Cyprus-Forum.com

[haris_el]

Hi,

we are planning to build our house, and we went to 4-5 architects to discuss about general things and also the price.

We understood that the architects fees (from those that we visited) varies from 3.5% to 5.5%. And in total the payments to people that make the studies before the building would be about 5,5-8%. This includes architects, civil engineer, electric and mechanica engineer, and maybe 1-2 other people.

Are the above expensive, or the prices are like that?

For a house of 350,000-450,000 euro, how much should the cost be for an architect? Around 15,000 euro?
Because we want to go back to them with our offers, but we do not know actually what the average/reasonable cost should be...

Thanks!

[johbee]

I am as well getting ready to build a house. I have asked an architect to give me an estimate of his fees based on the square meters. The build cost can vary wildly depending on the materials used and many other factors. I am planning to build a house between 200 and 250 square meters and expect the architect fees to be less than 10,000. (I may be a bit naive) The last build I did the fees were around Euro 8500 back in 2005. Generally the architect will take care of the civil engineering and should submit all the necessary documents to get the proper permits. I'm planning to spend around Euro 200,000 for the construction, but I will be acting as the general contractor and will do much of the grunt work (painting, tiling, etc.) myself. If you have the time and the knowledge you can save yourself a lot of money. There are a lot of hungry architects and builders out there these days. Good Luck and always get at least three estimates.

[haris_el]

Ok thanks for the reply!

All architects are saying "these are tough times for the builders so you have bargain with them"...

But what about the architects!? I suppose they should be reducing the prices as well right?

[Get Real!]

In 2004 I designed my own house down to a millimeter using Ms Visio. I did all floors, all views, even the kitchen and wardrobe layout/cabinets. Everything except for the reinforced steel, electrical, and plumbing plans.

I also had a Visio add-in program that rendered drawings in 3D so I could “walk” through the house before even building it.

I then presented the plans using my laptop and hardcopies to an architect familiar with Visio who was blown away, climbed off his horse, and agreed to do the rest and some minor corrections in his format for CY £1.500.

The rest is history…

[Sotos]

It really depends on the architect. When I was deciding about architects I've seen only architects with good reputation and their fees ranged from 5.5% to 10% (I've seen more than 10 architects in Limassol, Nicosia and Paphos). Remember that you get what you pay for and this is true for the architect and even more important for the builder. Better do a bit smaller house using good professionals and good materials rather than a bigger one that will not be build good and will give you a lot of troubles later on.

[Sotos]

Where are you building? Tell me the area and I will give you some recommendations of good architects.

[haris_el]

It really depends on the architect. When I was deciding about architects I've seen only architects with good reputation and their fees ranged from 5.5% to 10% (I've seen more than 10 architects in Limassol, Nicosia and Paphos). Remember that you get what you pay for and this is true for the architect and even more important for the builder. Better do a bit smaller house using good professionals and good materials rather than a bigger one that will not be build good and will give you a lot of troubles later on.

ok thanks! So the percentages you refer are for all professionals - excluding builders? Can you say roughly how much per square meter did the house cost about?

The house is in Limassol.

[pretty-as-pink]

Hi,

we are planning to build our house, and we went to 4-5 architects to discuss about general things and also the price.

We understood that the architects fees (from those that we visited) varies from 3.5% to 5.5%. And in total the payments to people that make the studies before the building would be about 5,5-8%. This includes architects, civil engineer, electric and mechanica engineer, and maybe 1-2 other people.

Are the above expensive, or the prices are like that?

For a house of 350,000-450,000 euro, how much should the cost be for an architect? Around 15,000 euro?
Because we want to go back to them with our offers, but we do not know actually what the average/reasonable cost should be...

Thanks!

Just a thought but why dont you purchase a house like the one you have in mind it would work out so much cheaper as the property is very cheap right now, you could also make sure you buy a house WITH THE TITLE DEEDS.

[haris_el]

Because the developers that are selling houses in Cyprus didnt reduce their prices... They are extremely high, as the huge profits from previous years are still keeping them "alive"...

[Sotos]

It really depends on the architect. When I was deciding about architects I've seen only architects with good reputation and their fees ranged from 5.5% to 10% (I've seen more than 10 architects in Limassol, Nicosia and Paphos). Remember that you get what you pay for and this is true for the architect and even more important for the builder. Better do a bit smaller house using good professionals and good materials rather than a bigger one that will not be build good and will give you a lot of troubles later on.

ok thanks! So the percentages you refer are for all professionals - excluding builders? Can you say roughly how much per square meter did the house cost about?

The house is in Limassol.

No, those fees are only for the architect. You also need Mechanical/Electrical, Civil Engineer, and maybe a Quantity Surveyor. Building a custom house is more expensive than buying a ready one so I hope you didn't expect to save money by going this route. As pink said if you want something cheap you can buy a ready made house. But in that case you don't have any control over what goes under the "skin" of the house so for anything that can not be seen you can expect that it was done in the cheapest possible way which might not show now but it will a decade from now. So if you do buy ready made house you should buy one from an established company which is doing business for decades.

Now I remember there was an architect who was quite cheap but had a quite good reputation. His name is Akos Avraam (99674243). Be warned that he is a bit eccentric though.