ᐅ Draw the plan yourself; use an architect only for the building permit or planning permission stage.

Hello,
I would like to know how much you can save on architect fees.

Here is our situation: I am a construction technician myself, so drawing up plans is not a problem for me. We are considering hiring an architect only up to the stage of obtaining the building permit / planning permission. Once that is secured, I can take over everything myself. However, I do not feel confident handling the entire design of our single-family house due to a lack of planning experience.

We are aiming for a price of around 250,000 EUR without the land. The house will have about 150sqm (1,615 sqft) of living space, a gable roof, a double garage, and a basement.

Do architects even do this kind of partial work? It seems like only half of the job. And if yes, how much would that cost me?

250,000 EUR excluding the land purchase price, but otherwise all additional costs included? Or is it really just "the house"?

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you if that’s the total price including the land. In that case, besides the architect, you’ll have to save on other things as well.

You can also hire architects just for work phases 1-4, meaning up to the building permit / planning permission stage. This is not uncommon. However, I doubt that 250,000 euros including the basement and garage will be sufficient, unless you contribute a lot of self-labor.

Good evening,

michisa86888 schrieb:

I would like to know how much can be saved on architect fees?

Actually none; it depends on which service phases you agree on.

michisa86888 schrieb:

Regarding our situation. I am a construction technician myself and drawing plans is not a problem for me. We are considering hiring an architect only up to the planning permission stage. Once that is done, I can take over everything myself... We are aiming for a price around 250,000 EUR without land. Approximately 150sqm (1,615 sq ft) living space, gable roof, double garage, and basement.
Do architects even do that? It seems like half a job. And if so, how much would it cost me?

Unfortunately, I don’t know if the fees according to HOAI in Austria correspond exactly to those in Germany. So I quickly checked online and found the following information from the Institute for Architectural Sciences, among others:

Services

• Basic evaluation
• Preliminary design
• Design planning
• Application planning / submission planning (building permit / planning permission)
• Execution planning
• Preparation for tendering
• Participation in tendering
• Construction supervision
• Project support and documentation

(For some activities, such as creating land use plans, different service phases apply). Generally, these service groups are combined as follows:

- 3. phases are usually referred to collectively as design.
- Execution planning is often also referred to as application or submission planning.
- 7. phases are often handled under the terms tendering, awarding, and accounting (AVA).
- Construction supervision is commonly called site management.

The architect’s scope of work in each phase is defined by percentages as follows:

3% basic evaluation
7% preliminary design
11% design planning
6% application/submission planning
25% execution planning
10% preparation for tendering
4% participation in tendering
31% construction supervision
3% project documentation

This means you should budget about 27% of the calculated construction costs for architectural services. However, I don’t believe you will achieve the desired size of the building project including a double garage with a budget of 250,000 EUR.

Regards, Bauexperte

Hello, thank you first of all for your answers. A lot of work will definitely be done as self-labor. The entire shell construction will be built with self-labor, as well as various other tasks—basically everything possible. And yes, I know it will take a lot of time, but you have to go through it.

I roughly estimated the 250,000 euros this way: about 150m² (1,615 ft²) × 1,600 euros = 240,000 euros.
Then you add around 40,000 euros for additional costs plus the land.

So, should I calculate the 27% exactly on this, or not for the house price?

michisa86888 schrieb:
From what exactly should I calculate the 27%? Surely not based on the house price?

No, certainly not.
In Germany, the fee is based on the (current) fee structure regulation.
When agreeing on service phases 1-4 (as a service package), it amounts to 27% of the total fee, calculated from the fee zone, the fee rate, and the applicable costs (only for the building and technical installations).
Just look for a HOAI calculator and enter the values; there may be differences in the calculation for Austria.