Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

I would be okay if we had ANY kind of luxury. But we have neither a photovoltaic system, nor roller shutters, nor KNX or heat pump. It is basically an L-shaped bungalow with a roof, flooring (but only tiles up to 60x60), gas boiler, windows (at least tinted, but plastic…) and doors. No garage, no carport. We should also prepare for a +5% price increase because we wouldn't start building immediately. I just wonder what advantage he has in giving us such a rather unattractive calculation.

Exactly that you should tell him. Including fee adjustment to a maximum of fee zone 3, quarter rate, for this simple construction. Otherwise, it’s over for him after service phase 4 and the rest is done by a general contractor.

But what use is a nicely calculated cost accounting that is not realistic? It is often these 3,500€/sqm mentioned here as well. I naturally also ask myself the question whether a general contractor is cheaper. However, I cannot imagine that or would not know why it should be cheaper. There is still the chance that it will be even cheaper with the architect and individual contracting.

Who offers a car cheaper? BMW, where the things roll off the production line every minute, or a manufactory that creates the car completely individually for you, including the bodywork?

When the plumber buys a few heaters from the architect, he gets a completely different price than when Town & Country requests 50 times the quantity.

And, very important. You have to accept (or want) the house from Town & Country or any other general contractor as it is stated in the catalog. As soon as you have special/redesign requests, especially ones that affect the structural engineering, it becomes absurdly expensive there. Depending on the general contractor, it can also happen that you have to specify electrical outlets already during the planning meeting and pay 150 EUR for each additional outlet. Fortunately, we didn’t have that with Town & Country; except for the windows, we settled extra costs directly with the local craftsmen...

By the way, mostly the same craftsmen who also showed up at the architect’s house across the street...

But with what you write: no 60x60 tiles, no roller shutters, no heat pump... then the 3,000 EUR/m² for the house (without the architect, although in my opinion the architect should be included in the house price, his services are not incidental costs?) is completely overpriced. However, it will probably be difficult to find a 180m² bungalow with the general contractor where you leave 60m² in shell construction initially. That means planning effort, which makes it expensive again.

With the 74,000 EUR fee, the architect is probably still within limits. You can calculate 10-15% of the construction costs. An architect-designed house is luxury after all. It always was and always will be.

Whereas. How is that supposed to work anyway or what does "Rohbau" mean? Heating and screed, windows and insulation, all of that still has to be there. That also means it must already be plastered, electrical and sanitary installations as well?

But what use is a nicely calculated cost accounting that is not realistic? It is often these 3,500€/sqm mentioned here. Of course, I also ask myself whether a general contractor is cheaper. But I cannot imagine that, nor would I know why it should be cheaper. There is still the chance that it will be even cheaper with the architect and individual contracts.

Of course, a flattering calculation is useless. But you have to reflect on what you are doing. The architect's fee then scales nicely upwards... don't get me wrong, I have built with architects and individual trades myself, but you have to regard him like one of the trades. €72,000 for a simple single-family house is absurd. If you do that for every trade, nothing should surprise you.

It is absolutely no problem to go to the general contractor after performance phase 4 with the plans and have it priced. That is completely normal business, both for the architect and the general contractor. The architect will find it unpleasant, but so what. Provided you were not so "stupid" as to have directly fixed all performance phases in the contract with him, of course.

But what use is a nicely calculated cost accounting that is not realistic? It is often these 3,500€/sqm mentioned here. Of course, I also ask myself whether a general contractor is cheaper. But I cannot imagine it or know why it should be cheaper. There is still the chance that it gets even cheaper with the architect and individual awarding.

Asking GCs and obtaining offers costs nothing. So what do you have to lose? The architect's bill is totally absurd.