Architectural office obtains quotes only from long-standing business partners

It is the same with us, but I didn’t find that bad. He actually always has about three companies per trade with whom he has good experience. It is even the case that at the beginning of the year he sits down with the Gerken and discusses the cost changes. This way he can state very precisely how much each job costs. The only negative I noticed is that he works exclusively with one structural engineer (he also does other tasks like ordering metal, etc., as well as the KFW calculations). You could feel that in the speed of communication and the price.

The good network and the regular providers allowed our architect to also use semi-local providers who had a good cost structure. We had three major trades, each with a 40-45 minute travel time.

What is also really good about companies that regularly work with the architect: they cannot afford to charge exorbitant prices if you want any additional services during construction that were not originally planned.
For example, some cool ideas for the bathroom in our case.

If suddenly exorbitant prices are called up, the architect intervenes. He definitely wants to avoid being associated with rip-offs. He cannot afford that.
We had also spoken to other clients of the architect beforehand and were therefore well prepared and always had a really good feeling.

Everything is true, but it is viewed here through rose-colored glasses. Of course, the architect and his longtime partners will make sure they come out of this with a decent profit. This is definitely not a piggy bank, and the three companies he contacts will also be careful not to ruin their market with cutthroat prices. None of them are stupid.... The architect primarily represents his own interests and also wants to continue working with the companies tomorrow. So he will not do sharp price calculations or bargain for the client.

In this respect, that fits, but one should not convince themselves that there are necessarily price or quality advantages... And as for the reputation... that is completely overrated; 9 out of 10 clients do not inquire about the reputation when they build, that is purely a bubble opinion of those who are active in this forum.

Of course, the architect and also his long-term partners will make sure that they come out of the deal with a decent profit.

Good work must also yield a "decent" profit. That is fair if it is worthwhile for both. The client decides when building. The strategy can range from unconditionally cost-oriented to unconditionally quality-oriented. There is no one "right" or "wrong," and even the best planning can prove to be inaccurate in reality.

Well, I wouldn’t say these are the cheapest either, but they are realistic prices for good work. I would exclude poor work, that makes no sense in a long-term professional relationship. Completely overpriced offers as well.

And regarding reputation... it is completely overrated, 9 out of 10 builders do not inquire about the reputation when they build, that is purely the bubble opinion of those active in this forum.

Well, I have only been here since we started planning to build, and even before the forum bubble, my most important reason for choosing the general contractor was that he was honest and had a good reputation among the craftsmen known to me. We even asked my wife’s distantly related building material trade company owner (I couldn’t think of a shorter word). Although the general contractor we chose that way had his company located 25 driving minutes away, a few local craftsmen who also have a good reputation were known to him and vice versa; some were even on the list of craftsmen the general contractor asks.

So I do have a good feeling about it, and if you want to build cheaply, of course you can do it differently.

The architect primarily represents his own interests and also wants to continue working with the companies tomorrow. He will not make a sharp price calculation or haggle on behalf of the client.

A good architect sees himself more as a lawyer than as a party, and also does not view contractors as holders of other interests but as facilitators of project success. And he is sympathetic to negotiating according to the Harvard concept - not the American cowboy way of the client as winner and the contractor as loser.

9 out of 10 clients do not inquire about reputation when building,

Nine out of ten clients plan with an "service phase 1 to 4" architect, eight of them go unadvised directly to the general contractor, and one seeks his luck more than reason, without the slightest idea of the vast difference between tendering and wild solicitation of offers, to find the slyest cheapo bidders. In terms of deserved misfortune, he usually even has "success" with this.