, and the other part is handed over to 600 yuan; Stick imitation wood grain tiles, and temporarily charge 1000 yuan work fee; To make an air-conditioning bus, you need to add money alone, and charge 1160 yuan more; Change the network cable and overcharge 570 yuan; Do toilet air duct overcharge 1000 yuan.

It is not a case that a self-contained company like Jinsheng Decoration lures the owners with low quotation, and adds many items and poor quality after construction. "Because the operating costs of the whole assembly company include raising points, obtaining customer fees, rent, water and electricity, etc., the price cannot be too high, otherwise there will be no candidates, so the profit will not be too high, which is basically the average value of the market. Some whole assembly companies adopt the strategy of cutting in at a pure low price, and the quotation is very low. It is definitely necessary to discount the quality of the products. This is the usual routine of the whole assembly company." Pingchuan, a senior home improvement person, said, "The decoration company may not make money for the project that the foreman has contracted, but he is still willing to do it, because the decoration company has reserved a lot of room for the foreman to add items, so that the foreman can collect the owner’s fees separately in the later period."

Five secrets of avoiding pits in whole package consumption

How to avoid the quotation trap of the whole assembly company and ensure the construction quality? Beijing business today reporter summed up five secrets through multi-party consultation.

One is to look at the total price without looking at the quotation. For consumers, it is better to let the whole assembly company calculate the total price and compare it, no matter whether it is quoted according to the construction area and the measured area, or watching the package promotion of 588 yuan/square meter, 699 yuan/square meter, 766 yuan/square meter and 888 yuan/square meter. Among the five outfitting companies surveyed by beijing business today, Love Space, which has the highest basic package price, has the least increase in the total quotation, while the increase is the cost of building new walls, handling materials, changing the pipe table, changing the basin under the table, changing the water, etc., which belongs to the part that must be increased outside the basic decoration, and is not a malicious addition. On the contrary, the basic quotations of two or three other companies are much cheaper, and the total price is almost the same as the love space, which is quite deceptive.

The second is to sign a closed-door contract and refuse to add items. Any additions should be made clear in advance, and both parties will discuss and confirm that once the contract is signed, it will be strictly implemented, and any additions will be rejected. For example, 18 items that need to be added to the traditional package will be written into the standard package in advance, and the items that need personalized construction will be made clear in the contract, and there will be no additions after signing the contract.

Third, don’t listen to the word of mouth. Owners should know the reputation of the whole assembly company through various channels, such as neighbors, colleagues, friends and netizens. Their personal experience is the most convincing. If they do well, it will naturally be passed on by word of mouth. For those brands exposed by the media for quality, service and delivery problems, they should be careful to choose and complain to the media, which means that the company’s own service system cannot meet the needs of the owners.

Fourth, the price is not better than the quality. You can’t blindly pursue low prices, but you should know that "cheap goods are not good". If the price is similar, it is better than the size and quality of the brand. It is best to go to the offline store to compare the similarities and differences of product models, materials, series and styles. Only the home improvement channels are available, but the brands of other physical stores are carefully selected.

Fifth, don’t choose miscellaneous brands to choose brands. Brand is the superposition of word-of-mouth accumulated by enterprises through long-term honest operation. It considers from the perspective of consumers everywhere, and will not make quick money. Even if there are additions, it must be added. All of them are clear and will not be maliciously added. Among the five outfitting companies surveyed by beijing business today reporter, Love Space and Van Gogh Home Decoration belong to such brand companies. The main materials used are all big names in the industry, and there is not much difference in the quality of decoration. Therefore, no matter what different quotation methods they adopt, the final total quotation is almost the same, which is called "a penny gets a share".

Beijing business today reporter Kong Wenxie

Image source: screenshot of Sanhao Tongchuang and Long Ding Decoration Quotation.