ᐅ Have the house designed by a general contractor or an architect?
Created on: 4 Apr 2016 19:25
A
AndreasPlüA
AndreasPlü4 Apr 2016 19:25Hello, a fundamental question that is probably asked often: What are the advantages of having a single-family house designed by an architect and built through to completion by them, compared to using a general contractor/building contractor?
Background: We unexpectedly received approval for a building plot quite quickly and, despite professional stress, feel somewhat pressured to act.
Thank you very much for your experiences and opinions.
Background: We unexpectedly received approval for a building plot quite quickly and, despite professional stress, feel somewhat pressured to act.
Thank you very much for your experiences and opinions.
J
j.bautsch5 Apr 2016 07:27I would say that with a general contractor (GC), you usually have less work to handle yourself (if that’s what you want). With an architect, you need to be more involved.
Hello Andreas,
first of all, congratulations on your building plot.
And yes, this question has indeed been asked quite a few times. I would recommend simply searching for it and reading the existing threads. This way, you will quickly get an impression of the advantages and disadvantages of both options and which one might suit you better.
first of all, congratulations on your building plot.
And yes, this question has indeed been asked quite a few times. I would recommend simply searching for it and reading the existing threads. This way, you will quickly get an impression of the advantages and disadvantages of both options and which one might suit you better.
Hi,
the tricky thing about this question is that you’ll never really know if your decision was the right one...
With a good architect, it’s possible that you’ll get your house a bit cheaper or you might get a few extra features for the same price. The risk lies with the tradespeople, who are currently so overwhelmed with orders due to the building boom that sometimes you don’t even receive any quotes. Some people with an architect and individual contracts have ended up building for 18-20 months. Compared to 8-10 months with a general contractor (GC), that can easily mean an additional cost of about 10,000 € due to rent and interest.
Also, there are some architect-designed homes where you really wonder what the architect was thinking with the floor plan. So, it doesn’t always result in a better layout.
There are also hybrid solutions. One builder wanted to refer us to their architect, who would have worked with us on the floor plan all the way to the complete plans. The builder is mainly a structural contractor who would then provide the shell construction, along with partner companies that we could have hired individually. The advantage would have been cost transparency, since the quote would have listed every brick and trade separately. But he wanted 3,000 € for this quite elaborate quote. That put us off, especially since his architect had a poor reputation in our neighborhood. Sometimes I wonder now if we should have gone ahead with it.
Our general contractor was known to be very straightforward but has started to act difficult now as well.
Take a look through the various forum threads: generally, you can say
with an architect you have more freedom/options but also more work to do yourself
with a GC, the whole process is a bit easier to plan and more predictable.
Which option is cheaper in the end probably comes down to luck.
Best regards,
Andreas
the tricky thing about this question is that you’ll never really know if your decision was the right one...
With a good architect, it’s possible that you’ll get your house a bit cheaper or you might get a few extra features for the same price. The risk lies with the tradespeople, who are currently so overwhelmed with orders due to the building boom that sometimes you don’t even receive any quotes. Some people with an architect and individual contracts have ended up building for 18-20 months. Compared to 8-10 months with a general contractor (GC), that can easily mean an additional cost of about 10,000 € due to rent and interest.
Also, there are some architect-designed homes where you really wonder what the architect was thinking with the floor plan. So, it doesn’t always result in a better layout.
There are also hybrid solutions. One builder wanted to refer us to their architect, who would have worked with us on the floor plan all the way to the complete plans. The builder is mainly a structural contractor who would then provide the shell construction, along with partner companies that we could have hired individually. The advantage would have been cost transparency, since the quote would have listed every brick and trade separately. But he wanted 3,000 € for this quite elaborate quote. That put us off, especially since his architect had a poor reputation in our neighborhood. Sometimes I wonder now if we should have gone ahead with it.
Our general contractor was known to be very straightforward but has started to act difficult now as well.
Take a look through the various forum threads: generally, you can say
with an architect you have more freedom/options but also more work to do yourself
with a GC, the whole process is a bit easier to plan and more predictable.
Which option is cheaper in the end probably comes down to luck.
Best regards,
Andreas
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