Frequently asked questions

Of course. Call us or use the contact form, and a licensed architect or site supervisor will answer you directly, so technical questions get answered on the spot rather than passed along.

Both have real strengths. The imported line uses platform-frame construction, which gives strong insulation and airtightness out of the box. Wood-frame custom construction gives you more freedom in the floor plan, including layouts closer to traditional Japanese-style rooms. We are licensed to build and service both lines ourselves, so we can walk you through the trade-offs against your household's lifestyle rather than steering you toward one product.

Photos and floor plans from past projects are one way. We also hold open-house tours at homes under construction, with the owner's permission, so you can walk through the actual materials and room proportions before deciding.

The site survey, the initial interview, and the rough estimate are all free. You only sign a construction contract once you're satisfied with the plan, and we never ask for money before that point.

We're centered on Sasebo City, and we regularly work across Nagasaki and Saga prefectures. If you're outside that range, ask anyway — it's usually still workable.

A mortgage with zero down payment is possible. That said, the bigger your down payment, the smaller your loan and the easier your monthly payments. Plan on paying incidental costs, such as registration fees and fire insurance, in cash — typically five to eight percent of the purchase price. We build the financing plan around your actual savings, so start by telling us where you stand.

The usual list is: a soil survey and ground improvement if needed, exterior work such as parking and fencing, utility hookups for water and gas, registration fees and stamp duty, mortgage guarantee and handling fees, fire and earthquake insurance, and furnishing costs like curtains, lighting, and air conditioning. We fold all of this into the estimate up front, so nothing shows up as a surprise after you've committed.

Yes. We help you choose a lender, apply for pre-approval, and get through the full underwriting process. We work regularly with the lenders active in Sasebo and Saza, so we know which ones tend to fit which situations.

Simplify the building's shape, group the plumbing fixtures close together, stay within the standard finish options, and build only what you need now if you're planning to extend later. What we don't recommend cutting is anything tied to insulation or earthquake performance. Tell us what matters most to you and we'll work out what to trim.

Payments are typically split across four points: signing, groundbreaking, the framing milestone, and handover. Because the mortgage itself isn't disbursed until handover, most households use a short-term bridge loan to cover the earlier payments. We handle the bridge loan paperwork as well.

It genuinely depends on the specification, structure, and floor plan, so a single number would be misleading. Price-per-tsubo figures also vary by what each builder includes or leaves out, which makes them hard to compare fairly across companies. We quote a total project cost instead, so you're comparing the same thing every time.

Yes, land search is part of what we do. We hold a real estate brokerage license, so we can act as the intermediary on the land itself. The advantage of asking a builder instead of a pure real estate agent is that we can judge a lot from a construction point of view — whether your planned house will actually fit and what it will cost to prepare.

Price and size are only the start. Check the soil strength (weak soil means ground improvement, which adds cost), the width of the road the lot fronts (this affects what the building code will allow you to build), the state of water, sewer, and gas infrastructure, sunlight and airflow, and the hazard map for flood or landslide risk. Walking the site with a builder before you buy heads off problems that are expensive to fix later.

It means the sale is conditional on you building with a specific, named construction company. If a lot you found in a flyer or online listing has that condition attached to a different builder, we cannot build on it for you. Before you commit to a lot, check whether it carries this kind of condition.

Yes. Narrow and irregular lots are actually where a custom builder does its best work, because we design the floor plan around the site from scratch rather than fitting a standard plan onto it. Sites that a standardized builder would turn away are often workable with a custom design.

Yes, we're a registered ZEH builder. We design and build homes that pair high-insulation specifications with solar power to reach net-zero energy use, and we can walk you through the subsidy programs tied to ZEH certification if you're interested.

Yes. We design fully separated layouts (with a separate entrance and plumbing for each household), partially shared layouts (a shared entrance, for example), and fully combined layouts, depending on your family's relationships and budget. We also plan around the specific friction points of multigenerational living, such as noise between floors and keeping each household's daily paths separate.

We treat the foundation against termites and apply chemical treatment to the structural timber. We also design for airflow under the floor, which denies termites the damp environment they need. Regular inspections check the underfloor space as well, so problems get caught early rather than after they've spread.

Yes. This government certification comes with real advantages, like a larger mortgage tax deduction and reduced fixed asset tax. Getting certified means meeting set standards for earthquake grade, insulation grade, and degradation resistance, and we design to those standards from the start. There's also an application fee for the certification itself, so we walk you through whether it pays for itself in your case.

Before construction starts, a specialist survey company runs a soil test on the site, usually a Swedish weight sounding test. Based on the results, we determine whether ground improvement is needed and, if so, fold that cost into the plan up front. The work also comes with a soil warranty, which covers you if the ground settles unexpectedly later.

For a wood-frame house, plan on roughly four to five months from groundbreaking to completion, depending on the size, specification, and weather. Counting the design meetings before that, figure eight to twelve months from your first consultation to handover for a smooth schedule.

It depends on how far along we are. Early on, most things are still adjustable. Structural changes, like moving a wall, get difficult once construction is underway. Changes to fixtures and finishes are relatively flexible up until we've placed the order for them. If a change adds cost, we'll tell you before we make it.

Yes, you're welcome to visit anytime. We also sometimes run open-house tours at other clients' sites, with their permission, which is a good chance to see the structural work and insulation installation in a house you're not personally responsible for.

We carry statutory defect-liability insurance, which covers the structural frame and the parts that keep rainwater out for ten years after handover. If something goes wrong within that coverage, we respond quickly.

Because we carry statutory defect-liability insurance, the insurer pays for repairs directly even if we're no longer in business — your home is never left without coverage. For what it's worth, Taisei Jutaku has been building in this community since April 1992, and we intend to keep it that way.

Yes, that's actually the common case. You'll need to be present, or arrange to be, when prospective buyers view the house, but we schedule those around you. If you're selling while still living there, keeping the plumbing areas clean and decluttering makes a real difference to how the house shows.

It depends on the property's condition, its location, and your own finances. Selling gets you a lump sum right away. Renting gives you monthly income, but also ongoing management and maintenance costs. In the Sasebo area specifically, rental demand varies sharply between neighborhoods, so this is worth discussing property by property rather than in the abstract.

Yes. The usual approach is to use the sale proceeds to pay off the remaining loan in full and clear the lender's claim on the property registration. If the sale price falls short of the remaining balance, you cover the gap from your own funds or roll it into a new loan on your next home. Start by comparing an appraisal against your current loan balance.

Yes. Even when the building itself has little value, if the land underneath does, it's common to sell it as 'land with an old house attached.' Whether to demolish first or sell with the building standing comes down to balancing demolition cost against sale price. As a construction company, we can assess the building's actual condition accurately, which helps you see which way nets you more.

You need to file if the sale produces a taxable gain. That said, selling your primary residence comes with a large special deduction that eliminates or sharply reduces the tax in most cases. Even on a loss, filing a return can sometimes get you a refund, so it's worth checking either way.

Yes. One option is to skip online listings and flyers entirely and search for a buyer only through the licensed brokers' shared network. If keeping this quiet matters to you, tell us up front and we'll run the sale with that in mind.

In a brokered sale, an agent finds you a buyer and you sell closer to market price. In a direct buyout, the real estate company buys the property itself, so you get cash immediately, but typically at a lower price than a brokered sale would fetch. If you need to sell fast, a buyout usually makes more sense; if you can wait for the right buyer, brokerage usually nets more.

Not necessarily. If the renovation cost doesn't come back in the sale price, you've lost money on it. That said, targeted fixes — minor plumbing repairs, patching the exterior wall — can meaningfully change a buyer's first impression for relatively little cost. As a construction company, we can tell you which fixes are actually worth making before you spend on any of them.

It depends on the scope. Swapping a kitchen or bathroom, or replacing wallpaper, is workable while you stay put. Plumbing work does mean a stretch where that fixture is out of commission (roughly two to three days for a kitchen, three to four for a bathroom). For a full renovation, we sometimes recommend temporary housing instead.

It scales with the scope. As a rough guide: one to two days for a toilet, three to five days for a kitchen, three to five days for a bathroom, two to three weeks for exterior repainting, and two to three months for a full renovation. We give you the schedule before work starts, so you know exactly how your daily life is affected and for how long.

Of course. Adjusting a sticking door, swapping a faucet, patching wallpaper — we take all of it. Some people hesitate to ask over something that feels too small, but dealing with these issues early is usually what keeps the cost down.

It depends on the building's condition and how much you actually want to change. If the structure — the posts and the foundation — is sound and you don't need a major layout change, renovation is the cheaper route. If the structure itself has deteriorated, or you want to rework the layout fundamentally, rebuilding is usually the more sensible choice. We do both new construction and renovation, so we can give you a straight answer without a bias toward one or the other.

Yes. Some lenders offer renovation-specific loans, including unsecured options. Another route is rolling the renovation cost into a mortgage refinance. We'll work out a financing plan that fits your situation — just ask.

Yes. National and local government subsidy programs exist for insulation upgrades, energy-efficient equipment, barrier-free modifications, and seismic retrofitting. The details and application windows change from year to year, so we check the current programs with you when you're actually considering the work, and we handle the application paperwork as well.

Yes. Even a house forty or fifty years old, or older, can be renovated depending on its structural condition. We start with a site survey to assess the building, then explain what scope of work makes sense. If seismic retrofitting is needed, we can fold that into the renovation.

Demolition and exterior work do generate noise temporarily. Before work starts, our staff goes around and personally introduces themselves to the neighbors and explains the schedule and scope. We keep work hours to weekday daytime as a rule, and we don't work early morning or at night.