I am sure many of those owning or considering buying a property in Switzerland heard Swiss real estate agents say something like 'oh and this building will be built with high quality'. Especially often this is said about new houses and apartments. So what do they actually mean? Can someone perhaps explain this subject in simple terms?
That s/he doesn’t care about you, thinks you are a sucker, and will say anything, including this happy-crappy to get their commission.Don’t believe anything they say. Ask if they can prove it?
In terms of new builds it's nothing more than marketing but is a great opener for you to ask (demand) the build budgets or allowances. From this if you know what you are doing and the prices of things you can determine the build quality, ie a CHF30k kitchen is probably good in a 2.5 room holiday apartment but crap in a 4.5 room penthouse!
In reality, all building here is high quality compared to the rest of the world in terms of material and design. The quality of workmanship does vary but you do not have the issue of builders/developers cutting corners, substituting materials or not complying with engineering guidelines.
I don't think it's a meaningless statement, compare a newbuild here to anywhere in the rest of Europe and the quality is so much better. Perhaps Germany/Scandinavia is comparable however things like electrical fittings, levels of insulation, window quality, flooring, heating systems are really excellent as standard.
That said, it is a standard in Switzerland, so you shouldn't be paying extra for it!
It means that the toilet is in the main building and not a shed at the bottom of the garden.
As has been pointed out, it is meaningless in this context. During the planning phase of the build, the architect will be given a Swiss Franks per cubic meter price to work to and that determines the quality of the build.
I had a colleague who's brother was in construction and he actually once explained this to me. They can have two standards of construction here, Rental building standard and Owner building standard.
Buildings comprised of rental apartments can and often are of a lower or different standard in build quality than those built for buyers/owners.
The difference is the materiel used in the two types of buildings. Even with owner purchased properties you can easily cross the budget (over 100k) if you go for better quality materiel like kitchen equipment, tiles and sanitary parts.
The construction material should be the same due to SIA norm standards.
Actually now I am remembering her saying something like this in the same conversation. 'The building next door will be in rental quality', she said. Thanks.
As others mentioned, high quality is just sales people talk. But, curley pointed to something interesting: thermal and noise insulation. One common standard these days is Minergie :
The green credentials of Minergie are open to discussion but at least they care if the construction is well ventilated and has a proper thermal insulation. Quality is something measurable and not simply the sales people trying to convince that high quality equals to the most expensive kitchen countertop in the world.