We’re in the final stages of choosing a house builder between Sekisui Sharwood and Mitsui Home, and I’d love to hear your experiences and advice. We’ve already got our land and are planning to build a three-story wooden house for our family of four.
I’m was leaning towards Sekisui based on their reputation for quality and modern designs. However, Mitsui is offering some great options that are very practical for comfort.
Here’s what we’re considering:
– Mitsui Home: The central heating system is a big plus, which Sekisui can’t do without sacrificing wall space. Their pricing is also competitive (overall 10% lower) and their sales rep seems genuinely honest and responsive. However, we’re concerned about the build quality, particularly the interior, which feels cheaper compared to Sekisui. Also, Mitsui’s design seems more traditional whereas Sekisui seems to be more modern.
Mitsui seems practical for our needs, but I want to ensure I’m not missing any critical factors. Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
by CGekko
4 comments
I would strongly recommend Mitsui Home for that exact reason there central heating system, it was a bit expensive than, we built our house 14 years ago, but it was well worth it. We don’t have any Air con units it comes through the ventilation shafts. Our Mitsui home rep was also a great guy, who we are still in contact with. I come from the UK where order made houses are very rare, but we really enjoyed the whole experience of building our own home.
Can you upgrade the interior? I went with a low-cost builder that got the basics right and then had them get rid of wallpaper, do a completely custom lighting plan, swap out cheap cabinets, etc. for carpenter made ones, etc. It still ended up an affordable home and I feel like I got the best of both worlds.
Went with MH.
Our first and likely only home build. It was a nerve-racking year as I am sure it would have been for us regardless of maker. Language was not an issue (we speak Japanese). In fact, I think they may have assigned a one bilingualish team member as a courtesy but frankly I think I might have preferred just be their best members regardless of language ability. It was strenuous, and there were some MH quirks (limitations on materials or finishes, fixtures, components, where the cost difference between ‘their primary supplier’ and what we really wanted was pretty steep – eg their interior doors vs the nicer interior doors we might have liked from another national supplier, etc.) that were sometimes frustrating, and there were at times some team members personalities traits/approaches made me grumble. That said, it was just tough doing everything for the first time for us as first timers (I’m sure I was not the ideal client either – I tend to get in the weeds and also had some specifics requests regarding some more modern aspects of the build I wanted, and I felt they probably had a hard time following what I was telling them – not due to language but to lack of knowledge of modern smart homes/wiring/networking, etc. in this respect I think I was niche but would have liked a little more savviness). Also, working through the initial layout choice presented and getting it to where we wanted it, took quite a bit of time as well (as well as learning home much control we had and what exactly we wanted at the same time). The schedule was tight and I think they were over exerted at the very end mostly related to ‘finishings’ here and there.
Nevertheless, although stressful we really appreciated the team and truly feel they sincerely cared about us. The initial salesman going out of his way to contact the land seller and negotiating a discount and despite having to pen to paper with him at the time and just trying to build goodwill with us, to team members coming out of their way to personally drop some samples by our old house, inviting us to evenings out together with our family to outdoor art exhibits and events, etc. coming over to visit after move in. Send handmade birthday cards to the kiddos etc. They sometimes went extraordinarily beyond expectations and well always be grateful for the care they gave us.
And although this detail oriented customer has a long list of minor fixes here and there for them to address after our move in, they have been great at addressing them a day here and there at a time with a team of workers.
All in all, we really love our MH house. The stress and anxiety part is over and at the end of the day, they help guide us to make decisions which at the end of the day we feel our ours and have nearly zero misses. They also helpfully rationally guided us away from some things we obviously didn’t need or weren’t worth the tradeoffs for us. The areas we splurged on we are happy we did and I can say I think the only thing we feel we obviously missed on was the color of one curtain in the house. Lol.
Regarding central air. I didn’t realize how wonderful a quality of life benefit it is. It is just comfortable house-wide all the time. I love it. We trusted that with it we wouldn’t need underfloor heating, or the unit heater etc., and that has been confirmed by living in it. I’m glad I trusted their guidance there. Our unit does take up a small closet upstairs to take care of the whole house) but I am so happy we got it.
Sekisui can work with central heating. I’m not sure what you mean by sacrificing wall space? When I inquired with them regarding it, they said my current design would be fine with it, just the cost is crazy.
We opted not to do it, because it’s just too expensive anyway. Our second floor in the winter the floor heater handles everything, and in summer the downstairs is cool enough anyway that we don’t need AC there. I guess my only complaint would be the bath area is kinda cold? Otherwise, there’s really been no noticeable issue without it.
We talked with a lot of home builders. The only ones that made our short list were Sumitomo Ringyo and Sekisui house. Sekisui house was extremely flexible with design, and has a line up of award winning architects we were allowed to choose from. If you’re just looking for a basic design I guess other places are fine. The only thing we ultimately didn’t like about Sekisui House was just their package deals with places like Lixil and Kitchenhouse didn’t cover the layouts we wanted without it costing an arm and a leg. The architect though helped us find design compromises for them that were reasonable.
Sekisui house also has one of the longest, and also transferable, warranty with their house, which a lot of other places don’t have. After care was great. Anything wrong, person’s here same or next day looking at it and if it was easy enough fixing it. Anything that couldn’t be fixed on the day was fixed within the week.
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