Sorry for you that it’s taking so long now and you haven’t quite reached your goal with the architect, over 60, slow, no longer really connected and don’t know current prices…sounds just like our example :) Luckily, from the start, we only contracted the architect up to the factory planning and then continued with a general contractor (GC? I don’t know the difference, turnkey basically) and would really warmly recommend that to you in your situation now. You do have to wait a while with the solid prefabricated house and solid house companies until they start, but you definitely have price security until the end of construction, and I can only strongly advise against getting offers yourself now or really building with individual contracts until the end because the companies are completely closed up. Even getting offers for earthworks, sewer works and all the little things that are always by the builder despite the GC was totally annoying this year because at the moment nobody is really waiting for another builder and the companies sometimes no longer make offers, don’t answer the phone, miss appointments or demand completely exaggerated prices. Therefore, I would really have a frank conversation with your architect again about whether he can really find you companies that can come independently of the price, that he knows and that bring a certain quality, so that not one or two months pass between every step until the next one continues. Regarding the house size: I totally understand you, if you have actually saved well and can usually afford everything well, you also have corresponding wishes for the house project. We finished the shell and built similarly big as your original plan, also because it resulted from the floor plan. But honestly? It has become really big and could have been much smaller with a different floor plan. I just checked how big the respective favorite houses in the model home park in Poing would have been, one 165 m2 and the other just under 200 m2, when walking through it didn’t even strike me back then and I could well imagine family life with two children in both. Ask your architect also about bigger saving possibilities, maybe this will create more room for the good feeling, the safety buffer and a few visual extras that you will enjoy for a long time. What was or would have been expensive for us and what we partly left out: massive (double garage) – prefabricated garage/carport with shed behind, KNX and electric roller shutters, dormers, wood-aluminum windows (I love our plastic windows, I never would have thought), kids’ bathroom (maybe an additional shower in the guest WC?) and big kids’ rooms (believe me, your kids will also have enough space in 14 m2 and will be happy about parents who can buy them something small here and there on vacation because the house loan wasn’t blown). Don’t hang your head and I’m crossing my fingers for the house project!