ᐅ Offer from the architect

Hello everyone,

we have received a quote from an architect, which looks as shown below. What do you think about it? Of course, further discussions are necessary; however, I’m currently having difficulty assessing it.

What do the experts think:

The details are as follows:

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Features: Ground slab on 9.00 m (30 ft) pile foundation + ground floor + upper floor + double garage

Dimensions: Gross floor area (GFA) 213.00 m² (2,293 sq ft)
Volume 740.0 m³ (26,132 cu ft)
Living area: 170.0 m² (1,830 sq ft)

New construction value, costs 300/400

213.0 m² (2,293 sq ft) x €1,150.00 /m² = €244,950.00
740.0 m³ (26,132 cu ft) x €345.00 /m³ = €255,300.00
average = €251,000.00

Pile foundation €25,000.00, plus garage €10,000.00, plus exterior works: 3.0% x €251,000.00 = €7,600.00
Total: €293,600.00

Planning, permit fees / planning permission, surveying, structural engineering, site management and supervision, additional construction costs 13.0% x €293,600.00 = €38,200.00

Construction and additional costs €329,000.00

Land value 0.0 m² x = €129,000.00

Total project costs = €458,000.00
per m² of living space: €458,000.00 / 170.0 m² = €2,694 /m²

This looks more like an estimate than a detailed offer. I would have actually expected more from an architect...
Is the pile foundation exactly clarified? Are 9m (30 feet) sufficient? That can often become an expensive matter.
One item that immediately catches my eye is the exterior landscaping. I don't know what you have planned or what it includes, but $7,600 seems absolutely insufficient.

Häuslebauer40 schrieb:
This looks more like an estimate than a detailed quote. I would have expected more from an architect...

That depends on the stage of the planning process you are in.
Are there already detailed plans of the house? Is everything precisely planned? Or are you still at the very beginning? It also depends on what exactly was commissioned from the architect (phases of service). I assume the architect is designing, supervising, coordinating, and that the project will be built through individual contracts?

When we built with our architect, the rough budget was first balanced with our requirements. At that point, our architect only relied on experience-based estimates because detailed planning was not yet complete. Once the plans were finished, detailed quotes were obtained specifically for our design. The cost estimate then became progressively more accurate and was confirmed step by step. There is always the risk that the house will end up more expensive than the architect originally planned. It is important to have an experienced architect who can assess this well. A 10% contingency should always be included (which was sufficient for us), but you sometimes hear that the house ended up significantly more expensive and needed additional funding. That is obviously not ideal!
My advice: plan as thoroughly as possible, get quotes for as many elements as you can before the first ground-breaking (preferably before submitting the building permit / planning permission), so that you keep costs under control! Once construction has started and you realize it is becoming too expensive, you can’t just cut 10 square meters or similar. Then it becomes critical.

Good luck!!
Goldbeere

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

We are still at the very beginning of our considerations and planning; however, such a rough estimate needs to be requested and presented in more detail.

I think there is still a lot ahead of us.

Have you had other experiences with architects who provided a more detailed plan? Was any fee requested for that?

Sophian schrieb:

Have you had different experiences with architects who provide more detailed plans? Has anything been charged for that already?

What kind of question is that?
Anyone who does work must be paid for it.

Goldbeere is absolutely right. It depends on the level of planning. The more detailed the planning phase, the more detailed the cost calculation will be.

Best regards

E.Curb schrieb:
What kind of question is that?
Anyone who does work should be paid for it

Then I need to clarify the question: Were there more detailed or specific offers or cost estimates from an architect, without being immediately charged for them?

I can’t just take such a rough estimate as a basis and build with it!