Land purchase > Architect draft > Tender > Construction

We were at the prefab house exhibition in Poing yesterday. There I was confronted with 100 floor plans, construction methods, and prices – however, none of it was comparable for me. I also see no way to make the different offers comparable.

Therefore, I have considered having a geotechnical survey done after purchasing the plot and then commissioning an architect with the preliminary and design planning according to [HOAI]. With the tender documents, I would then like to look for a construction company (possibly with support from the architect). (I have often carried out tenders, bid comparisons, and price negotiations professionally, so I am confident I can handle that).

I would prefer not to separate the individual trades. The only thing I could imagine would be possibly contracting the basement separately. Otherwise, the house should be handed over more or less turnkey (except for laying the floors and painting).

Has anyone here done it this way, and what were your experiences?

Hello ROLi,

if transparency in construction is important to you - as it is to us - and you want to be able to discuss things on an equal footing at any time, in my opinion you are a client who should award the individual trades directly. Good architects know good, affordable craftsmen who also know each other. Usually, this has developed over the years and works well. (Reference construction sites were inspected and the reputation often precedes one).

So far, we have not been able to negotiate much on price - which, in my opinion, was due to the fact that the offers were already very favorable. Usually, discussions revolved around discounts of 2 and 3 percent.

In the meantime, we have tendered 25% of the construction sum and are currently well below what turnkey companies have offered us as a price (measured against construction progress, it is about 20%).

Hi merlin83 - thanks for your assessment. Assigning everything individually would also be an option that I will consider a bit more closely.

May I ask what budget you are roughly planning with (house from the top edge of the basement or floor slab)?
And how did you start planning - also directly with an architect?

If you have the luxury of choosing between different plots of land, you should involve the architect before the purchase. He can then give tips on/which plot best suits realizing your ideas for the house.

We have more or less already chosen the plot. However, we have a "building envelope" of about 18.5 x 16 meters there. The building plan would also be relatively flexible, so we are not very restricted there. Involving the architect before the purchase would probably not work...

I find the approach optimal, we did it exactly the same way (We also have a construction blog: Google search: Baublog Budenheim).

Only if you go to the construction companies with the same architectural plans and detailed requests for equipment can you get comparable offers.

Ideally, you have already specified as much as possible and included it in the price comparison:

Heating (gas, geothermal, solar thermal, photovoltaics), ventilation (central, decentralized), stairs (open/closed, wood/concrete), sliding doors, windows (RC-2, French balconies, mullions), front door (automatic locking, motor lock, fingerprint), shading options (electric roller shutters, blinds, Somfy), entrance canopy, terrace design (paving, Bangkirai), parking spaces, floor and wall coverings (tiles, parquet, vinyl, wallpaper, painter's fleece), electrical (number of sockets, e.g. 80 pieces), further equipment (laundry chute, cistern),...

This also applies to ancillary construction costs, which must be included in the offer comparison:

Architect, structural engineering, soil survey, earthworks, construction power/construction water, construction waste disposal, house connections, surveying, energy certificate,...