Architect and building services engineering

Hi

We are having a house completely modernized and have selected an architect for this.

We are in the tendering phase and now our architect tells us that he is not responsible for the topic of building services and that we have to handle this planning and the specification ourselves.

In other words, we now have to sit down with the electrical / heating / plumbing installer and work out offers together.

"Architects never do building services," said our architect.

We didn’t understand it that way at the beginning and did not expect that we would have to do the whole thing ourselves. We feel a bit left alone with a topic that we do not master at all.

Is it really always like this?

There are TGA planners for that, everyone should just do what they do best

The statement of your architect is not correct in this generality. At least the coordination (e.g., tendering and awarding) of the building services (planning) is also carried out by architects.

So with us, our planner (Dipl.-Ing.) does it. That is, the awarding and tendering of the entire building services engineering. The specific planning of this is then carried out with the respective company in consultation with our Dipl.-Ing.. However, I do not know if this is customary.

The architect handles the areas for which he is competent. If building services engineering is not included, which is the case from a certain level of complexity, the planning from service phase 5, at the latest from phase 6 (tender/award), is assigned to a corresponding specialist planner. This is usually a building services engineering office (BSE = Building Services Engineering) or a specialized company that is also allowed to bid, but is paid extra for the preparation of a [LV] (specification of services) in its trade.

Of course, it is not a satisfactory option for you as clients to be left alone with this task, since you lack the technical knowledge to tender and coordinate these works. The architect should have informed you in good time about the appropriate procedure. Decisive is the extent to which the architect has been contractually commissioned by you. This should have been regulated in writing and clearly in detail. The scope of services of the architect results from this.

In the context of a single-family/two-family house, it is indeed reasonable to expect the architect to keep an overview of the building services, of course with the corresponding additional services from the specialist planners, such as a heat load calculation, a system design for the heating, or the thermal insulation certificate by the structural engineer.

Hi,

Thank you very much for the quick feedback. I see that we still have a lot to learn, including the role of architects...(-:

What was obvious to our architect was not necessarily obvious to us, and we sometimes made wrong assumptions or did not ask the right questions.

I will see if I can familiarize myself with the topics and manage everything on my own with advice from individual companies and maybe a bit from our architect.

Otherwise, I will have to procure additional external consulting (e.g., MEP office).