ᐅ Stopping or pausing a home construction project? Costs too high
Created on: 23 Nov 2021 12:06
C
Coffee82
Good morning,
My husband and I want to build a house.
We already have the plot of land. We are now facing an unpleasant situation.
We planned the house roughly with an architect, which went very quickly.
No building permit / planning permission has been applied for yet, and no detailed execution plan has been made.
The architect provided a cost estimate that surprised us a lot.
Of course, we had previously asked acquaintances, friends, and family members about the costs of their construction projects.
Obviously, we only considered recent projects.
The architect’s estimate is more than double what we initially expected—around 4500-5000€/sqm (420-465 USD/sqft).
After this, we consulted a few others locally and two from a bit further away. Everyone seems to agree on the construction costs.
I’m not allowed to share the documents here, but there is really nothing unusual. It’s a KW40+ house with 198 sqm (2132 sqft) of living and usable space, plus a double garage attached to the left side of the house. Of course, no basement.
The specifications given to the architect were average and typical. No marble floors, no smart home features. A simple house like my uncle’s, just new.
It looks like the house will cost around 1 million euros. On top of that, of course, there are additional costs such as fees for the architect, landscaping, etc. Together with the land, the total is so high that we neither can finance it nor afford to pay it.
Unfortunately, the architect had to do quite some work before he could estimate the costs.
Now we are worried that if we cancel the project, the architect will want 15,000 to 20,000 euros for the work he has already done.
What would you do in our place?
Best regards,
Coffee82
My husband and I want to build a house.
We already have the plot of land. We are now facing an unpleasant situation.
We planned the house roughly with an architect, which went very quickly.
No building permit / planning permission has been applied for yet, and no detailed execution plan has been made.
The architect provided a cost estimate that surprised us a lot.
Of course, we had previously asked acquaintances, friends, and family members about the costs of their construction projects.
Obviously, we only considered recent projects.
The architect’s estimate is more than double what we initially expected—around 4500-5000€/sqm (420-465 USD/sqft).
After this, we consulted a few others locally and two from a bit further away. Everyone seems to agree on the construction costs.
I’m not allowed to share the documents here, but there is really nothing unusual. It’s a KW40+ house with 198 sqm (2132 sqft) of living and usable space, plus a double garage attached to the left side of the house. Of course, no basement.
The specifications given to the architect were average and typical. No marble floors, no smart home features. A simple house like my uncle’s, just new.
It looks like the house will cost around 1 million euros. On top of that, of course, there are additional costs such as fees for the architect, landscaping, etc. Together with the land, the total is so high that we neither can finance it nor afford to pay it.
Unfortunately, the architect had to do quite some work before he could estimate the costs.
Now we are worried that if we cancel the project, the architect will want 15,000 to 20,000 euros for the work he has already done.
What would you do in our place?
Best regards,
Coffee82
Gerddieter schrieb:
To me, it sounds like you fell for the architect who never really wanted to work for you anymore and is now trying to push through an unreasonably high settlement. I would strongly disagree with that at this point.
There have been several very good and detailed guides here on how the next conversation with the architect could be approached—without accusations, openly, and with a clear goal. The absolute minimum is to first discuss the problems before discrediting the architect.
@Coffee82 When is the next meeting, and would you be willing to update us? That could steer the thread back onto a constructive path.
Gerddieter schrieb:
To me, it sounds like you fell for the architect who never really wanted to work for you and is now aiming for an unreasonably high settlement, which of course won’t be fair.Oh, you and your architect trauma—I was already missing you in this thread ;-)The original poster has already admitted her own naivety, and I don’t have more than a hint of suspicion here; rather, I think it’s most likely a case of mutual careless miscommunication—although I would have expected a more professional approach from the architect. But even you yourself are a good example that some fully competent, voting adults apparently still need to be fundamentally taught how a responsible client should manage their architect.
Tassimat schrieb:
There have been some very good and detailed guides here on how the next conversation with the architect could go. Without blame, open, goal-oriented.Yes, in this thread, specifically aimed at reversing the original poster’s uncertainty. But I’m taking the “experiences” from this discussion (and from Gerddieter’s architect trauma) as an impetus to develop a general and preventive guide on how clients should deal with planners—so they don’t come across as clueless laypersons. I sometimes find the carelessness of consumers in handling their “oral commitment” in investment projects quite alarming.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
But this is also related to the fact that, in everyday life for an average person, such verbal agreements rarely involve amounts larger than 10,000 EUR (about 11,000 USD). At most, buying a used car might happen more often, and even there, it has become common knowledge that it’s better to use a standard contract, like the one from ADAC, which people then either read or not.
I am even in favor of a new school subject: "Personal Finance," which would cover legal transactions that are likely to occur in a person’s life. Young people seem incredibly inexperienced in this area, especially considering that sometimes even just a (forgotten) click can create a binding obligation...
I am even in favor of a new school subject: "Personal Finance," which would cover legal transactions that are likely to occur in a person’s life. Young people seem incredibly inexperienced in this area, especially considering that sometimes even just a (forgotten) click can create a binding obligation...
H
Hausbautraum2025 Nov 2021 09:33Tolentino schrieb:
I am even in favor of a new school subject called "Private Business," which would cover legal transactions that people are likely to encounter in everyday life. Young people seem incredibly naive in this area, especially since sometimes even just a (forgotten) click can create a binding obligation... In Bavaria, the subjects of economics and law cover the fact that contracts can also be concluded orally or through implied conduct.
Tolentino schrieb:
I am even in favor of a new school subject: "Private Economy," which would cover legal transactions that are likely to occur in a person’s life. Young people seem incredibly unaware in this area, especially since sometimes even a single (forgotten) click creates a binding commitment... I support a school subject called "Mathematics." It trains logical thinking. Simply thinking carefully about what you are doing instead of blindly following advice. There are often 20 years between finishing school and buying a house. Sorry, but no normal person needs unnecessary school subjects like that. Only people who are already taught in school how to fill out unemployment benefit forms
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