Should the house be planned by a general contractor or architects?

Our problem with the offers from the GCs was actually just the comparability. One included more additional costs, one included the window drive, another one included extra services for large tiles as standard...

To ultimately compare two offers, you have to break down the construction service description of each GC and finally estimate what is important to you and where additional costs might arise with the cheaper GC...

The advantages of the GC have already been outlined enough. A colleague recently renovated with a good architect and even he was surprised by the offers from the individual trades, as the offers exceeded the calculation by twice the amount, but simply because the companies had no interest.

Of course, this varies more or less depending on the region, but especially in the Swiss border area, you can already tell by the companies which clientele they prefer.

Hi,

The advantages of the general contractor have already been mentioned more than enough. A colleague just renovated with a good architect, and even he was surprised by the bids from the individual trades because the offers exceeded the calculation by double, but simply because the companies had no interest at all.

The fear of exactly this situation was one of the reasons we decided to build with a general contractor.
Theoretically, it should be possible to build somewhat cheaper with an architect and self-contracting (although the architect doesn't work for free either). But for that, you have to be lucky to find craftsmen who still work for reasonable prices and don't just demand astronomical prices. Or who at least answer you... around here it's currently impossible to even get a landscape gardener on the phone. No chance!

In normal times, I probably would have gladly ventured into the adventure, but currently, I consider that pretty risky. You only need one trade to drop the ball, and the entire construction stalls for weeks!

Best regards,

Andreas

With both you can build and get a finished house. What would probably be better (Definition) will never be known.

We are building on the recommendation of an architect with experience and references in multi-family house construction.

I find that exciting. I now also have a bit more time. Currently, I am dealing with lifting stations; the order is supposed to be placed by the end of the week.

I like this scope of action and always being informed and involved. Of course, our architect has good companies at hand. However, the final price negotiations and decisions lie with us.

Hi,

I find that exciting too:

I find that exciting. I now also have a bit more time. Currently, I’m dealing with lifting stations; the order should go out by the end of the week.

I like this scope for action and always being informed and involved. Of course, our architect has good companies on hand. But the final price negotiations and decisions are up to us.

I also dealt a lot with the technology, construction methods, and technical backgrounds during our build. It’s probably just an occupational disease of mine that these things interest me and that I can quickly familiarize myself with new topics. I’ve surprised my counterparts a few times.

Only: going much deeper simply wouldn’t have been possible; the house construction, even with a general contractor, already pushed me to my time limits. Alongside that, we had a small child and got married during that time as well. Somewhere, there’s a limit! You still want to live a bit...

With self-contracting, I would have had to cut back professionally. And for me, it didn’t make sense to dial my job down for at least 6-12 months, take 25% less salary just to save a one-time 2,000 € on the electrician by self-contracting. Even though I’m currently shuddering a bit at the additional invoices coming up from electrical/plumbing/tiling...

In other words, self-contracting, personal responsibility, and influence are great, but you simply have to have the time for it.

And that will always depend very much on your personal life and job situation.

That’s why we decided on a general contractor. So far, we are very satisfied with it!

Best regards,

Andreas

Well, the question is actually not so easy to answer. We also faced the choice and listened to 6 architects and about 15 general contractors. Everything was included, from prefab house GCs to solid houses, from local to large providers. Also the entire range with the architects... from the passive house builder to the local, down-to-earth one. Although I have to say this: there are hardly any down-to-earth architects. It is very difficult to really find someone who does not just want to do their own thing but also keeps the client’s budget in mind. One only wants to build KfW40, another only wants timber frame construction, a third told us to see if we could find 100k under grandma’s mattress... etc.

Of course, everything was represented among the GCs as well... from the chain-smoking representative of Fingerhaus to the managing director of a local GC, to conversations with statements like "oh, you’re young and want to build individually... we don’t want that... young people only compare on the internet, we prefer to build with seniors who accept any price" – there really was EVERYTHING!

In the end, after a long, intensive search, we decided on a renowned local GC. From them, we got a list of addresses (there were 10 or more on it) with whom we spoke randomly. Additionally, we went to an open house day, talked with homeowners who were right in the middle of the shell construction, whose addresses were not on the list, and with homeowners who had already lived there for 7 years. In short: we thus had a perfect overlap and felt well taken care of there, even though the negotiations became increasingly tough and nerve-wracking the longer they lasted, and we really stood several times on the verge of quitting.

For the persistence, I think we were/will be rewarded. We really negotiated a lot in and also had maximum flexibility. Even now during the construction phase. For example, we arranged the earthworks contractor ourselves. Or we were always flexible during the shell construction phase to decide whether we wanted to make the window smaller now, or switch the heating system, or arrange the tiles ourselves, etc.

I have to say, there is no construction site that runs perfectly, keep that in mind. Building is a nightmare! If you think you hire someone (whether architect or GC) and then everything will just work out, you are mistaken. You have to deeply familiarize yourself with the subject, with things you don’t know today, and you have to keep a critical eye on the construction process. Otherwise, you will never be happy with the result.

It isn’t just black or white. You can also have a lot of flexibility with the GC. Sure, they have their concept, but that doesn’t mean they won’t deviate. Possibly at higher conditions. But you know what it costs. With an architect, you have zero budget security. That as well as the approach of some architects discouraged us. In addition, it is as described here. The GC has a completely different leverage over the trades than the architect or someone who contracts individually. We are currently experiencing that here in our area. Every architect’s construction site is a disaster.

# Passage deleted at the request of the original poster; construction expert

Completely different with us: 4-8 people are on the construction site every day. We started in mid-June, the shell will be finished next week, move-in is end of December. Contractually guaranteed, if not, the GC pays a penalty. We negotiated that in. In addition, we have an expert on our side who monitors the construction process. And everyone standing in front of our construction site praises the quality and speed. That gives me the feeling of having done the right thing. We have outpaced every architect’s construction site by miles, even though some started much earlier. In these times, I would only build with a GC. Find yourself a renowned local GC. They are more flexible. And get yourself a lawyer who reviews the contract. Also, get an expert, e.g. from the Association of Private Homeowners or the Homeowners’ Protection Association. Believe me, you will need them if you want to sleep peacefully. And be prepared that the construction phase will still be the most stressful time in your life! But in the end, there is the result, and if you aren’t afraid to get involved, you won’t regret it! We would definitely do it that way again!

I have read here several times that it is probably cheaper with an architect than with a general contractor [GU]. The problem is, first of all, comparability. We ourselves had drawn a floor plan for which various [GU]s as well as two architects submitted offers, and with the architect, we had proposed a mid-range price of the [GU]s as a budget including his services. The offers from the [GU]s differed by up to 25% (of course not for 100% identical, but very comparable services and equipment), so you simply cannot say a house costs this much with a [GU]. High-quality prefabricated houses were also rather in the upper price segment. We then confronted the architects, as mentioned, with a mid-range price as a budget and were immediately told that then definitely only something very cheap could be installed here because savings had to be made and compromises were necessary. Our impression here was that there is no price guarantee with the architect and it tends to be even more expensive. Whether this is generally the case is of course difficult to judge in retrospect. However, since we had a fixed price for each trade but could have also awarded the contracts ourselves, we obtained additional offers for various trades. These were all more expensive than the fixed prices of the [GU], even with the same craftsman who ultimately also works for the [GU]. Because the [GU] probably guarantees a certain volume of orders, he pushes most craftsmen accordingly on price. Some of the companies themselves were partly known to us and enjoyed a good reputation. We also spoke with some at length, and this was basically confirmed by them. Some also said that they would still do this that year but after that would no longer do so and would rather award their own contracts. In summary, whether architect or [GU], as a builder, you MUST regularly check everything and ideally involve an expert, and a construction project never runs smoothly without problems.