Timeline house planning

Have you ever read one of the two books?

No, neither. That would also be very unlikely: house building is a popular and emotional topic. Everyone who builds wants to inform themselves. You have to know a lot, you can make many mistakes. Therefore, there are countless authors who promise clarification in their "handbooks with seven seals." Even on the topic "50 tips for selecting guidebooks," you can find several titles. I don't know any "standard works" (the "Neufert," for example, is intended for architects).

Heinze publishes a homebuilder's manual - however, a mix of factual information and product catalog - which has long been widely distributed among homebuilders.

Overall, the ocean of guidebooks is becoming increasingly confusing. The more you read, the more it overlaps – but still without a guarantee that all together they have not left anything out.

You can’t know everything either. Actively set your priorities there. And then inform yourself about these aspects (or providers, etc.). It makes little sense, for example, if you’re not yet clear about the construction method, to specifically inform yourself about prefabricated houses if you plan to build massively afterwards. Or if you plaster, you can save yourself the knowledge about clinker and facing bricks.

For laypeople building for the first time (and only wanting to build once), guides from those who are in the same situation are also the "most useful" guides. So look for building blogs on the Internet. See which of these homebuilders fit you (i.e., in age, number of children, house size and standard, lifestyle). This way you immediately filter out the fantabulous billions of information that are transferable to your circumstances. Personally, when it comes to building blogs, I would also pay a little attention to being able to see the built result live at some point. For example, not Karsten’s house (Nordlys): at the other end of Germany, built in a different life phase. Unless you know: it should be a bungalow with 120 sqm. Then the trip might be worthwhile. But his contractor doesn’t build in Bavaria, either. So only for inspiration.

On the other hand, I’m a bit worried that we might get bogged down in details.

That will definitely happen if you empty the bookstore and then thoroughly read all that stuff.

Thank you for the text 11ant! Today I just had a look in the library because the construction books were located near the travel guides.

I would be careful with architects unless you have a very large budget

I would be cautious with architects unless you have a very large budget

Can you explain that in more detail?

We had consciously decided that we wanted to make a combination of floor plans from [Musterhauskatalogen]. For that, you don't need an architect. You should consider a usage concept and try to predict the most frequently used paths in the house in advance, e.g. short distance from the entrance to the kitchen/pantry. Of course, the orientation of the house and the rooms is also important. And not to forget the light incidence and the corresponding placement of the windows. You need architects for very individual buildings, difficult building sites or development plans and that all becomes expensive. We recently did an experiment and hired a landscape architect for the planning of the outdoor area. For a rather mediocre concept sketch (prominent bin storage area, poor consideration of elevations) he charged us a nice four-figure amount. If that had happened to us during the house planning, I would have had ten times that amount hanging on my leg....

I would be careful with architects unless you have a very large budget

I don't think you can generalize like that. Yes, there are surely architects who plan over budget, just as there are non-transparent housebuilding companies that do not disclose additional costs and/or charge exorbitantly for even the smallest upgrades. But you still can't lump them all together. We are building with an architect and separate trade contracts. And that is (probably, according to the cost breakdown based on the actual offers from the executing companies, with whom we have mostly already held talks and have included some "special requests") quite a bit cheaper for us than building with a general contractor/general contractor (GU/GÜ). Currently, the roofer is working on our build and we have already received several invoices, all of which were at most the amounts stated by the architect; some were even slightly below, and after deducting cash discounts, some were still several thousand euros under the cost estimate. With upgrades, you always have to be aware that it costs money. Whether with the architect or GU/GÜ. Then you have to restrain yourself somewhat and keep your wishes within a realistic framework; in such cases, the architect is not to blame if you want too much for your money. We will also have upgrades, especially in the area of electrical and sanitary installations. But we planned for that from the start, and the architect also pointed out that we should expect higher costs here. For this, we will pay a reasonable amount to the electrician/plumber of our choice and not inflated upgrade prices from a GU/GÜ, as unfortunately is often the case. Our architect received a low to mid four-figure amount for the planning, for the entire design planning up to the approved building application. For construction supervision, awarding and coordinating the trades, etc., he will receive another four-figure amount, this time somewhat higher, so that overall (planning + supervision) we are just reaching the lower five-figure range. I find that absolutely okay when I see how much work he puts in and how much he advocates for us. And even with these costs, we come out cheaper than if we had built with a GU/GÜ, because in those offers all bids were significantly above our architect's cost estimate (including his fee), and small special requests like partial venetian blinds were not even included there. A GU/GÜ also wants a fee for their planning work and construction supervision, only this fee is not openly visible but hidden in the house price. I am not saying that building with an architect is necessarily better or cheaper. I'm just saying that's how it is for us. But it can be completely different elsewhere, especially in urban areas. But I reject generalizations.