The annual online mystery shopping study by Interconnection Consulting on the service performance of German prefabricated house manufacturers reveals a worrying trend: Manufacturers increasingly take more time to respond to email inquiries. The quality of responses is declining, despite an improved initiative in follow-up.

As part of the study, a total of 98 prefabricated house manufacturers in Germany were contacted via email with specific inquiries about a construction project. The results show a significant deterioration in the companies’ response times. While last year 64.6% of manufacturers responded within 24 hours, this year only 26.9% did so. The average response time increased from 1.9 to 2.9 working days.

The inquiry included questions on various aspects, such as energy-efficient and ecological construction. However, only 43.0% of the companies answered all four questions, compared to 50.0% last year. Particularly alarming is that one in four manufacturers (25.8%) did not answer any of the questions asked. However, companies like Danwood, Nordhaus, and Luxhaus stood out positively in answering the questions and in the quality of their responses.

Improvement in Follow-Up Falls Short of Expectations

Although the follow-up rate of prefabricated house manufacturers has improved, it remains alarmingly low. The follow-up rate improved to 25.8%, compared to 17.7% last year. This improvement, while encouraging, still does not meet expectations for effective customer care. Ideal follow-up behavior would mean that over 80% of companies actively pursue the interests of potential customers. However, reality shows that only a quarter of prefabricated house manufacturers meet this standard. Companies like Rensch-Haus, Huf Haus, and Favorit, however, set outstanding standards in their closure orientation.

„The improvement in follow-up is encouraging, but we must not forget that it is still a critical point for the prefabricated house industry,” commented Panorea Kaskani, author of the study. “It is essential that companies continue to work on optimizing their customer care and ensuring that potential customers are adequately supported. Only then can they ensure long-term success and gain the trust of customers.”

The Austrian prefabricated house market successfully defied the decline in the completion of single and two-family houses in 2022 and grew by 7.9%. However, the further decline in construction dynamics will also result in a decline in the prefabricated house market, as a study by Interconnection Consulting pointed out.

In 2022 there was a decline of -5.4% in the completion of detached and semi-detached houses in Austria. Despite that fact, sales of prefabricated houses increased by almost 8%. In the coming years, the general decline in the completion of single and two-family houses will continue. In 2023, completions of single and two-family houses will plummet by 17%, which will ultimately also lead to a falling sales volume for prefabricated houses for 2023. In Austria, a decline in volume of 7.6% is expected for this year, which, despite sharp price increases, will even result in a drop in turnover in the industry of around 3%. The fact that the decline is not more pronounced is due to the increasing prefabricated houses proportion, which will even rise to 38.8% in 2023. In total, the market volume in Austria in 2022 was 1.3 billion euros.

 More price increases

The Ukraine war has created instability, resource shortages and is affecting the supply side of the economy. The enormous delays in the delivery of services drove the price increases even further. Therefore, on the prefabricated house market, prices increased by +7.3% in 2022, in 2023 prices are expected to increase by +5.1% and in 2024 by +3.9% compared to the previous year.

Turnkey trend

The preferred house type for prefabricated houses is the single-family house. In Austria, the share is currently 78.5%. This is followed by two-family houses with currently 4.9%. The rest is divided into terraced houses and “multi-storey residential buildings”. Frame construction dominates with a current share of 73%. With regard to construction stages, a trend towards “turnkey” can be observed. This stage of construction has shown a continuous increase in market share in recent years, which is currently around 41%. This trend goes at the expense of ready-to-build and ready-to-tile prefabricated houses.

Since Corona, hardly any prefabricated houses are sold without the Internet as the initial contact. The annual mystery shopping study by Interconnection Consulting on the German prefabricated house market shows that the full potential of inquiries from the Internet is by no means being exploited.

Quality of Responses Decreased

Even though the 100 German prefabricated house manufacturers contacted now respond quickly to the inquiries by mail, the quality of the answers leaves much to be desired. This year, the share of producers who responded to all four questions asked is 50%, whereas last year 72.6% of the prefabricated house manufacturers answered all four questions asked. Companies that took the time and answered the questions in detail were Danwood and Nordhaus.

Hardly Any Focus on Closing the Deal

“The potential of the Internet for customer acquisition is only utilized in the rarest of cases,” says Panorea Kaskani, the author of the study. This is evident not only in the quality of e-mail responses, but also in follow-up. Despite the customers’ expressed interest, only about one-sixth (17.7%) of the companies dare to make another contact attempt, after the first e-mail contact. Only 15.5% of the manufacturers who sent information by post or electronically after the inquiry were interested afterwards whether there was further interest in cooperation (in the previous year it was 16.7%). Positive examples in this regard, which make an effort to conclude a business deal and follow up are here the producers Schwörer Haus and ScanHaus. Elk Fertighaus, Petershaus and Hartl Haus also shine with above-average scores for sales orientation.

Enquiries Are Quickly Answered

While the quality of responses deteriorated, the response of manufacturers to the enquiry improved slightly compared to the previous year. This year, for example, 80% responded to the initial contact by e-mail, compared to only 63.5% last year. Within the first 24 hours, 64.6% responded to the mail enquiry compared to 61.1% the year before. A positive development can be seen in the transmission of information. The percentage of manufacturers who sent information material rose to 60.4% (previous year: 56.8%). The transmission of an online catalogue and direct links with information are the most popular options.

Corona has given a further boost to online sales. However, Interconnection Consulting’s annual online mystery shopping test of the Austrian prefabricated house market shows that the potential of inquiries from the Internet is still far from being exploited.

Little Time Spent on E-Mail Enquiries

Although the 62 Austrian prefabricated house manufacturers contacted now answer the enquiries quickly, the quality of the responses has declined compared to last year. While last year 73% of the manufacturers responded to all four questions posed, this year only 66.7% took the time to answer all questions. Some positive companies that showed competence in answering all questions were Elk Fertighaus and Haas Fertigbau.

Hardly Any Follow up

Not only is there room for improvement in the quality of responses to e-mail inquiries, but there is also a need to get better in terms of follow-up. “The potential for lead generation is rarely exploited,” concludes Panorea Kaskani, the author of the study. Despite the customers’ expressed interest, only about one eighth (13%) of the companies dare to make a further contact attempt, after the first e-mail contact. “Especially when it comes to closing the deal, far too few manufacturers are still making a real effort,” explains Kaskani. Only 25% of manufacturers who sent information by post or electronically were interested afterwards whether there was further interest in cooperation. Companies that took advantage of the e-commerce potential of e-mail enquiries and acted with a high sales orientation were Griffner and Baufritz, among others. Zenker Haus and Malli Haus also shone with above-average sales orientation.

The Golden Rule is Increasingly Ignored

While the companies are taking less time to answer the questions, the response of the manufacturers to the enquiry has improved slightly compared to last year. This year, 72.6% of the manufacturers contacted responded to the first mail, compared with only 64.3% last year. However, the response within the first 24 hours has decreased slightly. The golden internet rule of a response within 24 hours was fulfilled by only 51.9%, compared to 54.0% in 2021. The average response time to an e-mail enquiry was 2.4 days this year and thus remained constant.

Contrary to expectations, the crisis caused by the pandemic in 2020 had no negative impact on the prefabricated house market in Germany. A total of 23,006 housing units were built in Germany last year using industrial prefabricated construction methods, 4.9% more than in the year before. Forecasts for the next few years are also looking positive, as shown in a new study by Interconnection Consulting.

The growing importance of moving from the city to the countryside is having a positive effect on the development of the prefabricated house market. The prefabricated house segment is growing more dynamically than the general new construction of detached and semi-detached houses. The prefabricated house rate, which has been growing steadily for years, rose from 20.8% to 21.5% last year. “The Corona crisis did not hinder market development in 2020,” says Daniel Kollar. Above all, the significantly higher market security, the prices already fixed at the beginning of the project, the fixed deadline and the minimised risk of delays ensure large growth rates in the prefabricated construction sector. The east of the republic shows the strongest growth dynamics.

Turnkey Will Soon Overtake Floor Covering Solutions

Although most houses are still sold as floor covered buildings (market share 39.1%), there is a clear trend towards turnkey projects. As early as 2022, turnkey houses will represent the largest market segment, the Interconnection study predicts. In the long term, the segment of shell-finished houses will grow the least, although there are still manufacturers who cater exclusively to this segment, such as Massa or ProHaus. In terms of construction type, timber frame construction continues to gain in importance. This is explained by the increasing focus on the sustainability factor. “Sustainable building is becoming more and more important for builders and wood supports this trend as a renewable raw material” says Kollar.

Room For Competition

The German prefabricated house market is growing so strongly that competition is not so much between individual manufacturers, but rather with other construction methods. Deutsche Fertighaus Holding as a group of Okal, Massa and Allkauf continues to dominate the market and was able to further increase its market share in terms of volume in 2020 with stable growth. Overall, the market concentration of the top ten companies last year was 42.4%, a little below last year’s figure.

The Austrian prefabricated house market was able to record strong gains last year despite the economic crisis. Especially in the second half of 2020, the market was able to more than compensate for the stagnation of the first six months and achieve growth of 5.9% compared to the year before. The trend towards prefabricated housing will also continue for the next few years, as shown in a study by Interconnection Consulting.

Despite the grim expectations for 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, the trend towards home ownership drove the demand for owner-occupied homes up. Furthermore, the need of young families in particular to move from the city to more rural regions in order to realise the dream of owning their own home with a fitness room, home office space and their own garden is increasing, explains Daniel Kollar, the author of the study. Overall, the prefabricated house market is growing faster than residential construction. The prefabricated house rate is also increasing from 23.2% in 2019 to 24.2% last year. The prefabricated house rate will continue to rise steadily over the next few years, reaching 28.4% by 2024 from today’s perspective.

Turnkey for Generation Y

All providers in the study mentioned a clear trend in favour of turnkey houses. Whereas ten years ago, shell-finish houses were the most popular stage of development, this segment is already lagging behind with less than a quarter of the market share. “The current generation of customers have grown up in an affluent society and do not want to spend weekends and holidays on a building site,” Kollar explains the trend towards turnkey houses. For Generation Y, sustainability also plays a major role in the purchase decision. The timber frame construction method will therefore continue to gain slightly in importance in the coming years. Overall, timber frame construction holds a share of 72.1%.

New Suppliers, Tougher Competition

In general, last year saw a slight decrease in market concentration. The cumulative market share of the top five companies fell from 36.1% to 35.1%. In the case of the top three companies, the decline was even more pronounced. This is mainly due to smaller suppliers strongly gaining market shares. The most important manufacturers are Elk Group, Haas, Hartl, Mischek and Wimberger.

The dramatic crash of the construction industry due to the Corona crisis can be felt in all EU countries and will also affect the prefabricated house sector. The prefabricated house market in Europe will therefore decline by 9.7% this year. After a further decrease in 2021, the market is expected to recover in 2022. Despite the drastic decline, the quota for prefabricated houses will increase across Europe, as shown in a study by Interconnection Consulting.

Throughout Europe, the prefabricated house rate will increase from 12.1% to 13.0% in 2020. In Western Europe, the rate will increase from 15.3% to 16.6% this year. The prefabricated house ratio is also set to increase marginally, reaching 7.5% in Eastern Europe. The trend, which has led to a steadily growing proportion of prefabricated houses in Europe for years, will continue during the Corona phase. Italy and Russia are two of the few countries with a negative development in the number of prefabricated houses in 2020. The country with the largest percentage of prefabricated houses is Sweden, with 81.3%. Contrary to the Europe-wide trend, sales of the prefabricated house industry in Germany will increase by 4.8%. In Austria too, a growth of 4.8% is expected this year. The largest growth rate during the Corona phase is expected in Spain. Between 2020 and 2023, Interconnection forecasts an average annual increase of 7.5%.

The Proportion of Single-Family Houses Continues to Grow

The European prefabricated house market is clearly characterized by single-family houses. With a market share of 75.1%, they dominate the market and show the lowest negative market growth compared to two-family houses (-10.6%) and multi-storey residential buildings (-19.2%), with a decrease of only 7.3%. Croatia has the highest single-family house rate for prefabricated houses at 95.5%. For comparison, the rate is 84.5% in Austria and 88.4% in Germany. Compared to most European countries, prefabricated multi-storey residential buildings are very popular in Denmark and represent 39.2% of the market.

Turnkey Solutions are Taking Up

In general, the shell finished and turnkey houses are developing better than floor covering houses. Overall, turnkey expansion is already dominating in many places. In Spain, the sales share of turnkey solutions is 86.3%. Turnkey solutions are also the most popular in Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, France, Great Britain and Italy. In Germany, however, the floor covering houses are just ahead. In Croatia, on the other hand, turnkey solutions are not at all popular and hold only 2.2% of the market. Cultural differences have a great impact on the construction method. While solid construction is an exception in Sweden and timber frame construction dominates with a share of 95.2%, it is conversely the solid construction that accounts for the lion’s share in Croatia with 87.9%. In Germany, solid construction shows a lower increase compared to timber frame construction. According to the study, solid construction is expected to increase in Austria, if only slightly.