ᐅ Architect and Budget Limit... Safeguarding? Options

alegend schrieb:
Consider income losses (death, disability insurance, etc.)

These are situations that often lead to the sale of the property anyway, so I would mostly disregard them.

alegend schrieb:
I don’t have a general contractor in between who also makes a profit on everything I install! So one fewer party involved

Here you are referring to a general contractor. A general contractor is usually directly involved in the construction and typically handles the shell construction.
And to be completely honest, it’s the same with an architect—another party between you and the executing company who earns money 😉

May I ask how much equity you had, meaning the loan-to-value ratio? Feel free to send me a private message.
The thing is, we actually want to stay below the maximum borrowing capacity available to us, but as mentioned, we don’t want to pay off the loan until the bitter end... the whole thing should be finished within a maximum of 20 years with manageable installments, as I am thinking ahead and also accounting for potential income losses (death, disability insurance, etc.). I know you can’t plan and secure everything, but generally, my approach works well.

In the initial considerations, we had about one-third equity (150,000 EUR). Now with 300,000 EUR equity, it’s still unfortunately about one-third.

Difference => I don’t have a general contractor in between who also earns from everything I install! So one less party involved.

I see it the same way. The architect has no financial interest in “selling” expensive or overpriced items.

But basically, I still need to tell the architect a budget, let’s say the amount I mentioned, because it won’t work anyway and I have to expect about 20% more, so I’ll roughly borrow that much more too, right?

With the architect, it’s always just about estimates (price per square meter × square meters). That is very rough. You only know the final cost at the end 🙂

The advantage of working with an architect, at least I assume, is the focus on individual needs. You don’t end up paying excessive prices if you want to make changes. Conversely, you can easily have a €50 (about $55) sink from the hardware store installed if that’s what you prefer.

We ourselves are currently in the preliminary planning stage with an architect, and our "special approach" is that they don’t rely on blanket formulas but start from the beginning with material costs and up-to-date practical experience. We hope this is more realistic.

But 11k for the site work and basement is too little. Or is the basement included in the house?

I know the amounts quoted to me for retaining walls 1–1.2 meters (3.3–4 feet) high. It’s enough to make you feel sick.

I don’t understand one thing about this.
The architect obtains quotes and thus prices – and you choose the one that best matches. That means I have the price for the heating system, structural shell, and so on. Some adjustments here and there are of course understandable.
What I don’t get is – how can there be such extreme deviations from the estimated budget? Unless the homeowner suddenly and knowingly wants much higher-quality flooring, fixtures, or whatever, then it’s their own fault.
But without this variable, I just can’t see how an estimate of 350,000 suddenly turns into 450,000. That’s simply incomprehensible to me.
I also wouldn’t go into a tile store, get a price for one tile, and later find out the tile costs twice as much – no one would accept that. Somehow, I always think architects have free rein 🙂

@HilfeHilfe
The basement should be included in the house...
The 11,000 are:
Excavation for basement or slab foundation 6,000.00 €
Soil removal 5,000.00 €
Just excavation and removal, no actual basement
I simply can’t believe it’s not possible to build a house within this budget...
I get the impression that nothing under 500,000 is feasible (for the project alone), and I really can’t believe that... especially considering a modest 140m² (1,507 sq ft).
I’m not talking about luxury but rather a high standard. Sure, I can install flooring at €300/m² (approx. $28/sq ft) or €80/m² (approx. $7.50/sq ft) depending on the choice…

So, with a general contractor from the lower price range, including a basement and a few minor custom requests, we end up at around 320,000, before finalizing selections and excluding additional construction-related costs.

This could be a bit tight if you want to stick to 320,000 all in... in the end, you will be looking at at least 380,000.