Your Owner's Representative in Germany.
We represent your interests on German building projects and deliver design, technical due diligence and construction supervision to German standards (Eurocode, DIN), for projects in Germany and, together with local partner firms, worldwide. One contract partner, responsible for the result.
New to German building practice? Start with what the Architektenkammer, the Bauantrag and the HOAI Leistungsphasen actually are.
What the reputation is made of.
Clients who look for German engineers are rarely looking for a nationality. They are looking for a working culture: design to Eurocode and DIN, reliable cost estimation, schedule discipline, documented quality assurance and decisions that are traceable on paper.
That culture is exactly what Alpha Quadrat delivers. For every project we assemble a team of our own planners and contractually bound specialists from our network: chamber-registered architects and engineers with experience from large-scale projects, including airport construction. Professional direction and responsibility stay with us at all times.
- Chamber-registered German architect (Chamber of Architects NRW), the German equivalent of a licensed architect
- Design to Eurocode and DIN, translated into local codes with partners in your jurisdiction
- BIM-based workflows for distributed teams and clean handovers
- One contract partner: our company owes you a defined design result
- Fixed fees per project phase instead of open hourly billing
Three building blocks, one responsible partner.
Design from Germany
Concept and detailed design, technical review and due diligence to Eurocode and DIN, BIM-based and delivered remotely from Germany. Fixed contacts, defined deliverables, English communication.
Local architect of record
Permits are secured through the internationally proven model: we deliver the design to German standards, a licensed partner firm in your jurisdiction files it as local architect of record.
On-site at key milestones
Project management, quality assurance and site presence for kickoffs, design reviews and critical construction phases. Between milestones we work digitally, in your time zone.
On site when it matters.
Planning happens in Germany. For kickoffs, reviews and the decisive construction phases we stand on your site, on any continent.
From first contact to delivery.
Send us your project or RFP
A short description is enough: location, use, size, timeline. Formal RFPs receive a qualified response within five business days.
Scope and fixed fee
We define the scope of services together and quote a fixed fee per project phase. You know the cost before you commit.
Team and local partner
We assemble the German design team and, where required, a licensed local architect of record in your jurisdiction.
Delivery and reporting
BIM-based delivery, weekly English reporting, video calls in your time zone, and on-site presence at the milestones that matter.
WE PROVIDE DESIGN AND CONSULTING SERVICES UNDER SERVICE OR WORK CONTRACTS WITH A DEFINED SCOPE. WE DO NOT PROVIDE TEMPORARY STAFFING OR LABOUR LEASING.
Five things to settle before you sign anything in Germany.
None of these are peculiar to us. They are how German design contracts work, and every competent German office will confirm them. We set them out here because no one tends to explain them to a foreign client until the disagreement has already happened.
German speakers: the corresponding German page is more detailed, International (deutsche Fassung).
What a German design contract actually covers
German fee proposals are written in HOAI Leistungsphasen, the nine statutory work stages. A proposal that names stages 1 to 4 covers design up to the building permit and nothing beyond it. Ask which stages are included before comparing two fees; it is the single most common source of misunderstanding for clients from abroad.
Who may sign and file the permit
A building application in Germany must be submitted by a person holding the Bauvorlageberechtigung, in practice a chamber-registered architect or engineer. However good your own design team is, this signature has to come from inside Germany. On our projects it comes from our architect, a member of the Architektenkammer Nordrhein-Westfalen.
How the contract is structured
For larger mandates we work on a Stufenvertrag, a staged appointment: the first stage is firmly commissioned, later stages are options with a stated call-off period. Your exposure is limited to one stage at a time, and we keep continuity if the project proceeds.
Where liability sits
The construction contract and the warranty sit between you and the executing contractor. We provide design, tendering, procurement support and site supervision as architectural services, covered by professional indemnity insurance. We do not carry out building works with our own labour, and we take no commission from contractors.
What we do not do
We provide services under service or work contracts with a defined scope. We do not provide temporary staffing or labour leasing, and we do not act as a general contractor. If your project needs one, we will say so.
German design, filed by a licensed architect in your jurisdiction.
A German licence does not travel. Outside Germany the design has to be filed by an architect licensed where you are building, and reconciled with the local code. That is not a workaround; it is the established international model, and it works cleanly as long as the split of responsibility is written down from the start.
Design authored in Germany
Concept and detailed design, technical review and due diligence to Eurocode and DIN, produced in Germany and delivered BIM-based. Fixed contacts, defined deliverables, English documentation.
Filed by a local architect of record
Permits are secured through the internationally established model: the design is produced to German standards, a licensed partner firm in your jurisdiction reviews it against local code and files it as architect of record. Their signature, their local licence, their statutory role.
Code reconciliation as an explicit work item
Eurocode and DIN are not automatically accepted outside the EU. Reconciling the German design with the local code is treated as a named work item with its own scope and fee, rather than discovered halfway through the permit process.
On site at the milestones that matter
Kickoffs, design reviews, and the construction phases where a mistake becomes permanent. Between milestones we work digitally, in your time zone.
Bauvorlageberechtigung
ENTITLEMENT TO SUBMIT A BUILDING APPLICATION
Tied to entry in the register of a German chamber of architects. It is what allows a person to sign and file a Bauantrag. Inside Germany it is not delegable to a foreign office.
Eurocode und DIN
THE GERMAN TECHNICAL STANDARDS BASE
Eurocodes with German national annexes, plus the DIN standards. Widely recognised, but not automatically valid outside the EU, reconciliation with local code is real work with a real fee.
Stufenvertrag
STAGED APPOINTMENT
Stage one firmly commissioned, the rest as options with a call-off period. Keeps your commitment to one stage at a time while preserving continuity of the design team.
Write to us in the language that suits you.
Vous planifiez un projet selon les normes allemandes ou cherchez des ingénieurs allemands ? Écrivez-nous en français, nous répondons en anglais ou en allemand sous un jour ouvré.
هل تخططون لمشروع بناء وفق المعايير الألمانية أو تبحثون عن مهندسين ألمان؟ راسلونا باللغة العربية وسنرد عليكم بالإنجليزية أو الألمانية خلال يوم عمل واحد.
Our project working languages are English and German: contracts, reports and meetings. Enquiries in other languages are welcome.
Describe your project. In four languages.
Pick your language and answer four questions. We reply within one business day in German or English, with a video call on request.
Building in Germany, or building with German standards abroad?
Describe your project in a few sentences. Qualified response within five business days for RFPs, one business day for everything else.
Everything we publish in English.
Overview
Who we are, what we do and how a project with us starts.
Services
Project development, project management, permit design and technical assessment.
Investors
Technical due diligence, feasibility, CapEx planning and development management.
Expert reports
Building damage, moisture, handover inspections and valuation opinions.
Building in Germany
Architektenkammer, Bauantrag, HOAI Leistungsphasen and the weight of an expert report.
About us
The two people behind Alpha Quadrat and the network around them.
Contact
Send us your project or RFP. A personal reply within one business day.
THE GERMAN SITE IS CONSIDERABLY LARGER. IF YOU READ GERMAN, START AT ALPHA-QUADRAT.DE.