ᐅ Danwood Complete Package vs. Separate Hire of an Architect

Hello,
we are planning a detached single-family house on a plot of approximately 500m² (5400 sq ft) in Baden-Württemberg. Since the plot has a moderate slope, we will be building with a basement. After extensive research and comparison, two offers have emerged as follows:

• Customized catalog prefabricated house from Danwood
• Exterior dimensions 10.57 x 8.92 = 94.3
• Architectural services (fixed price, approx. €8,000) and basement construction must be commissioned separately (i.e., at least three contracts)
• Danwood recommends the partner basement builder Glatthaar and an architect they know
• Customized catalog prefabricated house from Fingerhaus
• Exterior dimensions 9.75 x 8.35 = 81.4
• Architectural services and basement included in the offer, meaning only one contract

In terms of features, we have largely aligned both offers (each with interior finishing, i.e., "turnkey," including basement waterproofing, energy standard, and many other details are comparable). The first offer is approximately €25,000 cheaper despite the larger house size. Since Danwood produces in Poland and Fingerhaus in Germany, this might explain the price difference.

Now to the main question: What concerns us somewhat is that with Danwood, the architect and basement have to be commissioned separately. For the groundwork/deep excavation, there might be a fourth company involved if Glatthaar turns out to be too expensive. Our worry is that, with this setup, we as clients might get caught in the middle or have to act as site managers ourselves for some periods without professional expertise (because the Danwood site manager will of course only take responsibility for the Danwood house, not necessarily for the interface between basement and house). Based on your experience, how likely is such a scenario? How much would the security and convenience of a complete package be worth to you?

Thank you for your advice!

Basically, the collaboration between Danwood and Glatthaar works relatively well – they are long-standing, well-coordinated partners. If you don’t have special requirements for the basement (such as a partially open basement, living basement, etc.), everything should go relatively smoothly. They already have a catalog of ready-made detailed plans covering the usual cases, so it’s quite unlikely that anything won’t fit. They also trust each other enough to schedule the house production and installation dates in parallel with the basement construction, to avoid delays in the building process.

However, we built with Danwood and a different basement contractor, as Glatthaar is relatively expensive (we had received a detailed quote). In that case, earthworks were our responsibility and had to be organized by us anyway. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend our setup, especially if you don’t want to have to chase the tradespeople. For example, Danwood is much more cautious and does not plan production or share installation dates until the basement has been approved by the Danwood site manager. In the end, it worked out for us, and I think we saved money and got better quality than with Glatthaar, but you really need to check every single detail yourself.

With Danwood in general, everything depends heavily on the sales team and their architects – so make sure to gather information in advance and include the experience of other homebuilders.

In principle, you should definitely compare all the details in the scope of work descriptions carefully to ensure the comparison between Danwood and Fingerhaus is really equivalent – Danwood is quite transparent here, but I don’t know about Fingerhaus.

However, you basically have to organize some things yourself with Danwood that are usually included with most other prefab house companies. Have you received any related instructions or a checklist from the Danwood sales team?

One more thing: I would generally recommend working with an independent architect to develop your house design before approaching prefab home companies for quotes. This way, you can be fairly sure that the comparisons are truly relevant and that the potential of the plot and rough budget is optimized. If the architect is reasonably competent and has some experience with timber prefab construction, the biggest cost traps can already be avoided during the design phase. You can then confidently assign the detailed or execution planning to the prefab home builder and their architects.

Thank you for your response.

The basement is intended to be partially used for living purposes, meaning the main entrance area and the home office will be located in the basement.

but you really have to check every detail.

Could you list a few points here? My understanding is that the basement contractor builds the basement based on plans from Danwood or the architect. These specifications should then also be part of the contract. My idea is to invite bids for the basement including earthworks as soon as the planning is finalized, and award the contract to the best offer. Ideally, this would be Glatthaar, due to the close cooperation you mentioned between Glatthaar and Danwood.

Did you receive a corresponding briefing/list from the Danwood sales department?

I received a list of additional construction costs from Danwood. It covers a range of items from cistern, entrance platform, MSH, earthworks to basement plaster and surveyor services, totaling over €90,000 (with a house and basement value of about €400,000). This should put me in a good position, but which points do you mean specifically?

Thank you for the tip about the independent architect. It is indeed my plan to have the design reviewed by an architect or construction expert before signing the contract in order to avoid planning errors.

However, you basically have to organize some things yourself with Danwood

If you mean things like site setup, meter cabinet, soil survey, etc., I have that covered 🙂

Hello – how can you already have a quote for the house when the architect still needs to be commissioned for the design?
Gerddieter