Single-family house Bauhaus style living area 180m with double garage

Hi, yes, so the architect’s fee calculation is composed as follows:



The offer also includes the following

Huge amount! Is that gross or net? With such a fee, the expectations are immensely high! One must first meet that. I was not willing to pay that and still finished the basement in 8.5 months without any mishaps or construction defects with my individual trades. Deducting my flat rate for design phases 1-4, the fee is in the range of my entire plumbing trade! Phew... so much you can have done with that money...

If he is worth his money then..

As mentioned, we would be dealing with several architects. With the two "last" architects, we agreed on a fixed 60,000 including tax. The 60,000 EUR is an average value. We have not found a cheaper one (except for the Chaot). One is at 70 and one even at around 80.

That is why I come to question the topic. However, I believe it is a "good, justified" price. At least, that is what the fee offers I now have tell me...

Another question: The architect said that KfW55 (for example) would require increased floor space (because of the insulation). Is there a rule of thumb about what that would cost compared to, for example, 36 cm walls? I think the insulation doesn’t cost much more, right? Since we want to heat with the heat pump and also plan a ventilation system, the step to KfW40 plus is "only" the photovoltaic system on the roof, or am I misunderstanding something?

KfW 40 has higher requirements for insulation compared to KfW 55. For KfW 40 Plus, in addition to photovoltaics, a battery is needed. Please read up on the heat pump yourself and follow the companies’ own guidelines while questioning others – google: dimensioning, no buffer, no ERR, BKA, room-by-room heating load calculation. Additional costs for insulation cannot be answered generally. KfW 55 would be my minimum standard, regardless of whether you take the small subsidy for KfW 55 or not.

Should we rather go with a general contractor to have "planning security"?

Special construction requests and a lot of self-performance/contacts (please don’t overestimate) argue in favor of an architect. Not planning security. It stands or falls with the architect. I can only tell you that personally I would build a normal single-family house with a good general contractor + a good expert, because it is more planning secure, requires significantly less of your own time, and the construction process should be reasonably clear. But that is just my own experience. I built in the north with an architect: the result certainly better/more individual, cost control was more difficult, I had to invest significantly more of my own time than I had planned. However, our architects were only so-so and their fees were on a completely different level than yours. I cannot assess southern Germany. From what one reads, individual contracting is more difficult and prefab house providers are more interesting pricewise (cheaper than in the north). If the architect takes over everything, it costs accordingly. But you absolutely need the certainty that the architect takes care of things satisfactorily and regularly, otherwise despite the costs you will constantly have to go to the construction site or hang on the phone. You find that out through current references.

KfW 40 has higher requirements for insulation compared to KfW 55. For KfW 40 Plus, in addition to photovoltaics, a battery is required. Please educate yourself about heat pumps and check the companies' own specifications and question others – google: sizing, no buffer, no ERR, BKA, room-by-room heating load calculation.

Additional costs for insulation cannot be answered generally. KfW 55 would be my minimum requirement, regardless of whether you take the small subsidy for KfW 55 or not.

Special building wishes and a lot of self-performance/contacts (please do not overestimate) speak in favor of an architect. Planning security does not. It stands and falls with the architect. I can only tell you that I personally would build a normal single-family house with a good general contractor + a good expert, because it is more planning secure, requires significantly less own time, and the construction process should be somewhat clear. But that is only my own experience.

I built in the North with an architect: outcome certainly better/more individual, cost control was more difficult, I had to spend significantly more own time than I had planned. However, our architects were only so-so and the fees were a completely different league than with you. I cannot assess southern Germany. From what you read, individual contracts are more difficult and prefab house providers are more interesting price-wise (cheaper than in the North).

If the architect takes care of everything, it costs accordingly. But you absolutely need the certainty that the architect takes care of things satisfactorily and regularly, otherwise, despite the costs, you constantly have to go to the construction site or hang on the phone. You can find this out through current references.

Especially realizing KfW40 with a basement is already quite a challenge! I am not an energy consultant, but a waterproofed basement with standard perimeter insulation of 12cm will not achieve this. I believe the U-value of the exterior walls in a 40 house is 0.17. Economically there's nothing left. I think you are not even aware what you are doing to your wallet.

About the architect's fee: That is probably roughly the HOAI fee, I guess. Yes, that is really a lot for my taste. But I'm afraid in metropolitan areas it won't be any different if you want to build with an architect and individual contracts. Whether it is worth it to you, you have to decide for yourself. Whether in such a case going to the general contractor might be better... Just go to construction companies, see what they have to offer, get a quote. And then you'll see if you come out cheaper that way. If not, I would prefer the architect to the general contractor, but that's my personal preference.

We ourselves paid our architect about 20 percent of your offer from start to finish, i.e., from the design to completed construction management. Here in the region, nobody pays according to HOAI and 90 percent build with architect and individual contracts (this is the usual way here, as GUs are generally more expensive – as I said, the clocks still tick a bit differently here). For us, our architect was worth every cent. But almost 60k is a whole different ballgame. However, our construction project financially moved in a completely different dimension anyway.