ᐅ Stopping or pausing a home construction project? Costs too high
Created on: 23 Nov 2021 12:06
C
Coffee82
Good morning,
My husband and I want to build a house.
We already have the plot of land. We are now facing an unpleasant situation.
We planned the house roughly with an architect, which went very quickly.
No building permit / planning permission has been applied for yet, and no detailed execution plan has been made.
The architect provided a cost estimate that surprised us a lot.
Of course, we had previously asked acquaintances, friends, and family members about the costs of their construction projects.
Obviously, we only considered recent projects.
The architect’s estimate is more than double what we initially expected—around 4500-5000€/sqm (420-465 USD/sqft).
After this, we consulted a few others locally and two from a bit further away. Everyone seems to agree on the construction costs.
I’m not allowed to share the documents here, but there is really nothing unusual. It’s a KW40+ house with 198 sqm (2132 sqft) of living and usable space, plus a double garage attached to the left side of the house. Of course, no basement.
The specifications given to the architect were average and typical. No marble floors, no smart home features. A simple house like my uncle’s, just new.
It looks like the house will cost around 1 million euros. On top of that, of course, there are additional costs such as fees for the architect, landscaping, etc. Together with the land, the total is so high that we neither can finance it nor afford to pay it.
Unfortunately, the architect had to do quite some work before he could estimate the costs.
Now we are worried that if we cancel the project, the architect will want 15,000 to 20,000 euros for the work he has already done.
What would you do in our place?
Best regards,
Coffee82
My husband and I want to build a house.
We already have the plot of land. We are now facing an unpleasant situation.
We planned the house roughly with an architect, which went very quickly.
No building permit / planning permission has been applied for yet, and no detailed execution plan has been made.
The architect provided a cost estimate that surprised us a lot.
Of course, we had previously asked acquaintances, friends, and family members about the costs of their construction projects.
Obviously, we only considered recent projects.
The architect’s estimate is more than double what we initially expected—around 4500-5000€/sqm (420-465 USD/sqft).
After this, we consulted a few others locally and two from a bit further away. Everyone seems to agree on the construction costs.
I’m not allowed to share the documents here, but there is really nothing unusual. It’s a KW40+ house with 198 sqm (2132 sqft) of living and usable space, plus a double garage attached to the left side of the house. Of course, no basement.
The specifications given to the architect were average and typical. No marble floors, no smart home features. A simple house like my uncle’s, just new.
It looks like the house will cost around 1 million euros. On top of that, of course, there are additional costs such as fees for the architect, landscaping, etc. Together with the land, the total is so high that we neither can finance it nor afford to pay it.
Unfortunately, the architect had to do quite some work before he could estimate the costs.
Now we are worried that if we cancel the project, the architect will want 15,000 to 20,000 euros for the work he has already done.
What would you do in our place?
Best regards,
Coffee82
Incredible, when I think about how I paid around 6,500 euros for the architectural services for our house for design phases 1-4 two years ago? And we have relatively few standard features. There were many meetings... but I still wouldn’t recommend him because he made a few mistakes...
You’re talking about a gable roof and ‘standard’ features, so despite significant price increases, a price of 2,200-2,400 €/m2 (square meter) of usable floor area should be easily achievable for a size just under 200m2 (square meters).
That’s 440,000 euros for a standard house. Add 40,000 euros for additional costs and another 100,000 euros for the interior fittings and landscaping company afterwards.
That’s almost three-quarters of a million including the land. You should expect something for that.
Why don’t you manage the trades yourself? It saves a lot of stress and you know exactly who to contact.
You’ll also save money.
If you want, I can give you at least three top companies for each trade in the usable floor area region. But you have to accept the help.
You’re talking about a gable roof and ‘standard’ features, so despite significant price increases, a price of 2,200-2,400 €/m2 (square meter) of usable floor area should be easily achievable for a size just under 200m2 (square meters).
That’s 440,000 euros for a standard house. Add 40,000 euros for additional costs and another 100,000 euros for the interior fittings and landscaping company afterwards.
That’s almost three-quarters of a million including the land. You should expect something for that.
Why don’t you manage the trades yourself? It saves a lot of stress and you know exactly who to contact.
You’ll also save money.
If you want, I can give you at least three top companies for each trade in the usable floor area region. But you have to accept the help.
W
WilderSueden23 Nov 2021 21:05TmMike_2 schrieb:
Why don’t you just manage the trades yourselves? It saves a lot of stress and you know exactly who to contact.
It also saves money. But then you become the site manager with all the responsibilities that come with it. I would not recommend that to ordinary people.
ypg schrieb:
Maybe just take a moment to think about whether and where you are being condescending. I don’t care whether someone accepts help or not. But using the word “fraudster” here and probably driving away a newcomer again is simply stupid. Kriminelle@freenet.de is clearly the better option here. The newcomer is not a 14-year-old and can easily distinguish irony from reality. And that is what clearly sets you apart...
TmMike_2 schrieb:
Why don’t you just manage the trades yourselves? It saves a lot of stress and you know exactly who to contact.
It also saves money. Unfortunately, we have no experience with that. We both come from the IT industry.
There is a lot of money at stake, and I can imagine we might be overcharged multiple times.
For example, the House Building Heroes video talks a lot about “Be careful, you have to watch out for this and that, some things are not included in the price, etc.”
If you don’t know this, it’s hard to ask about it or pay attention to details.
Saving stress is new to me; I thought the architect was supposed to handle the stress.
TmMike_2 schrieb:
If you're interested, I can give you at least three top companies for each trade in the gf area. But you have to accept the help. Yes, we would be happy to take you up on your offer.
We don’t want to cause a stir yet; first, we want to talk to the architect. If this was a misunderstanding, then everything stays as it is.
Why should we start requesting quotes or creating work for people when the previous matters are still unresolved?
Tom1978 schrieb:
Kriminelle@freenet.de is clearly the better choice here. The newcomer is not a 14-year-old and can easily distinguish irony from reality. And that is what clearly sets you apart...Please don’t argue. At first, I thought the post was a joke, but after some confirmed ypg’s credibility, I no longer had any doubts.
@ypg
I gratefully received your offer. We really appreciate your willingness to help.
The only reason we hesitate to share the email is that the situation hasn’t been clarified yet; we haven’t spoken with the architect.
It would be unfair to pass on their documents without permission (especially since they explicitly state they must not be shared with third parties). We have not paid anything to date, so the documents do not belong to us.
So please don’t take this as a rejection. It has nothing to do with you or a “criminal” email address 😀 😀 😀 😀
W
WilderSueden23 Nov 2021 21:56Coffee82 schrieb:
For example, the Hausbauhelden video says a lot like “Be careful, you need to watch out here and there, this and that is not included in the price,” and so on. But this mostly applies to building with a general contractor or general project manager. Prefabricated house manufacturers are considered general contractors. With them, you usually sign a fixed-price construction contract. The contract includes a building specification, and anything not listed there costs extra.
Building with an architect is different. The architect provides you with a cost estimate (not a fixed price) and issues tenders for the individual trades. In the end, the client decides and hires the craftsmen. Since you (or the architect) prepare the tenders, everything you want should always be included. The architect should also know what absolutely must be included in the tender. The downside is that the actual price of the house develops gradually, and the architect should avoid underestimating the costs at the beginning.
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