General contractor / prefabricated house provider with an existing BG (HOAI Phase 4)

The general contractor / prefab house provider is better and cheaper if you buy/build a standard house. There isn’t much to plan and it has been built many times before. No new plans to draw, no new structural calculations, etc.

Prejudice from the 60s!?

If you take your architect’s plan to the general contractor, they will give you an individual price and immediately add possible cost increases. It definitely won’t be cheaper.

Whether it will actually be cheaper/more expensive in a 1:1 comparison in the end is unknown. But at least you have a certain price guarantee beforehand for a specific period (e.g. 12-24 months fixed price guarantee), which you don’t have when building with the architect. This is especially clear at the current time.

And that’s what Tommy ultimately cares about, isn't it?

Prejudice from the 60s!?

No, 25 years of real estate experience in the job.

Whether in a 1:1 comparison it actually ends up cheaper/more expensive, you don't know. At least beforehand you have a certain price guarantee over a specific period (e.g. 12-24 months fixed price guarantee), which you don't have when building with the architect.

Of course, there is a price guarantee. It is then a cost estimate (which the architect also makes) + 20% surcharge for possible cost increases. Of course, it is a security, but only as long as cost increases haven't eaten up the surcharge. Then it also becomes uncomfortable with the general contractor...

No, 25 years of real estate experience in the job.

From the corresponding experience, you will hopefully also admit that it can be different with prefabricated house providers. Not just run-of-the-mill off-the-shelf, but also quite individual without major compromises? Not with all, but certainly with some providers nowadays?

Of course, there is a price guarantee. That is then a cost estimate (which the architect also makes) + 20% surcharge for possible cost increases. Of course, it is a security, but only as long as cost increases have not eaten up the surcharge. Then it gets uncomfortable with the general contractor...

Certainly uncomfortable for the general contractor in such a case, but quite comfortable for the customer/builder!

From the corresponding experience, you will hopefully also admit that it can be different with prefabricated house providers. Not just run-of-the-mill off-the-shelf, but also quite individual without major compromises? Not with all, but certainly with some providers nowadays?

Yes, of course. My point was that "off-the-shelf" is the bread and butter business of these providers, where simply good prices and standardized quality come out. Of course it can also be individual - but then without price advantages.

Of course, it also works individually – but then without price advantages.

I don’t want to fundamentally contradict you. However, I claim that such statements cannot be made in a generalized way either. There are certainly experiences and counterexamples in both directions.

And if generalized at all, without 25 years of professional experience, I tend to claim that for a layperson without "special demands," a build with an architect ultimately turns out to be more expensive rather than cheaper. And that without any fixed price guarantee :)

Prejudice from the 60s!?

Later. It was already in the late eighties when the general contractor industry (in my opinion unfortunately) moved away from the standard model houses. However, I have the impression that the trend is currently moving back in that direction; in any case, I keep seeing the same seventeen-and-a-half "different" alternative villas (and as for the bungalows, not many more either). Even with the captain’s houses, I sometimes only distinguish the Viebrockhaus from the Gussek Haus by putting on reading glasses.

And even if generalized, without 25 years of professional experience, I tend to claim that for a layperson without "special demands," building with an architect ultimately turns out to be more expensive rather than cheaper.

My experience in generalizing doesn’t even have 25 years under its belt, but my experience in construction matters is significantly longer—and it says that working with a separately commissioned architect will only become more expensive if you make major mistakes (for example, the "often gladly taken" mistake of trying to act as your own contractor with the approval planning in hand as a layperson).

At least you have a certain price guarantee over a specific period in advance (e.g., 12-24 months fixed price guarantee), which you do not have when building with an architect.

On this point, I have to agree with you partially: "in advance," you used to have a price guarantee with direct general contractor commissions (by the way, the same whether stone or wood frame panel GCs). But naturally, even with tendering, the bid prices are fixed (not for an entire year, but when starting and progressing promptly).
By the way, I see the relatively greatest risks (in favorable costs and execution) where clients bring their Sweet-Home-Sims houses to a GC (and in second place: when they instead bring standard designs from other GCs).