Hello,
I have had preliminary discussions with several architects. They all asked me about the basic framework conditions (location, building regulations, neighborhood) and my personal preferences. The next step is for me to provide a wish list, in exchange for which I will receive proposals for the architectural services. I am currently compiling this wish list and would appreciate your feedback. In particular, I am interested in:
Wish List for the Architect
Framework Conditions
Priority 1
Priority 2
Priority 3
Open Questions
I have had preliminary discussions with several architects. They all asked me about the basic framework conditions (location, building regulations, neighborhood) and my personal preferences. The next step is for me to provide a wish list, in exchange for which I will receive proposals for the architectural services. I am currently compiling this wish list and would appreciate your feedback. In particular, I am interested in:
- Are there wishes included that lead to a significant cost increase without much added value?
- Are there important aspects missing that I should still add to my list?
Wish List for the Architect
Framework Conditions
- Two-story two-family house without basement and without internal staircase
- Exterior dimensions (W x D) approx. 19.2 x 9 m (63 x 30 feet), depth not yet fixed (7 – 11 m (23 – 36 feet)); 15° pitched roof
- Gable sides without windows (due to adjacent buildings)
- Budget: total €300,000 – 350,000 (without land, additional costs, or finishes)
- Buildings should visually blend in with the existing courtyard ensemble (four-sided farmyard, mainly brick, partly half-timbered)
Priority 1
- Each apartment: one bedroom, two studies/offices, a bathroom with shower and WC, a guest WC with shower (plus open kitchen, living area, dining area, etc.)
- Barrier-free living for 2 people
- Suitable for rollator; single-level living; minimal thresholds (entrance area)
- External staircase with the option to install an elevator later; external corridor/walkway
- Walk-in showers without enclosures at the entrance (similar to swimming pools)
- Light switches, door handles, and electrical outlets at 85 cm (33 inches) height
- Very bright rooms (hence: tall windows; ground floor ceiling height at least 320 cm (10.5 feet), upper floor at least 290 cm (9.5 feet); preferably higher if it brings more daylight)
- Main entrance on the courtyard side (northeast), living room facing the garden (southwest)
- Ground floor living room with garden access
- Excellent thermal and sound insulation; triple-glazed sash windows
- Windows and exterior doors with opening sensors and RC2 (burglary resistance class)
- Bathroom: forced ventilation
- Separate fresh water and greywater systems; rainwater cistern
- Photovoltaic system (southwest orientation)
Priority 2
- Door widths: 90 cm (35 inches), front door 100 cm (39 inches)
- Bathroom door opens from outside (emergency lock)
- In the bathroom:
- Thermostatic faucets
- Raised toilet seat (48 cm / 19 inches)
- Air-to-water heat pump (reversible for summer cooling?)
- Underfloor heating (also for cooling?)
- Wood plank flooring (or parquet?)
- Electrical system:
- At least two circuit breakers per room (for outlets and lighting)
- All cables installed in conduit
- Conduits to all windows (for later installation of opening sensors)
- CAT7 cabling from the technical room to every room
Priority 3
- Apartment can be divided into two smaller units with reasonable effort (not required for all apartments)
- Windows positioned relatively far outward to create interior "window seats"
Open Questions
- Central or decentralized ventilation system (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery)? Possibly only decentralized in WC, bathroom, kitchen, laundry room
- Bidet?
- Possibly suspended ceiling (10 cm (4 inches) to install lighting, cables), adjust room heights accordingly
- Simple wall construction (for recycling/disposal), no external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS / EIFS)
- KfW55 or better? KfW40, KfW40Plus?
- Electric exterior roller shutters? Is it possible to integrate them into a suspended ceiling so that no window height (= daylight) is lost?
karl.jonas schrieb:
I’m talking with friends and colleagues, trying to get recommendations for individual trades. Right now, I’m reaching out to architects for recommendations and have had initial meetings with some, with more to come. I also have an architect and a structural engineer in the family, though they are not local. I plan to involve them as external consultants.
I can’t afford the easy option of letting a general contractor handle everything. And I don’t have the time or patience for the very stressful option of doing most of the work myself while facing a fixed moving deadline. So, I’m aiming for something in between. No, I actually mean to contract all trades myself and take on most of the work personally. Only THEN will 1300-1400€/m2 (about $140-$150 per square foot) be realistic. That means doing the shell construction myself, the roof myself, window installation myself, insulation myself, windows and doors myself, rough-in electrical and plumbing myself; of course, I will hire out the screed and plaster work, but so on.
TmMike_2 schrieb:
No, I actually mean managing all the trades myself and doing most of the work on my own. Only THEN are 1300-1400€/m2 (about $145-156 per sq ft) realistic. So, doing the shell construction myself, the roof myself, installing the windows myself, the insulation myself, windows/doors myself, rough-in electrical and plumbing myself, while naturally hiring out screeding and plastering, and so on... Managing individual contracts yourself requires experience, or you need more luck than judgment to avoid things going wrong. Few things do DIYers overestimate more than the skill to provide their own labor just in time so as not to disrupt the construction schedule. In terms of the cost per square meter limbo, @hegi___ https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/baubericht-einfamilienhaus-1200-eur-m.35362/ is the most ambitious pioneer here, but as far as I remember, even he only reaches his target figure with some compromises. If I build my house for 1200 euros per square meter (about $135 per sq ft) in cash plus 600 euros per square meter (about $67 per sq ft) in my own labor plus 800 euros per square meter (about $89 per sq ft) from friends helping out—who, by the way, expect a favor in return when they build their own houses—that adds up to 2600 euros per square meter (about $280 per sq ft) total. So claiming I "did it for less than half" is really just naive arithmetic.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
karl.jonas schrieb:
At the moment, I would like to provide the architect with something reasonably meaningful. That would be a room program with specific requests, for example accessibility and/or brightness, alongside standard parameters like size.
karl.jonas schrieb:
And I expect that this list will not be implemented fully, that some things might be added, others omitted. Well, that’s exactly why I’m posting this here in the forum. No, that’s not how it works.
k-man2021 schrieb:
We are currently planning our new house with an architect as well and just finished the preliminary planning meeting with her. Our content looked quite different... That’s how it can work, for example.
karl.jonas schrieb:
External dimensions (WxD) approx. 19.2 x 9 m (63 x 30 ft), depth still open (7 – 11 m (23 – 36 ft)); 15° pitched roof karl.jonas schrieb:
Gable sides without windows (due to outbuildings) karl.jonas schrieb:
Buildings should visually fit into the existing farmyard setting (four-sided farm, primarily brick, partly half-timbered) karl.jonas schrieb:
Main entrance facing courtyard (northeast) These are, for example, parameters that the architect develops for you according to the development plan (building permit / planning permission), not based on your personal specifications.
karl.jonas schrieb:
Cost framework: overall 300,000 – 350,000 € (without land, additional costs, or fittings) 135 sqm (1,452 sq ft) x 2,500 €/sqm (€ per square meter) equals 330,000 €... less if you do a lot of the work yourself.
karl.jonas schrieb:
Accessible living for 2 people This is a parameter that drives costs up by increasing the floor area.
karl.jonas schrieb:
But I’m not there yet. You’ve noticed in earlier posts. So far, I don’t know what is allowed (building authority, etc.), nor what I can afford, nor what exactly I want. So, phase 0. Poor starting conditions!
Tom1978 schrieb:
but their brain. I’m increasingly doubting that one, as is well known.
G
Gerddieter14 Nov 2021 01:35I have a few more wishes for the "wish list":
- an architect who sticks to agreed deadlines
- an architect who tries to implement my wishes
- an architect who tries to plan the house with budget in mind
- an architect who is willing to make changes based on their initial design proposals without immediately asking for more money, since they only owe a "permit-ready" design...
Have fun!
GD
- an architect who sticks to agreed deadlines
- an architect who tries to implement my wishes
- an architect who tries to plan the house with budget in mind
- an architect who is willing to make changes based on their initial design proposals without immediately asking for more money, since they only owe a "permit-ready" design...
Have fun!
GD
Ah, Gerddieter, your personal trauma at every mention of the keyword "architect" seems as certain as the “amen” in church...
Then these agreements must be clearly written down in the architect contract – including penalties for non-compliance or poor performance.
Effort alone is not enough; the success must be included in the architect contract. Budget compliance is not a “nice-to-have” but an “essential.” The design must essentially be “bank-approvable.” A theoretically permitted, pie-in-the-sky design would be pure patronage of the arts, which an average homeowner cannot be expected to accept.
Regarding the first point, the architect contract should include that the client is entitled to a customized design and that the architect’s obligation cannot be fulfilled with a stock design.
Regarding the second point, you have to admit that the architect must also be protected from clients who expect unlimited new creations until they are satisfied. You can read stories here in this forum where clients, like princesses on the pea à la @Shiny86, can drive a general contractor’s design assistant nearly to a breakdown, making them run endless loops of stairs back and forth, move downspouts, no wait, better the interior walls, now the stairs again, no, the downspout once more, and then complain that the windows aren’t all perfectly symmetrical, and so on. At some point, boundaries must be set. From my perspective, clients should decide whether two or three preliminary designs are to be included in the architect contract. But in any case, one of these must be chosen, and only that one will be developed further. “Plop! – that means stop!” That was already the case with Michael Schanze. If none of the three initial designs are satisfactory, the architect must be changed – which is why I always recommend signing the architect contract initially only for Module A (see Baulotse-Hoffmann) and only proceed with further commissioning afterwards.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Gerddieter schrieb:
an architect who sticks to agreed schedules
Then these agreements must be clearly written down in the architect contract – including penalties for non-compliance or poor performance.
Gerddieter schrieb:
- an architect who tries to plan the house according to the budget
Effort alone is not enough; the success must be included in the architect contract. Budget compliance is not a “nice-to-have” but an “essential.” The design must essentially be “bank-approvable.” A theoretically permitted, pie-in-the-sky design would be pure patronage of the arts, which an average homeowner cannot be expected to accept.
Gerddieter schrieb:
an architect who tries to realize my wishes
[...] an architect who, based on initial design proposals, is willing to make changes without immediately demanding extra fees because they only owe a “permit-ready” design...
Regarding the first point, the architect contract should include that the client is entitled to a customized design and that the architect’s obligation cannot be fulfilled with a stock design.
Regarding the second point, you have to admit that the architect must also be protected from clients who expect unlimited new creations until they are satisfied. You can read stories here in this forum where clients, like princesses on the pea à la @Shiny86, can drive a general contractor’s design assistant nearly to a breakdown, making them run endless loops of stairs back and forth, move downspouts, no wait, better the interior walls, now the stairs again, no, the downspout once more, and then complain that the windows aren’t all perfectly symmetrical, and so on. At some point, boundaries must be set. From my perspective, clients should decide whether two or three preliminary designs are to be included in the architect contract. But in any case, one of these must be chosen, and only that one will be developed further. “Plop! – that means stop!” That was already the case with Michael Schanze. If none of the three initial designs are satisfactory, the architect must be changed – which is why I always recommend signing the architect contract initially only for Module A (see Baulotse-Hoffmann) and only proceed with further commissioning afterwards.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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