ᐅ Contracting Trades Individually vs. Using a Solid House Builder

Good morning forum,
does anyone here have experience with how much you can actually save if you take on the house construction yourself and hire the trades separately?

Here is the scenario:
We have basically found a suitable partner, a well-known company in Germany that builds with aerated concrete blocks. Building a city villa of about 9 x 10 meters (30 x 33 feet) would cost around 300,000 € (without basement and without tiles/laminate).

Now a friend suggested getting an architect and requesting quotes from the trades separately.

Assuming I take a plan and hire the trades separately (earthworks, roof structure, electrical work, windows, heating, screed – to name the main points), how much can you realistically "save"?
Thanks for your answers.

I am looking for an architect and will ask them about the cost to build the desired house. Make sure to include the architect’s fee in the calculation.

But the architect doesn’t coordinate the trades, right?

Sure, he can do that. The only question is what the architect is contracted for.
Our architect basically does everything: tendering, comparisons, awarding contracts (of course we sign), construction management, final inspection, and so on.

We faced the same choice, and I’m glad we did. Most people don’t even have the option. If you were lucky enough to simply buy a plot of land and can more or less do what you want, you should definitely go with an architect (that’s what we did):

1. You are the one who pays the contractors, and they listen to you!
2. You should hire an independent building expert, for example from the Association of Private Homeowners, who can also review contracts like the architect agreement.
3. But first of all, start planning yourself with paper and pencil (or a building design program). Then hold a small architect bidding process to see who can build the roughly drawn house and talk to about 4-5 architects.
4. Try to gather as much information as possible, for example here in the forum.
5. This way you’ll have much less trouble than if you go with a general contractor.

Good luck

Ikearegal schrieb:

You should consult an independent building expert, for example from the Association of Private Homeowners, who can also review the contracts, such as the architect agreement.

I don’t think I had a single contract during our house project. The most formal thing was a signed offer; everything else was agreed by handshake.

However, if you hire an architect to manage everything until handover, you probably won’t save any money compared to a general contractor.