ᐅ Planning: Architect or Developer

Hello, does anyone have experience with which option is better?
Having the house plans drawn up by an architect and then giving them to the builder,
or leaving everything entirely to the builder?

What are realistic costs for an architect?

In the last conversation with the builder, they said they could also create a plan, which would cost about €4000 (approximately $4,400), but this would not be charged if I ended up building with them.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Riedmann Stefan

Hello Stefan,

Stefanoi schrieb:
In the last conversation with the developer, they said they could create a plan as well, but it would cost around €4000 (about $4300), and of course, this fee would not be charged if I were to build with them.

That “sounds like” a provider with 3 letters, under whose umbrella there are actually 3 companies combined.

If you have your house designed by a reputable general contractor (GC), the architectural costs are naturally included in the fixed price. Otherwise, your question is the famous “Jehovah question” and can only be answered based on your personal preference.

Kind regards

Hello,

Stefanoi schrieb:

What are realistic architect fees?

That depends on what you plan to build.
The fees are calculated according to the HOAI (Official Scale of Fees for Architects and Engineers) and are, among other factors, based on the construction costs.

Regards

We had four designs created (2 from prefab house suppliers and 2 from developers since we were unsure which option to choose). The plans were free of charge; however, once the detailed planning phase began, the providers requested between 400-600 euros if we decided not to proceed with them (the plans would then be handed over to us).

Hello,

here it might be useful to make a general distinction, especially regarding posts by self-builders, so that no one gets completely misled.

For a few hundred euros, you will probably get a standard design adjusted (?) and should of course be aware of the conflict of interest that an employed architect faces. If a design costs 4,000€ (about $4,400), a builder will not simply absorb these costs if you build with them; instead, they will be included elsewhere in a mixed cost calculation.

The services provided by an independent architect during the initial project phases are not really comparable to this. The keyword is INDEPENDENCE. An independent architect CAN significantly contribute to making sure the building is tailored to the needs of its future occupants, without being more expensive than a standard build. The exact costs depend on what you want (design only, planning permission, etc.).

Beyond the design, you should also consider who handles the tendering process (can you truly compare offers yourself?) and who takes care of construction supervision, etc. A good collaboration with an architect—if you find the right one—can pay off financially as well.

By the way, there are cost calculators for HOAI (fee regulations) available online, which can help you estimate this quite accurately.

Best regards,
Peter

We paid the architect approximately 4000 euros for the design and building permit application. The construction company (which we chose later) also included these services in their fixed price. We were promised a credit for the building permit application and architectural services.

In the end, our builder couldn’t do much with the digital designs because they were created with different software programs, etc.
(Structural calculations, the energy certificate, and so on had to be done, and the builder also needed detailed execution plans, which our architect did not provide, at least not in our case.)

This means the company had to redraw everything anyway.
As a result, the credit we received was very small. So, we ended up paying twice...

For this reason, I would recommend having everything handled by one party if possible, so you don’t end up paying more later on.