ᐅ Prefabricated house with an architect for coordination or without architectural planning?

Hello everyone,

We are currently planning how and with whom we want to build a house.
The fact is, we will not be contributing any work ourselves.

We have already spoken with an architect, who quickly brought us back down to earth regarding our budget and expectations.
We want to spend a maximum of 500,000 euros (approx. $540,000) all included.

I would now like to take a closer look at the prefabricated house sector, as I suspect you can get more value for your money there.

After a conversation today with Schwörerhaus, I was told that the design of the house could be done by a so-called “liaison architect.” However, this person works independently. The advantage is that the architect knows Schwörerhaus’ options well and can directly incorporate them into the planning.

How does it work with other prefabricated house providers? Is architect planning never included from the start as part of the package?

In my understanding, this is the most important aspect when building a house.

With Schwörerhaus, we also had what you call a coordinating architect, but they were actually unnecessary and didn’t provide sufficient advice regarding the exterior design. As a result, in my opinion, we ended up with too many different window formats.

However, they supported us through every stage up until moving in.

Looking back at privately built Schwörerhaus homes, I don’t find them particularly attractive visually.

But what Schwörerhaus definitely excels at is quality construction, and every defect was addressed promptly and without any hassle.

Alternatively, you might want to contact Weberhaus.

Mariachi1101 schrieb:
I would now like to take a closer look at prefabricated houses, as I suspect you get more value for your money there.

No, with comparable features the price is about the same. If you don’t have a bias, meaning if the wall construction (which type of brick or block, with or without external thermal insulation composite system / ETICS) is not crucial to you for the rotation of the planet, then in my opinion other options are equally suitable, and a prefabricated house manufacturer in this sense is just a builder like any other.

Some architects share this view as well, so “custom designs” (including those by architects chosen by the client) are not uncommon anymore.

tomtom79 schrieb:
With Schwörerhaus we also had what you call a coordinating architect,

At least he managed to ensure that the Schwörerhaus origin isn’t immediately obvious just by looking at your house.

---

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

To me, it almost sounds like the "liaison architect" is known elsewhere as the responsible "building consultant"?
Or does this person do more than that?

Saving money with a prefabricated house ... probably not.

He submitted the building permit application as a notification procedure, along with the tenders for the earthworks including the foundation slab and two deviations from the development plan to the local council.

In my experience, one should not expect too much in terms of aesthetics from an architect working for a prefab home manufacturer. The floor plan often resembles a maze. Windows are simply holes in the wall placed wherever they fit. There is no trace of modular measurements or window sizes being multiples of the smallest unit. You might find three different window formats at varying sill heights on a single wall, or a mix of various shading types ranging from none to roller blinds and louvers. Metal gates combined with wooden entrance doors and plastic windows in all imaginable color shades are common. The attached garage often has a different ground level than the house, and so on. In many customer homes (see references of prefab home manufacturers), the proportions often do not fit together at all, in my opinion.

If you want the design to be aesthetically pleasing, you will probably need to hire an independent architect. However, even that is no guarantee that the result will be visually appealing.