Because we are building a house from nothing, basically, the number of choices we were forced to make was sometimes overwhelming. If we had bought a house already built, we would have simply looked at what was there, decided what we didn’t like, and then replace it all. If the house was being built according to a builder’s plan we would have seen what was available and haggled over what we did want and what we didn’t. In a sense, A-1 was close to this model, but the main reason we chose them is because there were many more options involved, and not just in terms of design. But our salesman, N, did try to push certain items on us, presumably because he and and A-1 would get a cut of anything they sold. We’ve already talked about the visit to House Tec, the housing supply and service company that A-1 deals with, and how because of our budget we were limited to certain fixtures and facilities we didn’t really care for. Fortunately, we held our ground on the bathroom sink (no plastic vanity, which is A-1’s default), but were not as forthright with the bathtub and the kitchen cabinets. We ended up getting a unit bath, which we don’t like, but that probably couldn’t be helped because the custom made baths we checked out were very expensive, and we’re not really bath people, anyway. The cabinets may have been a mistake, though. When we went to House Tec to pick them out, because of our budget we were shown only the cheapest line, and we took it without really asking. Had we spent a little more we could have gotten better stuff–i.e., drawer cabinets instead of the conventional door types.

But for other fixtures we decided to tell A-1 that we would go about it ourselves, and not just because we thought it would be cheaper. For instance, the initial estimate included all lighting fixtures, which A-1 would purchase through its agent and then pass on to us. They told us outright that they could buy these fixtures cheaper and we believed them, but we have some lighting fixtures already that work fine and look OK, so it seemed like a redundant expense. In any case, we don’t like the kind of garishly bright overhead lights that Japanese people favor, so while we did have rosettes installed in the ceiling, most will be equipped with fans, not lights. A-1 gave us a catalogue of one of their lighting suppliers and we looked through that and then went on line and purchased the fixtures that we needed ourselves. They were sent to our apartment so we will just bring them over to the new house to have them installed when the electrical work is done. Read More