Architect misjudges clinker facade area

Yes, but sorry, the architect designs the house! Gets good money for it. So 2-3% on the square meter exactly, okay. But really miscalculating is a no-go.

The architect creates the tender according to the plan, but in reality on the construction site there are always adjustments or changes, then the quantities in the tender are sometimes no longer exactly correct.

At least that was the case for us, we omitted or changed walls during the ongoing construction, adjusted the staircase, positioned windows differently.

That is the advantage of individual trade contracting and being on the construction site several times a day.

We were able to make final decisions when the time came, we could adapt things without a general contractor slapping a huge price tag on it.

Of course, we had a lot more work because we had to decide on every trade contract.

You just have to know what you want.

At least that was the case with us, we left out or changed walls during the construction, adapted the staircase, positioned windows differently.

But actually, you shouldn’t do things like that. The planning should be finalized once construction starts. Sometimes it works out well, but most of the time it causes problems that you don’t even think about at that moment.

I can only advise against changes during construction. Someone still has the old plan version, or you spend hours on the phone until it is clarified with all other relevant trades whether it actually works that way... no, there has to be an end somewhere, otherwise the error devil sneaks in too easily and 2. the nerves get even more strained than they already are.

How can such a misunderstanding be avoided? As a client, you can’t verify everything, can you?

Main Cause 1: Both parties have different memories of what was discussed. Here, meeting minutes that are exchanged help. Main Cause 2: Both parties operate on different assumptions regarding what was discussed. It helps to clarify, ask about, and record these. What to do? Write your own summary of meetings or as a response to information you don’t understand and do not let others write it for you. Use formulations / forms along these lines:

[*]"I have understood the discussion as follows:..." [*]Indirect speech for especially important points "In response to my question ... you said that ..." [*]"If I have reported anything incompletely or incorrectly, please correct me"

This way you create clarity and a documented record at the same time. Note: Many people have favorite speech patterns that occur conspicuously often (I emphasize really conspicuously often). Here are some examples, where early signs of potential communication difficulties can be detected. The first two are classics for misunderstandings:

[*]"I assumed that..." (sign of lacking empathy for the other person’s perspective) [*]"That is self-evident..." (sign of limited perspectives) [*]"The problem is ..." (sign of problem-oriented instead of solution-oriented thinking) [*]Accusatory diction like "But you said that..." (sign of high priority on justification and being right) [*]"Yes, but..." (sign of exhausting communication because a counter-position is constantly taken)

Helpful: Ask a lot of questions, try to understand, repeatedly make it clear to your counterpart that you are a layperson—no matter how much you think you know—and don’t try to do your counterpart’s job better.

I also advise against changes during construction. Then someone still has the old plan version or you spend hours on the phone until it is clarified with all other relevant trades whether it actually works that way... no, there has to be an end somewhere, otherwise 1 the error devil sneaks in too easily and 2. the nervous system is burdened even more than it already is.

I am also a fan of making decisions ON site ... you can only imagine a lot once it’s actually there .... for example, we looked at the distance of the kitchen island 100 times, even drew it 1:1 with chalk... on site it still looked different .... just one example of many .... not everyone can imagine everything on paper .... You are well advised with the general contractor if you know exactly what you want at the time of the contract ... but if you have to change everything afterwards from doors to flooring etc it will get expensive

I clarify: Changes that affect third parties or involve a scale that becomes prone to errors. In particular, changes in the shell construction (moving walls, changing supply/disposal lines, etc.) tend to lead to subsequent problems.

Whether the kitchen island is moved 10 cm to the left or right, on the other hand, seems to me to be trivial as long as the electrician is not involved. We also only decided which bathtubs and sinks, or sizes, would go into the bathroom and whether the spacing between them was sufficient once the plastered construction was in place. Only if you then want to change the position of the bathtub in general again, does it become prone to errors.