Architect - Fee - Own contribution

Hello everyone,

we would like to build, but we would carry out the shell construction ourselves. Our budget is about €350,000. The architect has made his first calculation and says we need €550,000.

If we manage to build the house for €450,000 through a lot of personal work, is the architect's fee based on the €550,000 or the €450,000?

Google "architect fees + own contribution." The very first result is the answer of a lawyer.

Own contribution does not reduce the fee. Only the deduction through the reduction of the service phases.

By the way, if the architect already says that it will cost €550k, then it is realistically even more expensive (from my own experience). If you "don't want" to afford the €550k, then the better idea is to build through a general contractor.

Do you have an idea how you want to save the fictitious €100k? What happens if, with a lot of own contribution, it ends up being €525k?

My father built a house for my sister 3-4 years ago because he is a professional in the field. They stayed under 400,000. Our house will be smaller and I can save money on some trades. I went through the house with a father and we came to about 330,000.

What annoys me a bit is that he didn't really accommodate us and set the prices really high.

Possibly to increase his fee?

My father built a house for my sister 3-4 years ago since he is a professional. They stayed under 400,000. Our house will be smaller and I can save again on some trades. I went through the house with a father and we came to about 330,000.

What annoys me a bit is that he didn’t really accommodate us and set the prices really high.

Maybe to drive up his fee?

But you do know that prices have increased by an average of 7% per year over the last 4 years?

My construction coordinator is also a professional; the last house he managed was 2 years ago. He was shocked when he saw our offers.

The price/budget of your sister is no longer a benchmark at the moment. Especially if you can only start at the end of next year.

And honestly, no architect would risk a contract over all service phases because of a measly 2-3k€ more gross fee.

Write some data here about your planned house so that we can assess the 550k€.

What annoys me a bit is that he didn’t really accommodate us and set the prices really high.

Maybe to increase his fee?

Depending on what kind of architect he is, he might not even consider a cheaper option for some details – ours is a bit like that, for him the market sometimes starts at things others see as "upscale." ;-)