Developer or architect - costs

Hello everyone,

my partner and I would like to build (have built) a solid house. 140sqm + basement + garage. We have already been to 2 developers in the region who both only do a small part of the trades themselves and subcontract the rest. We are now wondering if it would be cheaper if we plan the construction ourselves with an architect and obtain offers for the individual trades. How much can you save and is it advisable for us as laypeople to plan it ourselves at all, or is the risk too high that we might do something wrong?

Thank you

What is cheaper, a small car or a built-in kitchen? You mean more like GÜ, right? The architect wants to save the profit margin of the GÜ by tendering if he is good, but then it costs fees. With GÜ you tend to have less say but better cost control. I would advise against planning everything yourself... at least for the first 2 houses.

We had thought of tendering the architect and trades separately, with the architect needing to assist us with the schedule, etc. How much would we save with this combination compared to [GÜ]?

Nothing, rather more

You can come to construction costs of 300 thousand with an architect, but also with a GÜ.

Maybe you should take a look at the forums – the topic [Architekt oder GÜ] is discussed here about twice a week.

My cousin built with a general contractor and we with the architect. We have the impression that with us there is simply more babysitting involved than with the GC. But that can vary from GC/contractor to GC/contractor.

If you are a person who needs a lot of transparency, I see you on the property rather with the architect. If you just want your house and are not that interested in details, then you take the GC/contractor.

Much more important than the above, however, in my opinion, is trust and the chemistry between the contracting parties.