ᐅ Planning a New Build – What Is the Most Practical Approach?

Häuslebauer22 schrieb:

Should you tell the architect, builder, or prefab house manufacturer your exact budget right away?

No, you should give a budget limit for the house itself.
There are still an additional 100,000–200,000€ (about 110,000–220,000 USD) for extra costs like permits, kitchen, furniture, fencing, landscaping, and so on.
If you share your total budget, the architect might assume it’s only for the house itself and design a castle in the clouds.

Häuslebauer22 schrieb:

We have already done that. We also have very specific ideas. We already know what our financial framework is. Should you tell the architect, builder, or prefab house manufacturer directly what the budget is? Or is that rather a disadvantage?

Having very specific ideas in terms of self-drawn floor plans can also be problematic. The budget for the house (including foundation/basement and earthworks) should definitely be communicated from the start—not only with the architect. Even with prefab houses, the catalog price and the initial offer usually differ significantly.

Personally, after building with a general contractor, I would choose to build with an architect and individual contracts next time. The reason is the conflict of interest with the construction management as well as the possibility to go more into detail with individual contracts regarding the exact execution chosen. To be fair, though, I know a lot more now than I did three years ago 😉

Häuslebauer22 schrieb:

We also have very clear ideas.

About what?
Generally, having very fixed ideas can be detrimental when building a house. You become too set on specifics, and many calculations no longer add up. You try to fit your unaffordable wishes into a too small or standard house until nothing fits anymore.
My advice: Assess your budget and the plot of land, calculate additional building costs, have a meeting with the bank, and then figure out how much living space is actually affordable.

ypg schrieb:

About what?
Basically, having very specific ideas is harmful when building a house. You become too fixed, and the calculations no longer work. You end up trying to fit your unaffordable wishes into a house that is too small or a standard model until nothing fits anymore.
My advice: assess your budget and plot of land, calculate additional construction costs, have a bank consultation, and then figure out how much living space is actually affordable.

Specific ideas regarding an open-plan kitchen, number of rooms, no balconies, no bay windows, no basement.

Häuslebauer22 schrieb:

We have bought a plot in a new development area (500sqm (5380 sq ft)). Now I’m wondering what the best approach is to start building a house. We haven’t decided yet whether it should be a masonry or solid construction. Also, I can’t say yet if we want KfW40 or a lower standard—it depends on the additional cost. Should we first talk to an architect or a builder?

First of all, you should create two separate threads here (and link them in this thread), one in the floor plan planning section, starting with the completed questionnaire https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-planung-unbedingt-vor-beitrag-erstellung-lesen.11714/. Please avoid posting overly cropped extracts from the cadastral map or zoning plan. Be careful—you can mention the zoning plan here, but you should not link to it!

For this reason, I can only recommend you to research on your own (preferably including the quotation marks) “A House Building Roadmap, also for you: the HOAI phase model!” (on Bauen jetzt). This will give you insight into the fee structure for architects (which you don’t have to apply) as a step-by-step plan for your planning process. There you will also find a glossary of construction terms, my “stone mantra,” and an explanation of why “show homes lie.”

Bau-beendet schrieb:

Visiting show home parks could be an option to get a better feel for the subject.

Show home parks and prefabricated home exhibitions have a fundamental flaw in that they mostly feature “prefab” homes—often only from timber frame panel manufacturers. Also, you will quickly become targets of salespeople who try to steer your openness away from other building methods (and they are usually quite skilled at it). Visit such parks—but only after your meetings with your architect!

At these exhibitions, you will learn a lot—but mostly only what is meant to convince you of the offers presented there. It’s best to visit once you have already discussed the basic form of your house with your architect, so you can just pick up ideas for final fittings and finishes. The ideal time to visit such exhibitions is during the “resting phase” (explained at the link mentioned above).

Here on the forum, the search function with keywords like “roadmap” / “procedure” and “Gerddieter” will lead you to numerous posts where planning processes and the subject of selecting an architect are discussed.

Häuslebauer22 schrieb:

We have already done that. We also have very specific ideas and know our financial range. Should we tell the architect, builder, or prefab manufacturer directly what our budget is? Or is that more of a disadvantage?

It’s best to discuss budget issues openly here in the forum (but beware: this section can be quite direct!). Keep in mind that all types of home providers will try to push your budget to the limit. Also, remember that—for example—the fitted kitchen usually isn’t included in the construction loan. You’ve already experienced some additional costs when buying the plot, and it will continue like this.

The most important thing with an architect is to hire one directly and pay transparently. This is NOT more expensive than the architect costs “included” in the builder’s price. They just work differently—and, most importantly: in the construction supervision phase, they are loyal to you. You should commission the architect first just for “Module A” and then, based on the preliminary design result, request orientation offers from around four to five timber and masonry builders—that can partially be done during visits to show home centres. Based on the feedback, you then decide which construction type suits you better and instruct the architect accordingly for the full “Module B” or just Performance Phase 3. However, this basically duplicates what you’ll find in the posts linked to the above-mentioned keywords. Have fun!

P.S.: A quick note on energy standards and special subsidies for granny flats: build the house for yourselves and according to the current legal standard. Subsidies for tomorrow’s standards, in short, pay off mainly only for those with private insurance; playing landlord on the scale of a single dwelling unit doesn’t make economic sense. Also, no one builds a retirement home now if you are under 40.

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https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Häuslebauer22 schrieb:

Clear ideas regarding an open kitchen, number of rooms, no balconies, no bay windows, no basement.

Exactly. When you meet with the architect—even if you have already drawn your own designs—just bring a list of the rooms, requirements, and wishes. For the basement, you can find insights by searching for the term "11ant Kellerregel"—both here and at a well-known location ;-)

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/