Hello dear forum,
House planning should be something enjoyable, right?
Unfortunately, I feel that choosing our architect was a total mistake, and apart from wasting time, money, nerves, and lost child construction allowance, nothing has come of it. :-(
As the title says, after almost ten months, we realized that our architect has led us in a completely wrong direction. Last week, I terminated our contract, and now it is uncertain whether we will agree on the installment payments already made.
I am interested if anyone here in the forum has had similar experiences and how they resolved them.
Our issue is that from the start, a construction budget was set, which also appears in the contract.
After ten months of collaboration, it is still not being adhered to, despite several reminders.
I have now paid installment payments amounting to 11,000 EUR (around 11,000 USD) – foolishly – out of a total of 18,000 EUR (about 18,000 USD) for service phases 1 to 4…
Here is a brief timeline excerpt:
- 01/20 – Architect contract states a maximum construction budget of 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) – excluding building site, architect, special features (this should have been enough for a nice single-family house)
- then design planning until April – first installment payment
- 04/20 – Architect’s cost estimate 546,000 EUR (about 546,000 USD)
- redesign of design planning
- reminder of max. 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) budget – second/third installment payments
- 09/20 – Cost calculation 593,000 EUR (about 593,000 USD)
- confusion, as we realized we were moving in the wrong direction
- revised calculation 539,000 EUR (about 539,000 USD) – mainly due to adjustment of price per square meter and smaller windows
- loss of trust and termination of the contract by us
Looking forward to your feedback!
Best regards,
Johann
House planning should be something enjoyable, right?
Unfortunately, I feel that choosing our architect was a total mistake, and apart from wasting time, money, nerves, and lost child construction allowance, nothing has come of it. :-(
As the title says, after almost ten months, we realized that our architect has led us in a completely wrong direction. Last week, I terminated our contract, and now it is uncertain whether we will agree on the installment payments already made.
I am interested if anyone here in the forum has had similar experiences and how they resolved them.
Our issue is that from the start, a construction budget was set, which also appears in the contract.
After ten months of collaboration, it is still not being adhered to, despite several reminders.
I have now paid installment payments amounting to 11,000 EUR (around 11,000 USD) – foolishly – out of a total of 18,000 EUR (about 18,000 USD) for service phases 1 to 4…
Here is a brief timeline excerpt:
- 01/20 – Architect contract states a maximum construction budget of 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) – excluding building site, architect, special features (this should have been enough for a nice single-family house)
- then design planning until April – first installment payment
- 04/20 – Architect’s cost estimate 546,000 EUR (about 546,000 USD)
- redesign of design planning
- reminder of max. 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) budget – second/third installment payments
- 09/20 – Cost calculation 593,000 EUR (about 593,000 USD)
- confusion, as we realized we were moving in the wrong direction
- revised calculation 539,000 EUR (about 539,000 USD) – mainly due to adjustment of price per square meter and smaller windows
- loss of trust and termination of the contract by us
Looking forward to your feedback!
Best regards,
Johann
danixf schrieb:
Just post the result here. No architect charges such prices for a standard house. He did, here: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/feedback-grundriss-groesse-und-preis-ok.34675/ and I would definitely call it more like a "4711 double turbo" rather than a standard "08/15" house.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
C
chamäleon10 Oct 2020 12:06If this is basic standard, then we are currently planning a timber cladding...
danixf schrieb:
Post your results here. No architect charges such prices for a standard house. Oh wow... All right! Nothing to add to the comments in the original thread.
I also planned with an architect. The first thing an architect does is listen to the client’s wishes to understand their expectations. No architect works blindly without information. After that, there is a first draft.
This is not meant as an attack, but you clearly have no sense of what costs what, or what a “normal standard” is.
... basically, you ended up losing time, money, and the child benefit for building.
J
JohannFugger10 Oct 2020 12:2611ant schrieb:
He posted it here: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/feedback-grundriss-groesse-und-preis-ok.34675/ and in terms of "standard" I would definitely call it more of a "4711 Dual Turbo" Exactly, 11ant. That was our turning point—or so I thought. It became clear afterward that we couldn’t and didn’t want to build it that way.
That’s why we decided to start over.
But that’s not really the point. The main issue is that the architect simply ignored our budget limit, kept on designing, and in the end the costs increased instead of decreasing.
K
knalltüte10 Oct 2020 13:32JohannFugger schrieb:
No, seriously. The cost estimate only included the bare building structure. All additional costs were not included.
Actually, we were also considering small extras like KNX, a gas fireplace, granite kitchen. But those would be added on top.
No, wrong – photovoltaics for 6,000 euros were included. Where exactly can you find someone currently installing photovoltaics for 6,000 euros? Right now, that would get you only about 2–3 kWp.
To be honest, there was a time when 1 kWp cost around 1,000 euros, but for small systems that is far from achievable today. If other trades were also estimated rather than based on current offers, this would have really gone wrong.
JohannFugger schrieb:
Exactly, 11ant. That was our turning point—or so I thought. It became clear to us that we couldn’t and didn’t want to build it that way. That’s why we started over. But that’s not really the point. The main issue is that the architect simply ignored our budget limit and kept planning, which in the end made it even more expensive instead of cheaper.When are you going to finally tell us what was actually planned?
If the expectation is for more than 200 sqm (2,150 sq ft) on a slope plus a granny flat, you might as well tattoo your budget limit on your forehead. It simply remains unrealistic. The architect will demonstrate this to you through a cost estimate.
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