Episode 12: The Day I Was Lured into a Hebel Haus by Baumkuchen

Hello.

After finishing our meeting with Clasys Home last time, we headed to a certain housing exhibition center for our next scheduled meeting with Misawa Home.


Since our meeting with Clasys Home ended earlier than expected, we arrived at the exhibition center a bit early.

The exhibition center we visited this time was different from the one we had been to before; it had a large number of model houses, and there were many names of construction companies I was hearing for the first time.

For us, having started to think seriously about building a home, the housing exhibition center was like a theme park.

We naturally found our eyes sparkling, thinking, "I'm curious about that one," or "I want to see this one too."

Since we still had some time before our meeting, we wandered around the exhibition center and decided to take a short break on a bench.

……However,the staff from each house manufacturer wouldn't leave us alone.

Every time we walked by, we were called out to by staff standing in front of the entrances to their model houses.

That said, if we went in too easily,we would have to fill out a questionnaire and be automatically assigned a sales representative,so we kept declining by saying, "We have an appointment."


However, in the midst of that, we ended up visiting one house manufacturer because of their invitation.

It just so happened that the model house had been newly built, and they were holding an opening commemorative event.

They said visitors would receive Baumkuchen and plastic wrap.

I was going to just walk right past, but
my wife said, "They have gifts, and I want to see the new model house," so we ended up going in.

That house manufacturer was—
Hebel Haus.At the time, my image of Hebel Haus was

"A house built by the wealthy"
"One of the highest price ranges among major house manufacturers."
Honestly,

"There is absolutely no way we will build here."
I thought.
(Even though I say that, I have gone to see Sekisui House, Daiwa House, and Sumitomo Forestry... haha)
Although I initially thought we should skip it,

"That's exactly why it might be worth a look for reference," I reconsidered, and since our time was limited,
I told them, "We'll just take a really quick look," and decided to go through with the tour.
When we went inside, because it was a new construction event, there were already many customers touring.
We were guided to a sofa in the living room by a staff member and filled out a questionnaire.


By the time we finished, a male sales representative in his mid-to-late 40s came to greet us.

His greeting was polite and calm, and my first impression was quite good.

After a brief hearing,

I told him, "We have a meeting with Misawa Home next, so please let us take a quick look," and he kindly agreed, so he began showing us around the model house.


As for the model house—
It was newly built, so naturally, it was clean and stylish.
It had the atmosphere of a "luxury home," and

"It's a house I admire, even if it's out of reach."
That was my impression.

By the way, the resident profile for this model house was
a family of four: a 50-something doctor husband and his wife, their 20-something medical student son, and their student daughter.
A medical student son...

"I wonder if he'll take over his father's hospital in the future," I thought while looking around, but
at this point, it already felt unrealistic (haha).

Well, of course, if it's a house like this, the children wouldn't move out and would live there together.
We are just ordinary company employees, so it was completely positioned as an "ideal home."
Returning to the tour, the sales representative's explanation was extremely polite.

While explaining in detail the building materials and specific highlights used in each room,

"If you were to live here..."


he spoke in a way that made us imagine our actual life there.

He was a sales representative who I felt was "Oh, this guy is good," as he naturally drew out our information in the process.
What left a particularly strong impression was Hebel Haus's "Sora no Ma."
"Sora no Ma" is a semi-outdoor space born from the idea of "opening up" the ceiling of a second-floor living room, a veranda-like space that can be used like an indoor room.

You can spend time feeling the light and wind, and you don't have to worry about the eyes of those around you.
I felt it would be very attractive for children to play or for the family to relax.
However, it was a bit different from my wife's ideal of wanting a large garden, so I had the impression that it didn't quite match the direction of our home building.


With that, while we were receiving such overly polite explanations, the time for our meeting with Misawa Home approached.

"Excuse me, it's about time for us to go..."

I said, but

he held us back, saying, "Just a little longer," and the explanation continued until the very last minute.

At the point where I thought, "I really can't do this anymore," I left the model house with a feeling of, "Please, give me a break."


Just before leaving,

"Could you come back after your meeting?"
he pushed quite hard, but we politely declined.
And that night.

We received a phone call from the Hebel Haus sales representative.

Along with thanking us for visiting,
"I would like to explain the performance of the house again."
Indeed, we had spent too much time on the model house tour, and there was almost no talk about performance.


When I checked with my wife, she said,
"I'd like to go."

So,
"We'll go, but the possibility of us building with Hebel Haus is extremely low, you know?"
I told him honestly, and he replied,

"I am grateful just to be given the chance."



I was a little surprised by those words, so we adjusted our schedule and decided to go hear what he had to say at a later date.

The sales representative who was in charge of us this time was quick to act.
Although he was a bit pushy, he was the type to make suggestions just one step before we would feel "I don't like this."
His personality was good, and I felt the sense of security and knowledge expected of a veteran.
How did Hebel Haus, which I thought had "an extremely low possibility of us building with," influence our home building?I will write about that next time.Thank you for reading until the end.