Which House maker would you recommend for my budget?

9 comments

1. What is making you confused? Just go look at a few model houses and see which ones seem to suit you and your family the best. Talk money early to manage expectations (25-35 million is not that much)

   On your budget, you might want to consider bunjo houses (maker buys the land, builds a number of houses on them and then sells them to people) rather than chumon (to-order) houses

2. Depends on your preference, but I’m really like 一条工務店 for their ZEH built.
   There are many house maker who built ZEH but I believe ichijou koumuten is the chepeast one, 35 million should be enough.
   Downside is they have quite limited option on the design and floor plan.

   If you prefer energy rather than design, you can google what is ZEH and I believe 一条工務店 is one of the best on that field.

3. We were very happy with Panahome post 3/11 Miyagi. 32m, 2 story, 4 LDK w/solar. Prepared to work in Japanese, (Partner Japanese) they sent in flawless English speaking staff. 6 month wait for concrete, after the foundation was in, 7 steel furnished/finished modules were assembled over 2 days and we moved in 1 week later. Can’t recommend them enough.

4. we build a custom 38坪 (128 sq meter) house for 18M yen (we paid 17M because of gov subsidy for new houses) in  June 2022 (completed in march 2023). build by はじめ建設. they and their group of companies also build most of the pre built houses in Japan (I think they even own their own forrests to keep cost down ). we also looked at others but they started at 25M yen   

   house is certified with 耐震３級(earthquake resistance) and 断熱性５級(2022 insulation level). AC is on 24/7 in our 55 sq meter living room (to keep dog happy). monthly  elec cost for AC was about 2500 yen in summer and 3000 yen in winter. we’re in Osaka.       

   nothing fancy like floor heating. we just wanted basic stuff  anyway, their home page if you want to take a look:

      https://www.hajime-kensetsu.co.jp/commitment/02/ 

    this year also there is gov subsidy (0.8-1M yen) for new houses. for people with children or couples under 39

   https://kosodate-ecohome.mlit.go.jp/

5. RemindMe! 1 day

6. Open House

7. Recently built with Ichijou and couldn’t be happier. Modern floor heating, solar, triple pane windows, great insulation, great finish, no sales BS, the whole shabam

8. I can recommend suumo’s “Suumo Counter” service where they take into consideration your budget and priorities and set you up with a short list of builders (including smaller koumuten) that fit the bill. They introduced us to [Kakizawa Homes](https://kakizawa-sc.co.jp/) who we ended up selecting and have been extremely satisfied with. They’re a local Kanagawa builder but also build houses for Sumitomo Ringyo. The houses they build themselves are of similar quality at a fraction of the cost.

9. First, decide on either a House Maker ハウスメーカー, or local house builder “komuten/工務店”. The local house builders will be cheaper and more customizable. The house makers are the very expensive ones like Daiwa House, Panasonic, and even Ichijo-komuten 一条工務店 (their name can be misleading). Though Ichijo-komuten is on the lower price range of “house makers”.

   For a comparison, google ハウスメーカーと工務店 違い

   With that said, for your budget, you could do either one. It’s really dependent on size and style. If you want to save while maximizing floor space and features, go with the local guys in your area. If you really want something fancy and money isn’t much of an object to you, go with a house maker.