ᐅ When is the project typically handed over from the architect to the general contractor (after which project phase)?

Hello everyone,

We are currently planning our house together with an architect. However, we do not want to contract individual trades through the architect later on; instead, we plan to build a nearly turnkey house with a general contractor (GC). We decided to work with an architect for the initial planning because the overall quality of planning from GCs generally seemed too low and superficial to us.

Now, we are wondering when the right time is to hand over the further execution to a GC.

After design phase 3 (preliminary design)?
After design phase 4 (permit planning / building permit planning)?
After design phase 5 (detailed design)?

We will not subcontract all trades to the GC but plan to do some interior work ourselves or assign it to long-term trusted craftsmen.

Thank you very much for your advice and tips!
ufr123

I wonder if this wasn’t the right approach here! Not every general contractor (GC) works according to an external specification, and they must then cooperate with the external architect. Didn’t your architect recommend any GCs that they know and collaborate with?

Standard procedure.
Service phases 1-4

ufr123 schrieb:

We decided to plan with an architect first because we felt the general planning quality of the general contractors was too low and superficial.
Now we are wondering when the right time is to hand over further execution to a general contractor.
After design phase 3 (preliminary design)?
After design phase 4 (permission planning / building permit planning)?
After design phase 5 (detailed design)?

To me, this doesn’t sound like a detailed design prepared by the general contractor would even be properly reviewed by anyone. I would keep the site supervision with the architect.

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Why choose a general contractor (GC) if you are planning to subcontract several trades anyway? The GC will not give you full credit for these trades. Besides, if you have the structural calculations done in advance, the GC won’t be able to charge excessive additional fees later just because your ceiling turns out to be 2cm (0.8 inches) thicker than the architect initially planned.

In such a construction, the general contractor (GC) is, of course, only contracted for the trades they are also supposed to carry out. Nothing is excluded and finalized.