ᐅ Building technician wants to design a house

Hello,
I am currently completing my state-certified construction technician qualification. I am working as a bricklayer at the moment and studying alongside.
Now my question regarding housebuilding. According to the building regulations in Württemberg, a construction technician is allowed to design a house with a floor area of up to 160m² (1722 sq ft) and one full storey. My plan for the future might be to design our single-family home myself. I feel confident that I can do this. But my most important question is: How do banks view this, especially from a financing perspective? I would also be calculating the cost estimates myself.
Has anyone had experience with this or do you have any information?

I would view it critically. However, banks have appraisers who can initially assess whether a project is realistic.

I mean, just through the planning you might save the architect’s fee for the planning phase, which is about 5,000–10,000 EUR. So the rest should roughly correspond to the costs that would also be incurred in a build with an architect, general contractor, or construction manager.

toxicmolotow schrieb:
I would be cautious. But banks have appraisers who can generally assess whether a project is realistic.

I mean, just from the planning alone, you could at best save the architect's fee for the planning phase, which is about 5,000 to 10,000 EUR (roughly 5,300 to 10,600 USD). So the rest should roughly correspond to the costs you would incur when building with an architect, a project manager, or a general contractor.

Okay, thanks for your reply. 5,000 to 10,000 EUR (roughly 5,300 to 10,600 USD) is quite a bit of money that I might save. What do you think about the idea of hiring an architect only up to the building permit/planning permission stage, and then doing the detailed planning, construction supervision, and so on myself? How much architect’s fee could I save approximately? And do architects even offer such arrangements?

michisa86888 schrieb:
How much could I roughly save on architect fees by doing this? And do architects even do that?

Yes, architects do handle this. However, the scope of the contract—such as service phases 1 to 4, or a staged contract—needs to be agreed upon in advance and reviewed carefully.

You can estimate the potential savings yourself using an HOAI calculator, but this requires having some idea of the desired quality standard for the building to be constructed. It can also make sense to commission additional service phases, as skipping them might cause gaps between design and construction that could affect the overall outcome.

Moreover, not every cut in architect fees is truly a saving, since planning tasks from, for example, service phase 5 may then show up indirectly in the contractor’s invoice. Liability issues should also be taken into consideration.

WD

Hello...
Banks will generally approve almost anything as long as the calculations are understandable and realistic. It is not true that calculations must or can only be prepared by architects.
You can talk to the banks and certainly do without an architect. Everything just has to add up. Banks review everything very thoroughly. But architects also make mistakes in their calculations, and some tend to “beautify” numbers to help clients get their loans.
I know many homeowners who have credited their own construction work, so why shouldn’t you be able to design your own house and prepare a cost estimate? The cost estimate is quite simple: quantity takeoff multiplied by unit prices. That’s how architects learn it as well.
I am confident and wish you the best of luck... and I am sure you can definitely plan your own house yourself.

Best regards,
Ingo