Comparability of costs Architect vs. General Contractor

If you know everything beforehand, that's nice.

Yes, of course, you don't know everything beforehand. We will certainly still add something spontaneously, but I have made quite an effort so that it will only be 5 or 10€/sqm for tiles and not 20,000€ for terrace doors and the like. I don't want to buffer that heavily, because whatever is available will certainly be used.

I don't want to buffer that massively, because what is available will certainly be used.

With an independent architect, you can have a good influence on the buffer size, keyword "active definition of the construction service description." The biggest buffer will be (used) if you look for a construction partner whose construction service description differs significantly from the client's wishes in many places. Simply put: the buffer grows with the delta of re-selection.

Yes, of course, you don't know everything in advance. We will certainly still spontaneously decide on something, but I tried quite hard to keep it to only 5 or 10€/sqm for tiles and no more than 20,000€ for terrace doors and the like. I don't want to buffer that massively because what is available will certainly be used.

We currently also have a "Must-Have" list and a "nice to have" / "would be nice" list. The Must-Have list mainly contains things that cannot (or not easily) be changed afterwards, so we want to take them into account right away. This list can also contain things that are preparatory for the “nice to have” list (e.g. empty conduits for photovoltaics, high-voltage power for the carport, etc.) Here we ruthlessly sort out. We also want to be creative and look at individual things (not everything) to discover potential savings.

I think it is always advantageous if you have already had your own household in a house with a garden and are not coming directly from an apartment. Certain things are simply tried and tested in everyday life and you then already have preferences. What you never had, you don’t miss that easily :)

The “nice to have” list contains things that we find quite cool or fun, but that are not essential to our personal happiness. There are really quite a few things here :) This list also contains things we might retrofit later.

One can effectively influence the buffer size with a freelance architect, keyword "active definition of the construction service specification." The biggest buffer will be (used) when you choose a construction partner whose construction service specification has a large delta with the client's wishes in many places. Simply put: the buffer grows with the delta of the remodeling.

I agree - we were with the general contractor and had looked at a model house. The price here was 333k for the house including the basement according to the construction service specification. We then went through some points and made some changes - suddenly we were at €439,000 :)

I agree – we were at the general contractor and had looked at a prefabricated house.

It doesn’t matter what you change – the extent and number of changes determine the severity of the surcharge. More length / width / ceiling height / knee wall height / roof pitch basically "acts" similarly to more sockets, clinker instead of plaster, or the like.

The budget can be reduced the most through a clever floor plan and thus by avoiding unnecessary space.