Termination of collaboration with architect - demands excessive fee

I also searched quite a long time to find out which fee zone applies to which construction project. You’ll probably have to search a bit as well. As far as I can remember, single-family houses are generally somewhere in III or IV. Whether minimum, medium, or maximum rate is still not completely clear to me. Maybe one of the architects here can tell you that.

For a relatively simple single-family house, I find it quite sporty.

We pay minimum rate III for our single-family house, but our architect said that he is at the lower price range with that, which was confirmed by my research.

And I just remembered that my A used the construction costs before taxes to determine the fee. Of course, there was more than just an overall price for that. A professional here can better confirm that as well.

Now the architect informs us as follows regarding his fee:

"I am happy to accept your offer and will gladly conclude a contract with you for architectural services for the construction of the single-family house. The “minimum commission” that I accept is HOAI §33 /34 service phases 1-4.
As a basis, I would roughly assume construction costs of 300,000 euros.
Architect contract and HOAI. (excerpt) Fee basis according to § 35 HOAI: 300,000 euros, fee zone III upper rate (KfW 70 building) 300,000 euros = 49,864 euros, service phases 1-4 according to §34 = 27% = 13,463.28 euros net + 19% VAT = 16,021.30 euros gross"

So he wants 16,021.30€ (!!!) as a fee for a standard house…..

I am not familiar with billing according to HOAI, but here I read an offer and not an invoice?!
He wants to have it if you go into business… or am I mistaken?

That is exactly how I read it.

I think the key question should be:
Has a contract already been signed or not?
If not, I think you are on the safe side.

However, this is only my layman's opinion. I am happy to be proven otherwise.

Then rather the question: contract (also oral) concluded?

I would also see it as an offer that you can accept or not.

Always provided that you have not yet given the architect any form of commitment.

Perhaps a legally experienced forum member will still weigh in.

Regards,

Dirk

Hello,

my wife and I were in a similar situation back then. Our architect at the time wanted to push his "standard house" on us because it involved the least work for him and repeatedly did not take our wishes into account. We quickly parted ways with him as collaboration was impossible.

We had not signed a contract – and still received an invoice. Even with the help of a specialized lawyer (construction law) we could not achieve anything.

Here is an excerpt from the lawyer at that time:
An architect contract can generally also be concluded orally. The consequence of this is that the architect, due to the lack of written agreement on the fee, can invoice his services according to the HOAI minimum rates.

When distinguishing between a commission subject to remuneration or free acquisition, 4 stages must be examined.
a. The architect becomes active.
b. The architect delivers planning services.
c. The client accepts planning services.
d. The client undertakes further activities.

Stages a-c are more likely to be considered free acquisition, from stage d onwards it is assumed there is a remuneration-obliged contract. Stage d could result, according to your description, from the fact that altered draft plans were created after further discussions or phone calls.


Back then, phases 1 - 4 of the services were therefore charged to us proportionally, which we had to pay. We paid our tuition fee two years ago. Today we are building our dream house without an architect.