Hello everyone,
My partner and I would like to build a solid, masonry house (or have it built) with about 140 square meters (1500 square feet), including a basement and a garage. We have already visited two local home builders, but both only carry out a small portion of the trades themselves and subcontract the rest.
Now we are wondering if it might be more cost-effective to plan the construction ourselves with an architect and request individual quotes for each trade. How much can you typically save this way, and is it advisable for us as novices to plan the project on our own, or is the risk of making mistakes too high?
Thank you.
My partner and I would like to build a solid, masonry house (or have it built) with about 140 square meters (1500 square feet), including a basement and a garage. We have already visited two local home builders, but both only carry out a small portion of the trades themselves and subcontract the rest.
Now we are wondering if it might be more cost-effective to plan the construction ourselves with an architect and request individual quotes for each trade. How much can you typically save this way, and is it advisable for us as novices to plan the project on our own, or is the risk of making mistakes too high?
Thank you.
Elisabeth78 schrieb:
I also expected coordinating the trades to be much more difficult. To be honest, it wasn’t a problem at all! That is a very interesting point. Many people actually advise against self-managing the contracts precisely because of the (possibly complicated?) coordination.
In your original post from 2016, you mentioned that you lacked experience with architects and individual contracting, which made you lean more towards a general contractor (GC) or general building contractor (GBC). When and especially why did you have the “realization” to plan with an architect but manage the trades yourself?
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Elisabeth785 Apr 2020 17:53Georgie schrieb:
That is a very interesting point. Especially because of the (complicated?) coordination, many advise against self-managing the trades.
In your original post from 2016, you mentioned lacking experience with an architect and direct contracting and therefore leaning towards a general contractor. When, and especially why, did you have the "realization" to proceed with the architect's planning but manage the trades yourselves? We came to that decision because almost everyone we know who has built said it’s not difficult! And it wasn’t.
We had imagined it would be difficult, yes.
Of course, the tradespeople didn’t show up one after another; there were always one or two weeks between jobs. But that’s not necessarily a problem.
We always kept the tradespeople updated on our current status.
You don’t have to be an expert to know that after the shell is complete, the roof and windows need to be installed.
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Elisabeth785 Apr 2020 17:55There is a lot of information online about how the process should work. The tradespeople also assist with this.
Great if that worked out for you.
But how did you come to that conclusion?
What the architect negotiates ultimately reduces the cost for the client.
But how did you come to that conclusion?
Elisabeth78 schrieb:
The advantage was that with every company we could negotiate the quotes. Discounts between 3-7% were quite common. The architect and general contractor tend to keep that to themselves.
What the architect negotiates ultimately reduces the cost for the client.
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Elisabeth785 Apr 2020 18:25face26 schrieb:
Great if that has worked out for you.
But how do you come to that conclusion?
What the architect negotiates reduces the price for the client.For example, when I look at prices for laminate, vinyl flooring, and tiles from the general contractor (GC). Or bathroom fixtures are the best example. I know they won’t give me any discounts. At best, I pay as much for cheap junk as others pay elsewhere for high-quality products. And that was the case with both offers from the GC!!E
Elisabeth785 Apr 2020 18:27Hourly wages could not be negotiated anywhere, but they were the same or similar everywhere anyway.
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