ᐅ Preliminary design through the architect, followed by tendering?

Hello everyone,

We have a plot of land in Paderborn and would like to build a single-family house of about 150m2 (1,615 sq ft) on it.
Since we have two children, are quite busy with work, and are not very skilled with DIY, we would prefer to have most of the work done by professionals.

Right now, we are unsure about the best approach, and from our online research, opinions seem to vary widely.

We have decided that we want to build a timber house. We have already consulted several architects who naturally all recommended handling everything directly through them. However, we feel that this might be too time-consuming since we already have difficulty finding times when all of us can meet.
On the other hand, I don’t want to go directly to a construction company, since I don’t have any personal recommendations, and I imagine that if I put the project out to tender openly, the bids might be somewhat lower than if I commit straight away to one company.

My idea was to have an architect carry out service phases 1-3 (up to preliminary design) and then put these plans out for tender to construction companies.
However, I have also read that the detailed design should definitely be done by the architect, because otherwise, there is no real basis for comparison. Also, the planner responsible for the preliminary design should naturally handle the detailed design as well. On the other hand, I have heard there is a risk that each company might build somewhat differently, and if the building permit/planning permission is already granted based on the detailed design, which is then fixed, this could lead to major problems. Therefore, it might be better if the construction company prepares the detailed design.
Additionally, the detailed design costs a lot more money and only makes sense if the construction company takes it over exactly as planned and doesn’t need to redo the planning themselves, which would again cause extra costs.

The offer for the 150m2 (1,615 sq ft) single-family house (first rough cost estimate from the architect = €350,000, which seems a bit low to me) for service phases 1-3 is €11,000. Is that reasonable?
Or is this all nonsense, and in the end, I will pay the €11,000 to the architect and still have to cover architect fees again for the construction company?

Could you please help me? Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone in my personal network who can really assist me.

The cost estimate is quite low, even when considering just the house itself. With costs, it is always important to know exactly what is included in each item. Is it only the house (with or without the foundation slab?) or also earthworks? Other additional construction costs such as the construction access road, crane area, utility connections, etc. And then there are the items usually left out, like the kitchen, landscaping, garage, and so on.

A tender process only makes sense if you end up with comparable bids. If you simply send the rough building permit plan to five general contractors, you will receive bids for five different houses and will have to start counting sockets in the five offers. This is aside from aspects that non-experts cannot assess, such as the quality of wall construction or roof insulation. When carrying out a tender, it must be clearly defined what the companies are bidding on.

Regarding time… where does the assumption come from that you need to invest less time understanding a general contractor’s offer (and requesting detailed prices for your desired features) than you would in a tender process that all parties must adhere to?

The cost estimate is actually irrelevant to me personally at first, right?

So, would you also go for stage 5 (construction documentation)? That would cost another 10,000 € (about $11,000). That’s fine as long as I end up saving this amount with the construction company, since they wouldn’t have to do it anymore and could offer a lower price, right?

My assumption is based on something I heard (though that doesn’t have to mean much), and it sounded reasonable to me, that it’s easier to make a complete tender and compare that instead of doing it for each individual trade.

In your opinion, is that not the case?

Bauen1899 schrieb:

The cost estimate doesn’t really matter to me personally, right?

Definitely not. In the end, you have to pay for all of it. Even with a “fixed price” and an included contingency, we are over the planned budget, like many other homeowners. While a general contractor for a standard home gives you a price upfront that they must stick to according to the scope of work (this is where things get tricky for the homeowner), an architect’s cost projections are not binding. Can you still afford the project if the bid comes in €100,000 (about $110,000) higher than currently estimated? Besides, having an incorrect idea of the costs clouds your perspective on what really matters, because you will constantly try to cut costs that simply cannot be reduced.

Regarding project phases and bidding processes, @11ant can surely provide more information.

Bauen1899 schrieb:

Can you please help me?

In principle, I would be happy to help, but before I even bother asking follow-up questions here, I would first like to know why your thread from yesterday afternoon was already missing by the evening. I recall seeing discussions from phases 1 to 4 of the project, with an architect reasonably recommending at least phase 5, as well as basic questions about tendering and similar topics. However, I didn’t want to respond while on the go—especially since the answer would have included a bunch of internal links that I can collect much faster on a desktop—and in the evening, when I tried to access the bookmarked page, it said the topic was not available :-(

I don’t do things halfway, but I also don’t want to put effort into something only to have it discarded again…

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

If you did not understand my post #5, here it is again:

1. I am happy to help you.
2. However, I am still hesitant to invest the necessary time for useful answers because
3. the mysterious disappearance of your original first thread makes me uncertain.

Furthermore, Yvonne’s question

ypg schrieb:

So, should it be a log house? Made of timber logs?
Or a house with a timber frame construction, like a prefabricated building?

has not yet been answered.

We will reconnect when you have merged your three threads into a fourth one — as mentioned, please start it with the completed questionnaire. This will make it easier and more pleasant for those helping and following, and ultimately benefit you the most.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/