Without the permission of the authorities in Germany, hardly anything can be built. As with most permits and applications, there are usually fees involved. What costs can be incurred for a building permit in Germany and what these costs depend on is explained in detail by a cost verification expert.
Question: Which structures in Germany need a permit – and how should such a declaration be made?
Cost Verifier: In principle, in Germany almost all buildings require local authority approval, even most major renovations to existing buildings, if they involve a significant change in use or a change in living space.
However, the requirements for what is required to be approved vary from region to region – they depend on the applicable state building regulations.
There may also be exceptions to the permitting obligation for certain structures in some regions – for example, for building garden houses or a shed on your own site. However, this is always a matter of the federal state-region and thus may differ from region to region. In addition, special rules of individual municipalities or cities are possible, which may further restrict land orders in individual cases.
To complicate things even further, there is no “building application” – different applications can be submitted depending on the region, depending on the type of construction.
The usual building application, as is usually to be done in single-family or tenement houses, is called in the official German the “great building right” – “große Bauvorlageberechtigung”.
In addition, in some regions there is also a so-called “small building right” “kleine Bauvorlageberechtigung” – sufficient for certain buildings. The requirements here are less stringent and less extensive documents must be submitted.
A small building permit in Germany is available in the following regions / federal states:
Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria
Berlin
Bremen
Hamburg
Lower Saxony and
Schleswig-Holstein
In addition, in these regions, not only architects can apply for construction, but in many cases
Craftsmen in all major construction industries (carpenters, bricklayers, concrete workers)
Civil engineers and
Construction technician
Architects generally have a large building right in any case (exception: interior designers) and therefore can submit any building application in all regions. The only exception to the exception here is the land of Hesse: here, in addition, many interior designers have the right to build (a small right to build), in all other regions, by contrast, interior designers usually do not have the right to build.
In addition to the large and small building applications, which exist only in certain regions, in some regions there is also a so-called “Bauanzeige” building announcement.
Again, the individual regions again regulate for which building types and at what maximum height the construction indicator is sufficient.
The construction announcement is signed by the design architect, who confirms that all construction regulations applicable to the respective construction site have been complied with.
The Authority usually reviews such construction advertisements only very superficially, and the submitted documents are usually only for completeness and credibility.
When a construction is announced, there is no official building permit, unless the authority files an objection or prohibits the construction project within 4 weeks from the date of the construction announcement, it is automatically considered approved.
Those looking to save on the costly costs of resubmitting and modifying a building application can first make a so-called preliminary building request (Bauvoranfrage). This is associated with significantly lower fees than an official building application, and the authority announces after consideration whether and what objections exist and what needs to be changed in order for the building application to be approved.
If an architect asks for a construction estimate, he should not charge a planning fee in the event of failure. He is contractually obliged to carry out a permanently approved design for the builder . Thus, he cannot charge separate costs for changing an unauthorized statement.
Question: Now the most important question: how much does a building permit usually cost in Germany?
Cost-expert: That cannot be said unequivocally. Each authority charges its own fee rates, in addition, very different costs are always charged individually for the submission of documents, which differ depending on the authority and construction projects.
Typically, in most cases, you will have to calculate about 0.5% of the total construction cost for approval only (large construction plan) . In practice, these costs usually range from 0.2% to 0.7% of the total construction cost.
However, the authority calculates the fees charged to it using a different formula, which takes into account the so-called cost of construction and the calculation of space for buildings.
Added to this are the costs of the necessary documents that must be attached to the building application. The creation of these documents can also mean quite high costs.
A small example of costs from practice:
We want to build a single-family house, which, according to the planning, has a construction cost of 325 euros per m3. The size of the calculation of the room is 637 m3. An authorized architect carries out all plans and submits a building application for us.
Fast Price
Construction Application Cost (Authority) 1.040 EUR
Planning cost for architect (performance stage 1 – 4 according to HOAI) 6.053, 40 EUR
General expenses 7.093, 40 EUR
This is, of course, just one example of costs that only apply to a very specific building at a very specific location. The cost of other buildings, especially in different designs, can also vary significantly.
In our case, the architect took over the entire layout, prepared the necessary documents and applied for the construction for us. In doing so, he took his average calculation into the HOAI kit.
Especially with complex or particularly time-consuming planning, the costs for architects can also be significantly higher.
Question: What factors determine the cost of a building permit in Germany?
Cost Verifier: There are a few things to consider here already:
type of construction
which body the building application is submitted to (federal state and corresponding commune)
what documents are needed
who will apply for construction
what expenses the architect charges for planning
The Authority generally calculates its costs as follows:
Construction cost = construction cost / m3 × calculation of space in m3
Construction cost × cost rate = cost of a building permit (usually 0.5%, this is often rounded up)
During planning, the architect also always determines the size of the calculation of the space and the cost of construction / m3.
Then, using these two values and the current cost rate, the cost of the building permit can be estimated.
Q: What are the costs of planning?
Cost Verifier: Once you assume that an architect is doing the full planning (as in our example), this uses the HOAI, the fee order for architects and engineers. It regulates what the architect can charge for his services in individual cases.
HOAI is compulsory for all architects in Germany, but the cost is staggered according to the type of buildings built (class IV). Single-family houses are partly quite difficult to plan, so depending on the construction they fall into either class III or class IV.
Depending on his individual planning efforts, the architect additionally has little room to adjust his costs. He can settle real estate agent in ingleburn at the minimum, average or maximum HOAI rate, depending on how great his efforts are. However, the differences between the minimum and maximum rates are usually not very large.
The total cost of an architect in a single family home can usually be around 10% of the total construction cost .
But that includes all 9 performance milestones that an architect can calculate during the construction of a home – from defining the foundations and pre-planning to post-completion maintenance and documentation of building damage.
However, prior to submitting a building application, only performance stages 1 – 4 are required. These account for just under a third ( 27% ) of the total cost of architects, according to HOAI.
Question: How much is the preliminary building request?
Cost Reviewer: Costs here generally depend on the costs of the review body.
The cost of a preliminary request for construction can be quite low ( from 50 EUR to 100 EUR ), but for most large construction projects it ranges from 200 EUR to 400 EUR .
But for very complex construction projects or very large buildings such as an apartment building, a preliminary building request can cost up to € 5,000 .
Q: Is a small building request more economical than a large one?
Cost Verifier: Generally yes, as it usually requires significantly less paperwork.
In addition, a “small” building application is usually only allowed for small construction activities or very simple buildings anyway – in which case the design and approval costs are lower.
What expenses will be required in general, in turn, depends on which authority in which region the application is filed.
Question: Then can the planning costs be different?
Cost Verifier: Yes, quite. Especially with a small building request, even artisans can often apply for a building permit in Germany and planning costs are often less than those of an architect.
However, all architects and civil engineers automatically count on HOAI because they are required by law to do so. Thus, in this case, the costs always depend only on the total construction costs determined in the detailed planning (performance stage 3).
Question: Is it possible to influence or slightly reduce the cost of a building permit in Germany?
Cost Verifier: Generally not. The cost of planning is determined by the HOAI, the documents submitted determine the appropriate order of construction of the land / region – so this does not affect both.
The body, in turn, determines the cost of the building application in accordance with the cost of building and calculating the space – again, there is no possibility of influence here.
But what you can usually save is additional costs by changing your plan. If you allow the architect to plan, this is not a problem anyway, as the architect must provide approving planning.
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