Hello everyone,
We have received a quote from a general contractor for a 140m² (1,507 sq ft) 1.5-story shell house for about €150,000.
Additional building costs: €60,000
Land plot: €60,000 including related fees
Materials for remaining construction work managed by ourselves: €50,000
Would working with an architect and then tendering the construction services separately be more cost-effective?
The construction start is scheduled in 11 months. Is it possible to shorten this timeline?
We have received a quote from a general contractor for a 140m² (1,507 sq ft) 1.5-story shell house for about €150,000.
Additional building costs: €60,000
Land plot: €60,000 including related fees
Materials for remaining construction work managed by ourselves: €50,000
Would working with an architect and then tendering the construction services separately be more cost-effective?
The construction start is scheduled in 11 months. Is it possible to shorten this timeline?
Short and to the point, you cannot complete a full interior fit-out with a material budget of 50,000 (currency).
There is also the question of who is going to do all the work.
In your place, I would opt for a turnkey build with a general contractor (GC) because of the fixed-price guarantee.
There is also the question of who is going to do all the work.
In your place, I would opt for a turnkey build with a general contractor (GC) because of the fixed-price guarantee.
R
readytorumble27 Oct 2019 12:20Regarding costs, you need to sit down with an architect and have them prepare a cost estimate.
Materials alone can easily reach €50,000 (about $54,000), especially if you do everything yourself and don’t have to pay labor costs. Of course, it depends on the level of fitting and finishes. Electrical work and heating are still missing, among other things. Are you sure you can handle all of that yourself?
Eleven months for just a bit more than a shell construction is quite long. It can be done faster, but this also heavily depends on the region and the workload of the contractors.
Additionally, I’m missing the budget for exterior work. Here, you can quickly spend €20,000 (about $21,500) on the most essential items (splash protection, entrance platform, terrace, yard and driveway).
Materials alone can easily reach €50,000 (about $54,000), especially if you do everything yourself and don’t have to pay labor costs. Of course, it depends on the level of fitting and finishes. Electrical work and heating are still missing, among other things. Are you sure you can handle all of that yourself?
Eleven months for just a bit more than a shell construction is quite long. It can be done faster, but this also heavily depends on the region and the workload of the contractors.
Additionally, I’m missing the budget for exterior work. Here, you can quickly spend €20,000 (about $21,500) on the most essential items (splash protection, entrance platform, terrace, yard and driveway).
Thanks for the information. For now, I am primarily interested in comparing a shell house for 150,000 or whether it would be cheaper to go with an architect.
The following items were not included, but were accounted for in the 60,000 additional construction costs: earthworks 15,000, surveying 2,000, utility connections 7,500, construction power and insurance 2,500.
Also included there were kitchen 10,000, access path 6,000, floor coverings 8,000, and painting work 3,500.
I think the distinctions were not made very consistently here.
For the most part, the 150,000 only covers the foundation slab, brickwork, roof, windows and doors, as well as planning-related aspects.
The following items were not included, but were accounted for in the 60,000 additional construction costs: earthworks 15,000, surveying 2,000, utility connections 7,500, construction power and insurance 2,500.
Also included there were kitchen 10,000, access path 6,000, floor coverings 8,000, and painting work 3,500.
I think the distinctions were not made very consistently here.
For the most part, the 150,000 only covers the foundation slab, brickwork, roof, windows and doors, as well as planning-related aspects.
N
nordanney27 Oct 2019 14:08hegi___ schrieb:
What I’m primarily interested in is comparing a shell house for 150k or whether I could go cheaper with an architect. If you tell me the lottery numbers for next weekend, I’ll give you the right answer to your question.
The problem with an architect is that they don’t set the prices; it’s the tradespeople in your region. In the end, everyone wants to earn their profit margin—the tradespeople employed by your shell house builder and those you hire yourself through individual contracts managed by the architect.
If you find tradespeople desperately looking for work, it can be cheaper. But that’s rarely the case in today’s market.
The huge advantage of using an architect, however, is that you get a house tailored specifically to your wishes. Usually, this customization makes the architect-designed house more expensive—but this is due to the clients’ individual preferences and custom design, not the concept of the “architect house” itself.
hegi___ schrieb:
Mostly, the 150k only covers the foundation slab, masonry, roof, windows, and doors, as well as the planning-related items. Basically, any builder can provide that in a simple version. Whether it’s 5k more or less doesn’t really matter. The interesting part is the interior finishing, where the cost traps lie. For 50k interior finishing, you’ll get social housing standards at best in the cheapest version. But then it’s no longer your builder’s problem; it becomes your own personal matter.
If you are ready to build with a general contractor (GC) or to hire a GC—and I advise laypeople against managing individual trades themselves—then for a standard house, you only need an independent architect if the plot of land is challenging. If both the house and the plot are standard, the all-inclusive draftsman provided by the GC is sufficient.
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