Construction costs when building with architects. What does your experience say?

What budget did you set for the architect? That was the first question with the architects we dealt with. You provide the budget and the requirements, the architect has to implement them if he can. Even an architect can calculate with 1500 € per m². I would also budget less at the initial meeting than you can actually spend, because there are always additional special requests. For us, the costs are about 1700 € per m² with really high-quality fittings.

Hello,

we are currently building a Weberhaus.

However, an individually planned one, since the "normal" Generation 5.0 does not fit on our plot.

What is still completely missing from the price of 370,000 EUR are your ancillary construction costs.

Here is our overview:

Ancillary construction costs
Architect 12,000.00 €
Surveying 2,500.00 €
Soil report 800.00 €
Garage foundation 10,000.00 €
Excavation 10,000.00 €
Notary 3,000.00 €
Development costs 8,000.00 €
Construction power/water 1,000.00 €
Insurances 500.00 €
Kitchen 20,000.00 €
Soapstone stove 4,000.00 €
Building permit 3,000.00 €
Miscellaneous 1,000.00 €
Outdoor facilities 30,000.00 €

Suddenly, almost 106,000 EUR are gone.

And that’s without garages (with your nice-to-have requirements another 15 - 20 K EUR - incl. electric gate drive, sectional door, lighting...)

Your 50,000 EUR for remodeling/upgrading measures are not absolutely unrealistic – we also added a round 55,000.00 on top of the base price for electric shutters, air-water heat pump, parquet floors, different tiles, electric shutters, numerous additional sockets, multimedia cabling, chimney flue...

Which Generation 5.0 have you looked at? 100, 200, 300???

By the way, architect-designed houses and prefabricated houses do not exclude each other – see our building blog...

Best regards,

Dirk

Hello,

some time ago we decided to build. After talks with friends and colleagues who already have experience in this area, it was decided that the whole thing should be done with an architect. Reason: We are both no experts (and unfortunately have none in close family) and would like someone to advise us independently. We have not planned any own work.

Your choice in favor of an architect is then – in my opinion – rather unusual, since you say yourself that you are a complete layperson. An architect demands more decisions from you than, for example, a general contractor. Accompanying architects during construction are always suspicious to me from my job perspective, and since that is the case, I recommend looking for an external expert via the well-known platforms. This way, the level of education and reputation can be checked in advance; the fact that references should be submitted should be self-evident.

We already have a plot in sight, about 800 sqm for around €70,000 (rural area, no slope, Baden-Württemberg). I actually thought that at that plot price there should be enough left over for a nice little house. Yesterday we had a first meeting with an architect who was recommended to us. He had already told us on the phone that building is expensive at the moment. In the discussion, he then said that we would have to reckon with €420 per cubic meter of enclosed space or approx. €2,000 per sqm.

Our plans were:

[*]180 sqm living space
[*]Basement
[*]Double garage

That makes about €500,000 + ancillary costs (according to the architect about 16%). The kitchen and outdoor facilities are not yet included. With the plot, that makes around €650,000.

Do these costs per sqm match your experiences? Honestly, I find that very expensive.

This architect then goes the other way, quoting higher values than will probably actually occur; from my point of view better than the other way around. For your “nice to have” you will have to calculate around €395,000 in the “ready for painter” variant (including painting work + floor coverings); including architect services but excluding additional construction costs of €35,000-40,000 as well as outdoor facilities and extra reserves. I have estimated the basement as a pure utility basement, but with one heated room to accommodate the heating technology.

An alternative would be a Weberhaus (e.g. Generation 5.0 or something in that direction). That costs with the living area about €250,000; according to the catalog. Then there would be €50,000 for the basement + €15,000 for the double garage. That would put us at about €320,000. Plus this and that remodeling measures – I would roughly assume €50,000 for that. That would make €370,000 and therefore €130,000 below the price quoted by the architect. Or have I overlooked something crucial?

Dirk, who is building with Weberhaus, has already told you quite a bit about this provider.

Basically, it can be said that the mentioned prefab house provider belongs rather to the high-price but serious providers. However, you should first decide for yourself in which direction your building project should go. Prefab or rather solid house construction; there are often worlds in between ... also regarding the final price.

Rhenish regards

Besides the costs when deciding to build with an architect, in my opinion it is not unimportant how flexible you want to be during the construction phase (keyword: overpriced surcharges for additional requests) and how you want to deal with the craftsmen (keyword: timely defect remediation). However, building with an architect without a fixed price can end up being quite expensive (up to 20%!). If disputes arise, the developer can, for example, halt construction, deny access to the house until acceptance (great if you have delivery dates for the kitchen or furniture), show potential buyers around the house so they can "have a look" etc.

This does not refer to a developer but apparently to a general contractor/contractor [GU/GÜ] – the client has the house rights and no one else.

Hello,

This is not about a developer but apparently about a general contractor/contractor - the client has the house rights and no one else.

That is not correct; it would also be quite exhausting if the client were allowed to command the employees/subcontractors of the contractor

Rhineland greetings