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Bauanfänger361 Jul 2017 13:23After a long search, I found a plot of land and made a decision.
I now have several offers with the following basic details: the cheapest offer with a basement and about 100m2 (1,076 sq ft) of floor area is just under 200,000, fully finished including additional construction costs and all wall/floor work. (This is from a well-known prefab house supplier from Poland.)
When flipping through books on "building affordably," one might think it could be cheaper to have an architect design a small house who uses some tricks to reduce costs, naturally also by sacrificing some comforts?
(1) Do you think the above offer could be made significantly cheaper with a prefab house supplier (without the house being of very poor quality)?
(2) Could it be cheaper to plan an affordable house with the help of an architect and then have a local construction company build it?
It’s certainly not possible to generalize, but your personal experiences here would be an important reference before I spend good money on an architect, only to end up with a house that is clearly more expensive than one of the prefab models.
I now have several offers with the following basic details: the cheapest offer with a basement and about 100m2 (1,076 sq ft) of floor area is just under 200,000, fully finished including additional construction costs and all wall/floor work. (This is from a well-known prefab house supplier from Poland.)
When flipping through books on "building affordably," one might think it could be cheaper to have an architect design a small house who uses some tricks to reduce costs, naturally also by sacrificing some comforts?
(1) Do you think the above offer could be made significantly cheaper with a prefab house supplier (without the house being of very poor quality)?
(2) Could it be cheaper to plan an affordable house with the help of an architect and then have a local construction company build it?
It’s certainly not possible to generalize, but your personal experiences here would be an important reference before I spend good money on an architect, only to end up with a house that is clearly more expensive than one of the prefab models.
You always need an architect to prepare the building permit or notification documents. If the architect is employed by the builder, it doesn’t actually get cheaper; the cost just doesn’t appear separately on the invoice.
It is unfortunately sometimes true that a freelance architect isn’t necessarily more creative than an employed one. The smaller the plot or the tighter the planning permission restrictions, the more important a clever designer becomes.
You can save a lot on fittings and finishes, sometimes in the wrong way. The same applies to fees: if nothing else is agreed, the official fee structure (HOAI) practically rewards architects for low cost discipline.
There is no direct connection between the price per square meter or cubic meter and whether the walls are built on site or delivered as prefabricated elements. Prefabrication is neither inherently better nor worse. It only provides shorter construction times. Both methods can produce fully customized houses. In the resale market, prefabricated houses are now well regarded, though lenders with a conservative mindset still tend to undervalue them slightly.
A key consideration can be the basement. If you don’t want one, you should look specifically for level land. The more uneven the terrain, the closer you come to the costs of a basement even if you “omit” it.
Carports and garages can be added later, which can relieve some of the financing pressure.
If you want to throw money out the window, corner windows are the best way to do it.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
It is unfortunately sometimes true that a freelance architect isn’t necessarily more creative than an employed one. The smaller the plot or the tighter the planning permission restrictions, the more important a clever designer becomes.
You can save a lot on fittings and finishes, sometimes in the wrong way. The same applies to fees: if nothing else is agreed, the official fee structure (HOAI) practically rewards architects for low cost discipline.
There is no direct connection between the price per square meter or cubic meter and whether the walls are built on site or delivered as prefabricated elements. Prefabrication is neither inherently better nor worse. It only provides shorter construction times. Both methods can produce fully customized houses. In the resale market, prefabricated houses are now well regarded, though lenders with a conservative mindset still tend to undervalue them slightly.
A key consideration can be the basement. If you don’t want one, you should look specifically for level land. The more uneven the terrain, the closer you come to the costs of a basement even if you “omit” it.
Carports and garages can be added later, which can relieve some of the financing pressure.
If you want to throw money out the window, corner windows are the best way to do it.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Bauanfänger36 schrieb:
lowest price offer with basement and approx. 100m2 (1,076 sq ft) ground areaWhat do you mean by ground area? 100m2 (1,076 sq ft) living space? 100m2 (1,076 sq ft) built-up area?
Bauanfänger36 schrieb:
...with basement and ... including additional construction costs and all wall/floor finishes, turnkey at just under 200,000.That is a bargain price.
Danwood is priced in the lower mid-range (or upper lower range). Additional construction costs are almost always calculated at the lowest level by the builder and can easily be twice as much.
For example, if you subtract 25,000 from the 200,000, there’s not much left for a house with a basement... how much cheaper does the house still need to be when you also include the architect’s fees?
Architect’s fees increase the cost of a small, inexpensive house and, in my opinion, only pay off if you build a good average house where the savings potential through the architect is greater than their fee.
With your figures, I don’t see any room left to save anywhere.
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Bauanfänger361 Jul 2017 14:45102 m2 (1,095 sq ft) of living space, the plot is over 500 m2 (5,382 sq ft) and relatively flat. Thank you for your assessments!
Bauanfänger36 schrieb:
The plot is over 500m2 (over 5,380 sq ft) and relatively flat. Relatively is relative.
I consider around 0.5 m (about 20 inches) of terrain unevenness under the building footprint as the limit beyond which skipping a basement becomes questionable from a cost perspective. Beyond a certain point, for the money spent, I want to have actual living space, not just foundations.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
...
if nothing else is agreed upon, the HOAI practically rewards the architect for lacking cost discipline.
...I am also very interested in the original poster’s question.
Are there any shared experiences or solutions in this forum regarding the quoted point that the architect earns more the more money is wasted? After all, the architect is only human; it is hardly reasonable to expect voluntary restraint.
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