Hiring an architect - To what extent is an architect needed?

Hello everyone,

we are currently planning the construction of a single-family house. For this, we have agreed on an hourly fee with our architect that applies until the building application is submitted, i.e. phases 1-4.

We want to obtain and select the offers for the individual trades ourselves and also supervise the execution ourselves.

What is unclear to me right now is whether we still need phase 5. This is mainly about details in the execution of the individual trades. Is it practical to simply have the trades offer a preferred method of execution? Of course, I understand that the offers will then not be 100% comparable. Or should phase 5 also be carried out by the architect and then proceed to awarding contracts? Phase 5 carries a fee of 25%, which implies to me that it cannot be a trivial matter (compared to phases 1-4 with a total of 27%).

Are there any clients here who have dropped out after planning with the architect? If so, at what point?

I hope I was able to convey my question clearly. Thanks in advance for your answers

You can see that you are not experts. Therefore, it is strongly advised against writing out the plan yourself, awarding it, and also supervising it. That will surely go wrong. Execution planning can be omitted if you have a standard house built by a general contractor. For your targeted individual awarding, execution planning (service phase 5) is indispensable.

Thank you in advance. I have also come to this impression. I was just not quite sure whether this only means a variance in the offers for us or, as you suggested, it can completely backfire.

The problem lies more in properly describing the service. For example, the simplest case of the shell construction: You can send the plans to various companies and say that you want an offer for it. Then you might get 3 offers, which you can't really compare. You also can't judge whether the offers are complete, whether hidden additional costs are included, or maybe (not maliciously) some things were forgotten. In the end, you choose one that fits the budget and are surprised by many additional charges, in the sense of "no, that’s not included, but we can do it for xxx."

The coordination of the trades is also difficult. With good execution planning, it might still be manageable, but it’s not for nothing that a large part of the fee goes to this.

We had a mix. Managed the impossible and "somehow" got a house done. ;-)

But I would advise everyone to have as many measurements as possible included in the plans. To strain the perfect forum world even more: I also know people who, after excavation of the building pit (and before awarding the shell construction), only clarified with the shell builder exactly what dimensions the windows should have. Their house has just started, so I can't say anything about the further process yet. ;-)

It's not that difficult. But you definitely need a proper execution plan or a [Wekplan] from the architect.

You can definitely handle obtaining offers and awarding the contract yourselves. Also the construction management. But I would have a surveyor carry out the construction supervision in individual inspections.