Planning/Architect, possible execution by "prefabricated house providers"

Good morning!
We can now realize our wish for our own single-family house. It was almost unthinkable to get a nice plot here, but now it has worked out.
We want to start the actual construction next spring and are now gathering ideas and, like many others, are facing the question: solid construction (e.g. T8) with individual contracting or a high-quality turnkey wooden house builder. To be able to calculate for solid construction, we actually need at least a preliminary design. Here with us there are many construction companies, but almost none that offer turnkey services. Therefore, to really compare the offers, the same basis would have to be sent to all individual trades for solid construction and to the turnkey builders.
Now the question is, an architect does not plan these things for free. Do you have experience whether providers like e.g. Sonnleitner, Adlerhaus, Gruber Naturholzhaus, i.e. turnkey builders, grant a reasonable discount if the planning is completely done by an external architect? Usually, the employees of the companies do all the planning. If that is now omitted, is that really passed on? Of course, these plans still have to be prepared for production.
It would be somewhat annoying to decide on a turnkey wooden house builder and additionally have spent 20,000 EUR on an architect that in retrospect was not even needed.

Framework:
Single-family house 1.5 or 2 stories
approx. 150 sqm
Do-Ga
Expected construction sum with basement without garden/outside etc. approx. 360,000 EUR
(Rainwater retention necessary, soil replacement in the building area due to peat layer)

Best regards
Benjamin

Hello,

we basically wanted to do it the same way as you, but failed due to the resistance of the prefab house companies (which we approached). The reasons included "We have our own architects and do not build with/from external plans."

Furthermore, we experienced that the prefab house companies advertise with "individuality"—but cannot really offer it, only slowly revealing this through phrases like "That does not work," "That is not possible either," etc.

We then built solid with T8 and commissioned all trades ourselves (we had no prior knowledge regarding construction) and would do it the same way again at any time, even though it is claimed otherwise in many places—it was no more stressful for us than if we had built "turnkey."

Since you still have time, the following way could be a possibility:

Create a floor plan for yourself (based on your building regulations) and find a draftsman (not an architect) with it and book services 1-4 (i.e., the draftsman creates the submission plan for the building authority, submits it, and his work is finished with the granting of the building permit) and you are technically still completely unbound and free in your decision.

With that, you look for a site manager who assists you in obtaining the offers and you decide who gets the contracts. That way you remain the "builder" and are not dependent on "some" site manager assigned to you.

What you sometimes read here about time delays and "broken" appointments as well as the "unavailability" of contacts shocks me every time—this was almost completely spared to us because we personally knew/know every craftsman.

There were also other advantages, but these were not part of your question,

best regards

Hello mybaublog,

thank you for the reply. But isn’t the architect then the person who can also perform these services best? What is the advantage of hiring a draftsman/technical draftsman? Cost? I don’t have to hire the architect for all service phases either. How much did you spend on the external support of the technical draftsman and draftsman?

Regards Benjamin

I don’t know the companies, but with our house construction company (prefabricated house) having our own architect would not have been possible either. However, we got one from the company with whom we adapted a standard floor plan. Alternatively, a completely free design would have been possible, but with hefty extra costs. (Static recalculation etc.)

However, you will probably have to wait longer than until spring if you decide on a prefabricated house company. We also had to wait just under 11 months until the house was erected. About 3 months later we moved in.
It was not important to us to know the craftsmen; it was important to us to have exactly ONE contract partner.

In the end, this proved to be extremely useful because one of the subcontractors apparently did not take his work entirely seriously. To us, he then came up with the usual excuses, like within tolerance etc... after pressure from the house construction company, he did it again, or rather his boss came personally to supervise the work.
We would have been lost on our own.

Individual contracting would have been too risky for me because whenever there is a delay somewhere, you are the one who has to coordinate the rest. This was taken off our hands, but there was no delay anyway, as all the tasks were standard.

Hello Moser7,

our approach was recommended to us at the time by a retired builder.
It is apparently significantly cheaper than an architect, as it is not billed according to this architect regulation.

Furthermore, an architect is apparently not even required for a single-family house (that’s what we were always told). The complete construction files (floor plan, drainage plan, exterior design plan, etc.) were created for us, the neighbors’ signatures were obtained, surveyors (separate invoice) were ordered, and we "consulted" with the building authority and discussed/clarified questions from the building authority on site at the building authority, so that after just under 2 weeks the building permit was granted.

It cost about 6000 - 6500 euros. (To state the exact amount I would have to look up the invoice, since it was one of the first invoices, it is still in some moving box)

I don’t know what an architect could have done "better" at this stage. However, we also had a fairly "simple" floor plan and hardly needed any help with it.

There were a few points that we changed based on the draftsman’s recommendation, as our floor plan had to be slightly adjusted "according to building regulations" by the draftsman.

Best regards

Hello,

I never quite understand what image people have of what architects are supposed to do. Their task generally goes beyond drawing colorful floor plans. There is the HOAI (Fee Structure for Architects and Engineers), which not only regulates the fees but also which services are to be provided in which of the 9 service phases. And I receive the services I commission.
For our construction project, we hired an architect for phases 3-5, and a structural engineer for phases 6-9. The contracts were awarded individually. Our structural engineer prepares the specifications, evaluates the results, and negotiates with the companies, and I then commission just as agreed. This way, I do not have any additional effort.
If you want just one point of contact, you can assign phases 1-9 to one planner. Depending on the construction sum, the planner is entitled to their fee. For us, it was about 10% of the construction sum.
It was important to us that the site supervisor has no conflict of interest in monitoring. I always have problems with site supervisors from general contractor providers — who they are more loyal to, their boss who pays their salary or the client...

Best regards

Ronny