Classification Flat Rate Architect

Hello,

we are currently in the planning phase of our construction project. Steep hillside location, costs approx. €350,000-450,000. It is not yet decided whether we will need 3 or 4 floors due to the slope.

So far, we have contacted three regional companies specializing in timber panel construction. Two of them are currently drawing up free designs in order to be able to prepare an offer. One company offers a planning phase with a partner architect before the construction phase. Here, the complete building application planning is offered for a flat rate of €5,800 net (the price applies to all builders regardless of the total costs). If the construction contract is then awarded to the house building company, €1,000 will be charged.

Can someone give an assessment of how the requested amount compares to other architects?

The Fee Structure for Architects and Engineers (HOAI) can also be found on the Internet (.de). Total construction costs and the complexity are essential factors there. I would always have a so-called "preliminary draft" (which is already "mass-accurate," i.e., with spatial dimensions that can actually be built later, but does not yet address window connections, rafter positions, and such details) made by the architect I commission myself. Only when it comes to the design and then the execution planning does an architect with special familiarity with the standards of a particular house manufacturer make sense. Until the basic features are "locked down," it is always important to me that it is MY architect (= my bread eater / my song singer). After that, the colleague can take over.

So far we have visited three regional companies specializing in timber panel construction.

The term "regional" now has to be taken with great caution; market concentration is heading in a direction similar to what is known from breweries. And some traditional brands are in new hands.

The mentioned sum for service phases 1-4, including the building application, cannot be reconciled with the chargeable net construction costs of approximately €295,000 to €375,000 according to HOAI (corresponds to gross construction costs of €350,000 - 450,000). The gross planning fee of an architect who creates an individual design for the client, including up to 3 variants in the preliminary draft, is at least 2.5 times as high.

The so-called "free" or very low-cost planning fees, which have nothing to do with HOAI, are of course refinanced by the construction company when awarded the contract through the building realization in terms of a mixed calculation. Nothing is free or inexpensive there either.

For the potential and, of course, always cost-conscious client, such sums are initially tempting. They should also be seen as a bait offer. And it should also be clear that even the contract architect of a construction company cannot really engage intensively with the design of your dream house for such a low fee. The result will be accordingly. If you like it...

So what I hear is that it is a "too cheap" offer? Billing according to HOAI is generally valid, I only hesitated a bit because the flat-rate offer is really valid for all interested parties, no matter how big their house will be. I also learned today that the price has meanwhile been increased to EUR 6,800 since 01.01.

The 2.5 times amount with almost EUR 15,000, however, shocks me a bit now.

It is clear to me that the "free" draft designers are compensated again with the construction contract. However, I am not obliged to sign with the construction company and would still have a completed building application for EUR 6,800 in my hands. In terms of quality, you could check that in advance based on reference objects, right? It is a contract architect; maybe it would be interesting what they would charge if I inquire as a private customer (i.e., not through the house construction company)?

The "regional" is now to be taken with great caution; market concentration is going in a direction similar to what is known from breweries. And some traditional brands are in new hands.

Since all three companies build between 5-30 houses per year and no further than within a radius of 100 km, I think you can safely speak of regional ;)

Since all three companies build between 5-30 houses per year and no further than within a 100km radius, I think it’s safe to call them regional ;)

That is a size very critical to innovation. I could imagine that they already lag behind the current industry standard (e.g., only able to change in the grid) and won’t be on the market in ten years.

Prefabricated houses from manufacturers with discontinued operations are harder to sell.

By the questionable regionality, I mean that big names in the industry from the 80s and 90s, which still have "name recognition" today and are recommended by former builders or interested parties to their children and in-laws, are now often in the hands of companies that themselves fall outside the founding tradition and have partially bought up several such names from various federal states.