Floor plan planning shortly before submitting the building application

No. What exactly would you be interested in?

Whether the floor-to-ceiling window there is drawn with the correct height. At first, I had the impression that it was drawn there with more height. But comparing it with the other dimensions, it probably matches after all.

Now I am curious to see how many cm they gain by reworking the roof terrace. It should be around 10 cm by using, among other things, higher-quality insulation.

I think I really can't do more now. Everything else leads to uncontrollable problems and risks.

They should not forget that the DT must have a slope of at least 2 cm per 1 m towards the drain (and the slope should lead away from the house...). Nothing has been marked so far, so it will not be executed...

That is not meant to sound arrogant, I think, like 90% of the builders, you didn’t know any better: Everything that happens here is based on the fact that a proper architect and execution planning were skipped. But I don’t quite understand why, with such an expensive house, one doesn’t even inform oneself about how planning is done, or what advantages and disadvantages the options bring.

Everything that has happened here is due to the fact that someone saved themselves a proper architect and a detailed execution plan.

We also wanted to build with an independent architect. We had four meetings in this regard, three of them more intensive. The result was always that they stated they would ultimately be significantly more expensive with the house construction than the offer from the specialized solid house provider. All three also recommended refraining from a joint project. Reasons for this:

- Project not big enough to be interesting for a good architect – due to the building boom, they can pick their projects and prefer to do multi-family houses or million-dollar villas

- Shortage of craftsmen – several pointed out that especially here in the metropolitan area it is very difficult to get craftsmen; and if you do, they charge any price and there is no cost clarity beforehand and you are fumbling in the dark – if you even get enough craftsmen at all; they said the advantage with a solid house provider is that they have enough craftsmen at hand with whom they work long-term and I should not underestimate that

- All agreed that either way it would be significantly more expensive with the option of an independent architect and individual tenders

- The well-known disadvantages regarding warranty for individual tenders were discussed

All in all, that was no basis to approach something like this with a good feeling. Who hires someone against their own advice?

Maybe it is easier in rural areas, I don’t know. The architects already had several weeks of lead time for a simple introductory meeting. They can pick and choose the best projects. And it will be the same with the craftsmen. I see this with the garden landscapers. A three-week appointment lead time for a short introduction is nothing.

But why you don’t even inform yourself about how the planning is done with such an expensive house, or the advantages and disadvantages of the options, I don’t quite understand.

As I said, we already weighed the pros and cons Architect / individual tender vs. specialized solid house provider with connected architects and dealt with it intensively. On the side of the solid house providers we also had contact with three companies.

They also offered us the regular architect’s service. Of course, you can encounter a good or bad architect in this model just as in the independent variant. I think it has nothing to do with the model itself even though I have to admit that the really good ones certainly do not work as employees but independently on the free market, which in turn means that they can currently cherry-pick projects afterwards as well… small vicious circle in my experience.

Still, I was aware that as a layman alone I would have no chance against a contractor. That’s why from the start even before signing the contract I took in an expert from the Association of Private Builders who accompanies the project from start to finish – contract review and optimization, checking the execution planning, construction-accompanying quality control, performing a professional acceptance. I think there’s not much more I can do. Furthermore, I got a lot of input here from the forum. That the expert did not notice during the review that the 201 cm is too tight is obviously unfortunate but I can’t change that. Apparently, I also overlooked a hint about this in the forum.

I just want to say; I have already dealt with it, wanted to do everything right, didn’t want to save money on supervision etc. – but now the issue has fallen by the wayside.

ok, that is of course bitter. Finding an architect here is also difficult, but not hopeless. Then you can only keep your fingers crossed that everything will turn out well with the [GU] in the end.