You should also say goodbye to the romantic idea that you can save money with an architect. [...] He is not a controller, rather a magician or artist. If you get the wrong one, it can only go wrong. With the general contractor, you have a price guarantee
Even with a general contractor, you can seriously burn your fingers despite a price guarantee. No idea why architects are always spoken of so poorly here in a blanket way. [...] I don’t want to speak out against GCs, but as long as you don’t bring on board the "artist" you mentioned, the idea of thinking about an architect shouldn’t be discarded.
I consider the idea of saving money by doing without an architect’s planning to be the decidedly more romantic notion. The kind of architects who cause the trauma of are
in the minority. There are many good ones, and I am also happy to help personally in finding them.
A good architect can, if desired by both sides, plan a house as cost-effectively as possible, create a clever spatial concept, and also individually intervene during the construction process. He acts in the interest of the builder and not in the interest of a company.
Yes, and what I find most crucial is that the architect, especially as a construction manager (Google spoiler: "About construction managers and ... construction managers"), acts in the interest of the builder and not the company: where the architect-as-construction-manager pays attention to
avoiding mistakes themselves, the task of the GC’s construction manager is more to
avoid the mistakes being noticed before acceptance.
In my opinion, a mix of architect and construction manager would be the best solution. [...] If we were to build again, I would use an architect up to the building permit, then a construction manager. This way you ideally have a nice floor plan (architect) combined with a fixed price and construction time guarantee (construction manager).
Switching to the draftsman after the architect’s service phase 4 can only be topped by doing so already after service phase 3 or planning completely only with the draftsman (unless: you build without any ifs and buts a proven catalog house 1:1). The romantic reduction of the architect to just a floor plan designer is probably one of the strongest cornerstones of the misjudgment that architects carry out planning tasks overpriced.
Firm binding price commitments can also be obtained by leaving the tendering to the professional (instead of falling into the delusion that the tendering is a good opportunity to do your own work - asking for prices, after all, any fool can do that). Nowhere in construction is as much money thrown out the window as in the amateurish, inexperienced chase for the supposedly fairest price.
By the way, a decision in favor of the architect route is NOT a decision against execution by a general contractor: a good architect will always allow bidders to offer to execute several or all lots as a package as a GC.