ᐅ Ending Collaboration with an Architect after Design Development (Stage 4) – What Next?
Created on: 7 Jun 2020 13:16
L
laumar01
Hello, we planned our solid single-family house together with an architect (LF1- LF4). Unfortunately, we were not satisfied with the collaboration overall, so we decided to part ways after the successful building permit / planning permission application. Since we consider ourselves building novices, a separate tendering process for the trades with our own construction management is not an option for us, and we are leaning towards turnkey construction with a general contractor.
The building permit / planning permission is currently being processed by the building authority. Now we are quite unsure how to proceed with the next steps and how the cooperation with a general contractor will work if they are executing a house that they did not design themselves.
Does anyone have any tips for us?
What should we pay attention to, and which pitfalls should we avoid?
Has anyone had similar experiences and made a change after LF4?
Thank you in advance for your help!
The building permit / planning permission is currently being processed by the building authority. Now we are quite unsure how to proceed with the next steps and how the cooperation with a general contractor will work if they are executing a house that they did not design themselves.
Does anyone have any tips for us?
What should we pay attention to, and which pitfalls should we avoid?
Has anyone had similar experiences and made a change after LF4?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Let's put it this way: Someone has to supervise the execution. This is either done by the general contractor’s site manager—in which case your building supervisor would need to be paid additionally—or by the architect commissioned for work phase 8 (in the case of individual contracts). Of course, you can also hire an independent inspector on top of that. Depending on the general contractor, this service is often offered directly and carried out by organizations like DEKRA, TÜV, etc. Whether the inspector paid by the general contractor is always truly objective is another matter.
K1300S schrieb:
Depending on the general contractor (GC), this kind of service is often offered directly and then carried out by DEKRA, TÜV, etc. Whether the inspector paid by the GC is always that objective is another matter. I would never accept this "service." The GC is likely a major client of TÜV, DEKRA, and so on, which probably limits their objectivity. Especially since I believe the number of visits is insufficient. We planned to proceed as follows: Architect 1-4 (5) Then a structural engineer as a project manager for us, responsible for supervision and coordination of the individual trades, including the final acceptance.
laumar01 schrieb:
We were thinking about hiring a general contractor to have everything handled through one source. If I understand your post correctly, you seem to be rather critical of using a general contractor. What would you recommend in our situation?The colleague with the motorcycle was faster:K1300S schrieb:
Of course, you could also find another architect for the further stages (detailed planning, tendering, construction supervision).K1300S schrieb:
Sure, detailed planning still needs to come from somewhere, but that’s a solvable issue.Exactly. The architect solves it with expertise, the general contractor’s site manager "solves" it with drywall and lots of foam.laumar01 schrieb:
If we hired a structural engineer, we would pay them directly, and the general contractor wouldn’t be able to add their costs, right? Would a general contractor even cooperate with an external site manager?A general contractor can hardly do otherwise than accept the site manager who was specified in the tender as the detail planner. What they call their own site manager will never be dismissed just because there is already a professional site manager in place.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
And was it the same for you, and then you went with separate contracts with site supervision? I would only proceed like that with the involvement of an expert...
And the general contractors here also build houses designed by others. I know cases where the general contractor even attended meetings with the architect to ensure that they don’t get lost in the details...
And the general contractors here also build houses designed by others. I know cases where the general contractor even attended meetings with the architect to ensure that they don’t get lost in the details...
Thank you very much for your replies, which have already been helpful to us.
We have now scheduled three appointments with providers. Two of these are general contractors (GCs) directly from the region. They primarily specialize in structural shell construction and have reliable tradespeople on hand to ensure a turnkey build. So, these are rather smaller companies. After your warnings regarding GC project management, we have also reached out to a larger solid construction builder for the initial consultation (Fermo Massivhaus). I have read a lot of positive feedback about them here in the forum; however, their costs are reportedly higher. We are now looking forward to how the appointments go and how the offers from the three providers compare.
If anyone in this forum has experience with Fermo, I would appreciate a private message. Unfortunately, I have not yet posted enough to be able to contact those who have reported about Fermo directly.
We have now scheduled three appointments with providers. Two of these are general contractors (GCs) directly from the region. They primarily specialize in structural shell construction and have reliable tradespeople on hand to ensure a turnkey build. So, these are rather smaller companies. After your warnings regarding GC project management, we have also reached out to a larger solid construction builder for the initial consultation (Fermo Massivhaus). I have read a lot of positive feedback about them here in the forum; however, their costs are reportedly higher. We are now looking forward to how the appointments go and how the offers from the three providers compare.
If anyone in this forum has experience with Fermo, I would appreciate a private message. Unfortunately, I have not yet posted enough to be able to contact those who have reported about Fermo directly.
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