ᐅ HOAI or Why Architects Might Lack Interest...

Lumpi_LE schrieb:
Such nonsense, one person says something wrong, another thinks it might be true, and suddenly it’s "fake news".

Yes, that often happens nowadays. But if you mean @Fuchur and @montessalet here in this thread, you are mistaken.

Lumpi_LE schrieb:
If an architect offers a private client a design for 10,000€ then that is allowed, even if HOAI maybe states 20,000€ as the minimum fee. (Period)

That is incorrect. The HOAI is binding. Undercutting the minimum fees is only allowed in exceptional cases.
Fuchur’s post #19 describes the legal situation very accurately.

Bau_Bambi schrieb:
The question I keep asking myself is: Is this really a free market, or how do such fluctuations come about?

In the HOAI 2013, there is an annex 10 that lists the basic services within the service profile "Interiors and Buildings." It provides a final overview of what each service phase includes.

Additionally, there are so-called "partial service tables" (e.g., by Siemon), which assign a proportional fee for each basic service within the respective service phase.

Example:

Eligible costs (≠ total construction costs) = 300,000€ (approx. $320,000), fee zone III, average rate

For service phase 2 (Preliminary Design), 7% of the total fee is due, resulting in 3,144.57€ (approx. $3,360).
Service phase 2 includes the following basic services, which Siemon assigns the following proportions:

a) Analyzing the fundamentals, coordinating services with the professionals involved in planning
→ 0.25% to 0.50%

b) Aligning the objectives, identifying potential conflicts of goals (included in a)

c) Developing the preliminary design, investigating, presenting, and evaluating variants based on the same requirements, drawings at a scale according to the type and size of the project
→ 3.00% to 3.50%

d) Clarifying and explaining the essential connections, requirements, and conditions (e.g., urban planning, design-related, functional, technical, economic, ecological, building physics, energy management, social, public law)
→ 1.00% to 2.00%

e) Providing the work results as a basis for other planning professionals involved as well as coordinating and integrating their services (included in d)

f) Preliminary negotiations on the permit approval
→ 0.10% to 0.50%

g) Cost estimation according to DIN 276, comparison with the financial framework
→ 0.75% to 1.50%

h) Creating a schedule with the essential steps of planning and construction
→ 0.10% to 0.50%

i) Summarizing, explaining, and documenting the results
→ 0.10% to 0.50%

The architect can now reduce service phase 2 by omitting basic services considered unnecessary for the specific project. For example, item f) is probably rarely an essential part of his services. By deducting 0.5% of the total fee, the offer becomes 224.61€ (approx. $240) cheaper.
In this way, it is also possible to go below the minimum HOAI fee rates (by service phase), but this requires explicit agreement and should be contractually specified.

In my modest experience, however, it usually works out that the architect simply follows his routine and ensures that his working hours correspond with the fee. Single-family houses are often just filler projects between the more lucrative ones.
I’ve mentioned this before somewhere here; the nonsense portrayed in some popular shows (e.g., BR “Dream Houses”), where the architect is passionately involved, designs multiple creative variants, lovingly builds small models, brings various material samples, advises the homeowner during selections, and proudly presents the finished build on a landing page — you won’t find that in reality. These are either personal projects of architects or involve construction sums beyond imagination where the architect genuinely earns well.

Honestly: If I absolutely needed an architect but could not afford the actually required 35,000€ (approx. $37,500) or more, I would go with the cheapest option and lower my expectations to zero. That way, everyone ends up satisfied.

PS: A quick note on “eligible costs.” The HOAI states:

§33 Special Principles of Fees (1) For basic services in buildings and interiors, the costs of the building construction are considered eligible.
(2) For basic services in buildings and interiors, the costs for technical installations that the contractor neither professionally designs nor supervises
1. are fully eligible up to 25 percent of the other eligible costs, and
2. are eligible at 50 percent for the amount exceeding 25 percent of the other eligible costs.
(3) Not eligible are, in particular, costs for site preparation, non-public infrastructure, as well as services related to furnishings and artworks, insofar as the contractor neither plans these services nor participates in procurement or professionally supervises their execution or installation.

If the construction sum is 350,000€ (approx. $375,000), and 100,000€ (approx. $107,000) of that is for “technical building equipment” (heating, electricity, controlled ventilation, etc.), the calculation would be:

350,000€ gross equals 294,000€ net. Of this, 84,000€ net is for the technical equipment. This results in eligible costs of:

210,000 + 52,500 + 15,750 = 278,250€ (approx. $298,000) eligible costs.

Addendum: Of course, the fee itself must be deducted from the total construction cost ;-)