Is it sensible for an architect to be associated with a general contractor?

This is how we did it. A friend who is an architect designed the house for us. Since she was unable to work for us due to her employer, we went to various general contractors with the plans and asked for turnkey offers including the planning services. The architect's planning only served in our case to obtain comparable offers from the general contractors.

what do you expect? if the GC is too expensive, there is also something in it that you won't get later. if you have, of course, own contributions, these may possibly be excluded. a floor plan from the catalog of a company does not replace an architect :)

Now we have found something. The house belongs to a large construction contractor, with whom we do not want to build for cost reasons. So we have the floor plan and the other key data of the house.

2. Is it possible to immediately consult a general contractor with the floor plan and the key data and obtain a cost estimate for the total service?

You are not allowed to use the floor plan further - strictly speaking - or only with the consent of the architect who designed the plan. It is subject to copyright!

Rhineland greetings from on the road

Thank you very much for your answers,

what do you expect? if the general contractor is too expensive, there is also something in it that you won’t get later. of course, if you have your own contributions, they may not apply. a floor plan from a company’s catalog does not replace an architect

Exactly. That would be, for example, the Kfw 40 standard. For us, a gas boiler with hot water preparation via solar and a ventilation system as well as solid insulation is enough to reach Kfw 70. With an additional compressor pump and a chimney, you would probably get to KFW 55 as well. But I also think that the general contractor somehow wants to finance their model houses. In my opinion, they recoup this through relatively high prices. That’s why my idea was to have the house planned by an architect and thus contact regional general contractors. That way, you could get different offers. The question is whether this makes sense or if you end up paying the architect’s fee twice? And how far should the architect go, including the building permit? I want to contact a general contractor because I expect better cost transparency than when building with an architect.

Strictly speaking, you are not allowed to reuse the floor plan or only with the consent of the architect who drew the design. It is subject to copyright!

I don’t want to adopt the floor plan 1 to 1. Some minor changes should be made. I was thinking of enlarging the bathroom and moving two windows.

That’s how we did it. A friend who is an architect planned the house for us. Since she couldn’t work for us due to her job, we then went to various general contractors with the plans and requested offers for turnkey construction including the planning services. In our case, the architect’s planning only served to get comparable offers from the general contractors.

Would you say in retrospect that this was sensible, or could you also have planned directly with a general contractor? How far apart were the offers?

Hello,

I do not want to adopt the floor plan 1 to 1. A few small things should be changed. I was thinking of a larger bathroom and moving 2 windows.

A marginal shifting of walls inside does not change the copyright of the plan. Windows are not examined by the building authority as long as you are within the simplified approval procedure with your application.

I find your handling of other people's intellectual property borderline!

Rhenish greetings

Would you say that in hindsight it was sensible, or could one have planned directly with a general contractor (GC)? How far apart were the offers?

We are satisfied with how it went. However, it must be said that the architect's service cost us nothing. We had 6 GCs provide quotes based on the plans. 3 did not submit any offers at all, and the other 3 were close to each other. At least after the negotiations were concluded... Provider1=SumX, Provider2=SumX+€500, and Provider3=SumX+€1500. We then decided on Provider3. But from the prices, you can already see that all 3 providers calculated quite similarly.