traumvomhaus
2012-02-19 13:48:32
- #1
Dear builders, or those planning to build. With our contribution, we want to draw attention to some focal points that we may have neglected too much. First of all, choosing a construction company is very difficult - do I want to build solid - stone by stone, a solid wood house, or a prefabricated house with timber frame construction. We have concentrated our search on solid stone as a KfW-70 house because of the subsidies .... For this purpose, we developed our own floor plan and sent it with concrete contents, e.g. heat pump, underfloor heating, triple glazing, etc., to 10 selected house providers and asked for offers – after that, discussions with these providers were also necessary. What do we recommend to you:
1. Have the contract for work checked by a specialist lawyer, because otherwise it may happen that additional costs arise for you. For example, such a formulation from HS-Bau: "resulting quantity changes due to floor plan changes that deviate from the standard house type are not included in this position." In our case, the interior walls were longer than those of the base house, but this was not yet listed as an additional service in the contract for work. Insist that the contract stipulates that only subsequent changes after the conclusion of the contract for work are subject to price increases. And that you have a fixed price until the completion of the house (the exception is if the taxes increase).
2. Keep your hands off construction companies that supposedly make a "mixed calculation" or do not credit you the previously calculated price for the trades if you want to carry them out alone. For example, an additional door costs €277.45, but if you want to install all 7 doors yourself now, you will only be credited €1294.76 instead of €1942.15 (7*€277.45). Or another example: the floor plan used as the basis for our house’s calculation has a net living area of 111.98 m² corresponding to a base house price of €110,900; our floor plan, however, has only about 84 m² living area. For the house downscaling, they credited us €6,138.80, but actually, it should be €8,176.46. Or in the base house, tiles at €15.00/m² (plus approx. €40 labor per m²) were planned for the kitchen (floor and tile splashback), bathroom (wall and floor), and hall (floor); we were credited €1,833.64 instead of well over €3,000.
3. Stay away from construction companies that are unwilling to change the payment schedule or the contract for work through proposals from the specialist lawyer or, for example, do not want to split earthworks because otherwise, they would suffer losses in planned profit; as an excuse, it may be said that the warranty could not be split otherwise. In our specific case, we wanted to remove the sod, remove 40-50 cm of topsoil and then re-fill with gravel sand and compact it according to the soil report – of course with proof of compaction – so that HS-Bau could then create the planned base plate – which they refused. The additional costs HS-Bau offered for the earthworks were about €2,000 higher than from the company we got an offer from.
4. Caution is also advised during the sales talk. As described above, pay close attention to the fact that the parapet height and finished room height are correctly specified and that the heating system is compatible with connection, e.g., of a solar system (photovoltaic system). Compare the providers and do not rely on the salespeople. This happened to us such that, in the end, the planned roller shutters suddenly were not feasible, and therefore the window sizes had to be changed. We were not made aware of the actual finished room height. In the architect’s consultation, this was also not recognized, and afterwards, we were sent an offer to increase the room height by 12.5 cm, which, of course, made additional costs of €1,251.50. We were pointed out a window parapet height of 79.5 cm if we did not make a 12.5 cm room height increase. According to the law, however, 80 cm parapet height is required. Neither the architect nor the developer made cost-neutral proposals to remedy this defect. After several weeks, we made the architect a proposal to solve the problem. The HS-Bau management saw no need for action, even though they confirmed in the contract a door-window height of 2.26 m, which was not feasible at all.
You can see what everything you have to pay attention to. We hope that you have more luck with your builder/construction company.
We have now submitted the building application and hope that the realization of our construction project will proceed flawlessly and on schedule.
Further reporting is planned.
1. Have the contract for work checked by a specialist lawyer, because otherwise it may happen that additional costs arise for you. For example, such a formulation from HS-Bau: "resulting quantity changes due to floor plan changes that deviate from the standard house type are not included in this position." In our case, the interior walls were longer than those of the base house, but this was not yet listed as an additional service in the contract for work. Insist that the contract stipulates that only subsequent changes after the conclusion of the contract for work are subject to price increases. And that you have a fixed price until the completion of the house (the exception is if the taxes increase).
2. Keep your hands off construction companies that supposedly make a "mixed calculation" or do not credit you the previously calculated price for the trades if you want to carry them out alone. For example, an additional door costs €277.45, but if you want to install all 7 doors yourself now, you will only be credited €1294.76 instead of €1942.15 (7*€277.45). Or another example: the floor plan used as the basis for our house’s calculation has a net living area of 111.98 m² corresponding to a base house price of €110,900; our floor plan, however, has only about 84 m² living area. For the house downscaling, they credited us €6,138.80, but actually, it should be €8,176.46. Or in the base house, tiles at €15.00/m² (plus approx. €40 labor per m²) were planned for the kitchen (floor and tile splashback), bathroom (wall and floor), and hall (floor); we were credited €1,833.64 instead of well over €3,000.
3. Stay away from construction companies that are unwilling to change the payment schedule or the contract for work through proposals from the specialist lawyer or, for example, do not want to split earthworks because otherwise, they would suffer losses in planned profit; as an excuse, it may be said that the warranty could not be split otherwise. In our specific case, we wanted to remove the sod, remove 40-50 cm of topsoil and then re-fill with gravel sand and compact it according to the soil report – of course with proof of compaction – so that HS-Bau could then create the planned base plate – which they refused. The additional costs HS-Bau offered for the earthworks were about €2,000 higher than from the company we got an offer from.
4. Caution is also advised during the sales talk. As described above, pay close attention to the fact that the parapet height and finished room height are correctly specified and that the heating system is compatible with connection, e.g., of a solar system (photovoltaic system). Compare the providers and do not rely on the salespeople. This happened to us such that, in the end, the planned roller shutters suddenly were not feasible, and therefore the window sizes had to be changed. We were not made aware of the actual finished room height. In the architect’s consultation, this was also not recognized, and afterwards, we were sent an offer to increase the room height by 12.5 cm, which, of course, made additional costs of €1,251.50. We were pointed out a window parapet height of 79.5 cm if we did not make a 12.5 cm room height increase. According to the law, however, 80 cm parapet height is required. Neither the architect nor the developer made cost-neutral proposals to remedy this defect. After several weeks, we made the architect a proposal to solve the problem. The HS-Bau management saw no need for action, even though they confirmed in the contract a door-window height of 2.26 m, which was not feasible at all.
You can see what everything you have to pay attention to. We hope that you have more luck with your builder/construction company.
We have now submitted the building application and hope that the realization of our construction project will proceed flawlessly and on schedule.
Further reporting is planned.