Notice about purchasing custom homes...

disclaimer: I work in SL as a custom builder, so take this all with a grain of slightly biased salt.


I've been getting a lot of comments from folks I do custom work for, about previous builders' experiences, mostly bad.

It seems people are uneducated about how the custom building industry should be working in SL, and many are paying exorbitant sums of money to be, essentially, ripped off.

Here's some handy tips from someone who's been here three years.

1) Get to see a portfolio. People tend to get hired on whims, or word of mouth, without even asking for some proof of credentials. Some sort of proof that the people you're about to hire can actually build will do wonders for your worrying. I've seen several folks bring me in after they've spent tens of thousands of lindens on a house that has texture seams, holes in the walls, and worse. Their universal admittance? They didn't ask to see previous jobs.

Builders, get a portfolio and arrange it so prospective clients can see what you've done. There should be no need to hide your handiwork.

2) Get full perms on the house. At the very least, get copy/mod/no transfer. It is inexcusable to have a custom builder come in and not give you full permissions on the work they did for you. If they're complaining about theft, lemme tell you something; in the three years of me in this business, I've never had a house stolen/lifted from me from someone who paid for it. Why? It's built on-site, meaning it's nearly impossible to build it somewhere else easily. Plus, people are going to hold onto something they pay dearly for, especially several ten thousand lindens, so copying is just out of the question.

3) Work with the builder. We're not skilled in telepathy, so you have to tell us what you want! Work with us so we can get you the best product.

4) Ask for estimates. Knowing how big, how many prims, and how much it will cost will help you and the builder plan for potential problems.

Hopefully these help somewhat. I'm getting tired of people getting ripped off in my industry.

i disagree with this point. permissions are dependant on the specifics of the contract. it could be a single use license. perhaps the client can not afford an exclusive license.

i think the copy/no transfer is a good standard practice though.
no copy/transfer is also a good one.
copy/transfer for me would have a really high premium.

good topic

Have to agree with Jauani on the permissions point -- hardly ever would I want to give away full permissions -- mod/copy/no trans maybe, if I didn't want to build anymore for that person. Otherwise, mod/no copy/transfer.

As someone who makes their SL living from custom building, it seems like you'd be cutting yourself out of any further building opportunities (even a 25-30 percent charge for copies would be better) if you give away copy permissions. If they have copy permissions, they don't need you anymore...

One thing to consider is people generally like changes. After a time in a house they may get an itch to get a different one and will likely seek you out.

I have a copyable Damani we live in now, it has been very convenient for me in a few instances. When we want our next home you can bet copy is a feature I will look for.

Just something to consider, I know you want to keep repeat buyers but sometimes a feature like copy will be what does it.

As a buyer (and only somewhat builder at times) I'd agree with Lordfly.

I won't buy a house (or anything of that expensive) without looking over the perms. For an unscripted house, that means Mod/Copy. I want a backup of the original builder's ideal but I like to play with things. I wouldn't sell anything made by another even if Transfer, no matter how much I modded it.

Case in point, I do own a Full-Perm house of Lordfly's. It has none of the orgininal textures left and has been so modified that evne he might not recognise it unless you looked via Edit and saw his name as the creator. I've added my own to it and tweeked things I found I wanted changed till I got a look I love.

Would I sell it? Not a chance. Do I clam it as my own? Not even. I tell people I modded a home made by Lordfly. I've seen his work and would be ashamed to take credit for any of his work.

All in all, it is always possible to reverse engenieer builds (I know! I know! BAD words. Sorry). I don't agree with doing that to sell off another's idea anymore than copying it to sell, but if it's done by reverse engenieering, there is nothing that says it's not the creation of the one selling it.

Conversely, some use the creator's name like a certificate. Lordfly's name is on the majority of the prims in my home, for example. I take pride that I have a home originally designed by one of the best in SL.

As a buyer, the NoCopy is something I dread. With constant crashes and content loss on the grid, having a Copy item is piece of mind. NoMod is almost as bad, but dependant on the design. If it's NoMod, it will need to be perfect to get me to buy it. I've not seen many perfect builds in SL. There are almost always those slight mistakes no one saw. NoTransfer means nothing to me. I am buying it for myself, not to sell. If buying as a gift, most sellers will make arrangements or I can just give teh L$ to whomever I am getting the gift for.

Frankly, I think everything should be NoTransfer. The problem there is for textures and the like that must have full perms for thier product to be usefull. No such limit on a prim-build though.

btw, my opinions are only mine, and mine are not everyones. I do agree there are some who have less scrupples and sellers must take care to protect thier investments. If you sell with the perms you mention in place, then your work is worth it. You might miss some sales, but then again, you might make others. *shrugs* Fine balancing act imo. Lordfly's apparently works for him (and for me ^.^). Hope yours always works for you and your customers.

~Jessy

I really can't see the reasoning behind doing a house with full perms. I think most people would like to have copy/mod, for the comfort in knowing they have more than one copy of the house, and in order to make decorative changes. But I wouldn't add transfer to copy/mod.

The good thing about houses in SL is you can change them out when you get tired of them just as easily as you do clothes!

coco

If a client pays tens of thousands of dollars for a build it is IMPERATIVE that they can easily replace a lost or mistakenly deleted section of home, I have had to go in numerous times to help a client because they spent tens of thousands of Ls on a home and when a problem occured, they had no way to 1) replace the home with a new copy, or 2) replace the section of home. Many of these people could not reach the original builder and if they did the builder wanted nothing less than extortion to make their home right.

There was not anything wrong with the original build but I guarantee you at some time, the people who buy the home will need it replaced or moved.
I sell all my builds with copy/mod no transfer perms and automatic rezzing systems, Yes some people MAY create a copy of the home for a friend but that is the way it goes, I would much rather ensure that my clients wont have any problems replaceing their home when an Act of Lindens or any other problems occur.
YES this is a controversial subject and to be honest I had lost too many homes that werent copy, if they were I probally wouldnt have learned how to become a builder. The best builders in SL Do sell Copy homes, For example Scorpio Galatea and anyone selling no copy homes is completly out of date and fast running out of time.

I have had my store built on two seperate occasions by 3 awesome builders and on both occasions , I was not only given full permissions to the entire build but full perms of all the custom textures that were used on my builds .... I cant even imagine having it any other way! When having to move in a hurry it was great be able to have my partner help pick up the pieces and copy / transfer were most necessary for me to be able to do that and the textures are priceless for when you need to make little expansions or feel like adding something special.

Portfolios can be hyped.

I was asked and fixed the texture seams, smashed UV maps, bumpy floors and gaps in the walls of a very well known builder's custom house. The build was obiviously the result of pure eyeball building (most of the prims were sized like 8.852384670819), and I also noticed most of the textures he used were very basic freebies every noob builder would run into at places like Free Bazaar and GNUbie Store (which made it easier for me to replace some redundant prims ). And yet the builder has a really impressive portfolio displayed in his spiffy office. *shrugs*

Yes, people can always go check the actual builds on site but many of those in need of hiring builders do not have eyes on details when it comes to SL builds. It's after they spend some time in the build that the flaws start to get visible.

That said, I agree in principle that people should be educated on what to look for in a good SL build before spending money.

As for permissions, I too prefer case by case approach. Builders should be responsible for explaining permissions to their clients and discussing what's best for the case.

In the case as noted above, the builder took advantage of his client's unfamiliarity with SL and didn't even offer to transfer the build until asked. Even then he complained how it was tiresome to link all the prims and put them up for sale. He did in the end but wasn't very thorough --- a lot of prims still belong to him to this day.

That was when I got the impression that being professional in SL was all about being thick skinned and shameless about hyping and plugging, which was pleasantly betrayed by the builds by people like the OP.

good topic -

I have gotten the same kinds of stories about custom nightmares, it always suprises me how people are willing to put so much money up for something they havent researched.

Another way to protect yourself (clients and designers) is to be sure to discuss specifics of payments before hand, and as the build progresses. It's really up to the situation, but I think its unreasonable for a builder to ask for the full sum of money up front, and that is usually how you get ripped off. Personally, I usually don't require any payment untill I am actually transfering the peices. Why? Because the money is a bargening chip - if a builder is doing a poor job then then its no sweat off the clients back to say "hey, this sucks im not paying for it". And the builder is either forced to fix it or quit the job. What about the poor builder who just spent all that time on that build? Chances are they were just being lazy and producing crap, misrepresented their skills, or maybe the client is actually just being unreasonable. If it is something the builder had actually worked hard on and really put effort into a quality build but the client was being unreasonable, they should have no problem selling their work to someone else. Belive it or not this situation has happened to me.


The permissions is another excellent point, and I would disagree with LF to a degree. I generally do think builds should be copy/mod - no transfer cause people will mess them up and want a fresh copy. I do however factor these permissions into the price. Just like I raised the prices on my prefabs when I made them copy/mod - no trasnfer those permissions are worth more to a client. Permissions are something that needs to be discussed when doing a job - if it is something they think they will want to resell you have to work out somethign different (like just providing 1-2 back up copies of a build that are no copy/mod). Also I have done 'custom' houses for dirt cheap, basically the idea being I make it for them, but I have the right to redistribute it as well in the form or a prefab, or a semi custom build whatever i want. Its not a locked in permission like mod/copy/trasnfer its more of one a builder has to agree to uphold - will the custom job be totally orriginal, or can the builder reuse parts, textures, etc from it. In most cases I agree to never sell an exact copy of a custom build (duh), or anything strikinly similar, but I am sure they understand I will be reusing textures, and possibly small components of a build in the future. Honestly though, I have too much ADHD to ever build something too similar to another thing anyway.

Just a funny little side story I found out a baby land barron has been selling land "with house" in SL. This house is just a copy of a copiable prefab I sell. The best part is this barron is directing people to ME to ask why they cant edit/own the house (because its owned by him). So its always fun to explain to them that they just 'bought' a house and land from a very dishonest resident - whom they will never trust again. I dont even have to raise a big stink about it, hes killing his own bussiness haha . If he really wanted i would be happy to sell him prefabs in bulk (probably at a discount) with NO copy/mod/transfer permissions that he could set on land and actually sell, He is just too stupid to ask.