Is an architect really that expensive?

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Don't talk such nonsense - a basement converted into living space doesn’t have big windows on all sides. Above all, I’d really like to know how you think you can see from that little picture what my basement looks like

No, we only have ceilings just under 2.40 meters - there must be millions who have that in their apartments...

Also funny how you just simply leave the basement out of the calculation - others would be glad if it was that easy

And finally, I am in construction - you keep talking in your numbers world. So don’t tell me how construction prices should look like

The widely popular benchmark values, whether 1,200 EUR/sqm, 1,500 EUR/sqm, or 2,000 EUR/sqm, refer to the above-ground living area including the floor slab. There is practically no one who builds a real basement living space, i.e., 2.50m clear room height plus another 20cm floor construction, underfloor heating, proper windows like on the ground floor/upper floor, ventilation, the same number of sockets as one of the above-ground floors, and so on. Many build an insulated, possibly even heated basement, but without room height and appropriate windows, for me that is still not a basement living space. That is why some people say they have converted a few rooms into a basement living space. That is because the basement level is exposed on one side in the hillside. Something like this here is a basement living space, at least a few rooms on one side:

Honey, I have ventilation in the basement, as well as underfloor heating, real windows, LAN, TV, sockets, interior plaster, and a bathroom.

And by the almost 2.40m I mean clear height. And you don’t need 20cm floor build-up, you expert .

To me, it’s pretty much the same whether you call my basement a hole or living space – it’s there after all and didn’t cost 80 grand. But I can’t tell you exactly what...

Your example just isn’t a basement to me anymore...

It didn't cost 80 grand? Less then? So for the EUR/sqm for the two above-ground floors we are easily at 2000 EUR/sqm or even more?

(What kind of 80 grand are we even talking about?)

You are trying to prove here that the architect is not more expensive or even cheaper than the general contractor, but the sparse information tells a different story?

Clearly less – I wouldn’t have built it for 80. And you brought that number into the discussion...

If you clearly separate the basement from the calculation like that, then of course it’s more expensive upstairs. But you still don’t have a base slab. You can’t exactly separate what a basement costs...

I don’t want to prove anything – you’re the one trying to convince me of something. I never wrote that building with an architect is cheaper – just read my first two posts in the thread. There I expressed MY opinion.

Oh, and to really shake your worldview: a masonry and insulated double garage was also included in the costs – but of course not in the m². Unfortunately, I included that there as well

250*1,600 = 400,000 EUR
Less 70k (?) = 330,000 EUR
330,000 EUR / 167 sqm = 1,976 EUR / sqm for the two above-ground floors.

Difference between 1,280 EUR / sqm and 1,976 EUR / sqm around 700 EUR / sqm or approximately 117,000 EUR for the entire building.

So, you have wonderful cost transparency and the breakdown by trades, but the prices are just around xx percent higher.