ᐅ Structural Engineer vs. Architect

Assuming 1,800€ per square meter plus basement: the total comes to at least 425,000€ (plus VAT):

Please consider:
- With a general contractor, phases 1–9 are already included in the price
- Saving 10 square meters (108 square feet) through a good architect saves almost 20,000 euros without any real loss in quality

Saving 10 square meters (approximately 108 square feet) might reduce costs by around 7,000 to 8,000 EUR. There are fixed costs and variable costs, and the additional price per extra square meter can be easily verified with numerous pricing examples available online. Connection fees, land, site development, notary fees, heating system, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, bathrooms, bathroom tiles, and so on remain exactly the same regardless of whether the living room or hallway is 10 square meters larger or smaller.

Nevertheless, professional planning is worthwhile, although there are civil engineers knowledgeable in design and architects without any talent. Ideally, you should find an engineering or architectural firm that has already completed a few hundred single-family homes from design to handover, and if the style of that firm fits your preferences, then that’s excellent.

I believe that if an architect is currently designing their second single-family home, the result will likely be poor. And a few hundred single-family homes is not a huge number, especially if you have a team with separate roles including an architect. The architect might earn around 12,000 to 15,000 EUR for service phases 1 through 5 and needs to generate about three times their gross salary, meaning at least 9 houses per year for the office to break even or just be profitable. After 11 years, perhaps in their early 40s, an architect specializing in single-family homes should have completed around 100 houses (excluding site supervision).

40k would include construction supervision, right? I’m interested in how much the planning process up to the submission would cost. So without construction supervision.

Then add up the first 4 points. That is, up to and including the planning permission / building permit phase.

Thanks, I can work with that.