And you can just as well forget the tip about the architect, because it’s not him who sets the prices but the construction companies, and they adjust to demand. It’s no coincidence that construction projects regularly become more expensive than stated by the architect. Recently, in the “blauen,” there was talk of a 20% increase in the last 2 years.
No one here claimed that architects set the prices. But they do not hold out their hand and argue with quarter changes or systematic price corrections. Our architect is still within his price estimate. The price development has been included in his estimate, so for instance we were never, unlike described here, put under pressure or forced to sign something by the architect.
No idea whether frustration, envy, or the growing feeling that you paid too much to your general contractor is the reason for your “forgetting,” but for me that misses the point. It was about applying pressure, and that’s rather not done by the architect.
Regarding the increases in construction costs, there are official, factual statistics online (I even believe from the Federal Statistical Office), which are far from 5% and, if I remember correctly, are between 1% and 2%. Do you really believe that the annual price increase at the (national) general contractor is a one-to-one adjustment of price increases in construction costs? No, they use the opportunity to hold out their hand even more—the market allows it, but certainly not in the magnitude solely due to increased material and labor costs.
Final point on budget overruns when building with an architect: They certainly exist, and some definitely because the planner is incompetent. But it’s also true that many cost overruns occur because the clients want to add a bit more here and there during construction. And in that sense you’re right, there is a reason for the deviation between estimate and actual costs, just a different one than you suggest. And this aspect is no different when building with a general contractor. As the client, one often must discipline oneself much more with an architect because everything is possible, and on average the building is simply more elaborate. Our neighbors built with an architect on a very tight budget, disciplined themselves strictly, and stayed within their budget (and nearly within the cost estimate). The deviation of cost estimate to actual cost was 2%. And the difference between this house and those of the general contractors in the neighborhood is very visible in this specific case. Inside there is laminate, the tiles are cheaper leftover stock from a tile setter found through tenders. The budget simply did not allow for planks or parquet. They wanted them, the architect said, “Technically doable no question, but not feasible with your budget. If it must be, let’s see where else we can save. But there aren’t many options because the budget is very tight.”
And that is also the job of a good planner, besides construction supervision in the interest of the client: to bring wishes, technical feasibility, and budget into harmony. Not everyone succeeds, of course. But to pretend every construction project with a planner is 20% over budget is wrong if you don’t also make the effort to look into how that came about. Or to put it in your words: The comment is pure polemic in its undifferentiated form and “you can just forget it” [emoji6]