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Heidi19655 Sep 2019 13:12We have submitted a building permit application, and the architect has prepared the plans. Since we have little knowledge of the subject, we are inclined to hire a general contractor who will handle everything for us. The architect believes that we should find individual companies for each trade. How should we proceed?
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HilfeHilfe5 Sep 2019 13:40That’s a matter of personal belief! If you want to contract the trades separately, you will rely on the architect. The advantage is that you can build more individually; the disadvantage is that the house will probably be significantly more expensive.
It’s different if you take the drawings and look for a general contractor (GC). A GC usually offers more “off-the-shelf” solutions and will likely not agree to these plans as they are.
But why are you taking step 5 before step 1?
These things should be clarified before the building permit / planning permission application... Is there enough money for the construction?
It’s different if you take the drawings and look for a general contractor (GC). A GC usually offers more “off-the-shelf” solutions and will likely not agree to these plans as they are.
But why are you taking step 5 before step 1?
These things should be clarified before the building permit / planning permission application... Is there enough money for the construction?
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Heidi19655 Sep 2019 14:28HilfeHilfe schrieb:
This is something to clarify before submitting the building permit / planning permission application....Why? ... Can't a general contractor build a house based on the architect’s finished plans? We can request quotes ourselves.Yes, the money is available.
Heidi1965 schrieb:
Why? ... Can't a general contractor build a house based on a completed set of architectural drawings? We can get quotes ourselves.You can't do it yourselves without a detailed scope of work (bill of quantities/planning specification), unless you want to risk serious problems. You need the architect for the tender process and construction supervision.
With a general contractor, you have less hassle; if there is nothing else unusual or special, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Depending on the wall construction, general contractors have different wall thicknesses.
Some only want to sell their catalog homes.
Structural requirements, slope conditions, etc., do not make a direct 1:1 implementation any easier.
Some potentially good general contractors are already excluded because the house is not feasible for them.
I would not trust myself to write out and compare bids on my own. I would leave that, as well as construction supervision, to experienced hands—in your case, an architect.
However, as help already mentioned, this question should be addressed before the building permit / planning permission application. At least involve a general contractor or architect for individual contract awarding.
This way, you can get prices or offers before the building permit / planning permission. General contractors provide more or less complete offers based on the scope of work description, architects give estimates, or homeowners obtain quotes from individual trades in advance.
Some only want to sell their catalog homes.
Structural requirements, slope conditions, etc., do not make a direct 1:1 implementation any easier.
Some potentially good general contractors are already excluded because the house is not feasible for them.
I would not trust myself to write out and compare bids on my own. I would leave that, as well as construction supervision, to experienced hands—in your case, an architect.
However, as help already mentioned, this question should be addressed before the building permit / planning permission application. At least involve a general contractor or architect for individual contract awarding.
This way, you can get prices or offers before the building permit / planning permission. General contractors provide more or less complete offers based on the scope of work description, architects give estimates, or homeowners obtain quotes from individual trades in advance.
In my opinion, the individual contract should always be handled by the architect who created the design (and who is also managing the construction).
That doesn’t add up: with limited knowledge of the subject, you will likely incur higher costs when obtaining quotes than you would have paid in fees to the architect.
If the architect only produced the documents for approval, involving them further will bring little benefit. Using an architect for construction really pays off only when they are also responsible for the detailed plans (and construction supervision).
Actually, they are often grateful to have approved plans that do not require any additional work from them.
With finalized approved planning, you need to find a general contractor that matches the approved walls. How are they planned (overall thickness, monolithic or multi-layered including ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system))?
Please don’t have the naive assumption that a general contractor builds the entire house with their own staff. Some are basically front companies relying almost entirely on subcontractors except for the site manager.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Heidi1965 schrieb:
We can obtain the quotes ourselves.
Heidi1965 schrieb:
Since we have little knowledge of the subject matter
That doesn’t add up: with limited knowledge of the subject, you will likely incur higher costs when obtaining quotes than you would have paid in fees to the architect.
Heidi1965 schrieb:
We have submitted a building permit / planning permission application, the architect created the drawings.
If the architect only produced the documents for approval, involving them further will bring little benefit. Using an architect for construction really pays off only when they are also responsible for the detailed plans (and construction supervision).
HilfeHilfe schrieb:
A general contractor usually uses "standard" solutions and probably won’t follow these plans.
Actually, they are often grateful to have approved plans that do not require any additional work from them.
haydee schrieb:
Depending on the wall structure, general contractors have different wall thicknesses.
With finalized approved planning, you need to find a general contractor that matches the approved walls. How are they planned (overall thickness, monolithic or multi-layered including ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system))?
Heidi1965 schrieb:
We tend to look for a general contractor to take care of that for us.
Please don’t have the naive assumption that a general contractor builds the entire house with their own staff. Some are basically front companies relying almost entirely on subcontractors except for the site manager.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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