Building permit application without height survey?

Hello,
we want to build a prefabricated house and are at the stage in planning where we would like to submit the building application.
Unfortunately, the development of our building area has been delayed and our plot in the new development area is not yet fully developed, so that a height survey is currently not possible.
We now have the problem that we are contractually obliged to have obtained the building permit by the end of May and the construction release by the end of July in order for everything to stay on schedule. If the completion of the house is delayed as a result, we have to pay a penalty of nearly €3,000 per month. The prefabricated house company has given us a completion date (end of February 2024) and a price guarantee for this.

Now we are wondering whether it would make sense to submit the building application without exact heights. Planning heights, for example from the drainage plan, are available and have been incorporated into the floor plans.
The building authority of the city said that this is not a problem and that the heights can be added "afterwards" following the survey. However, our architect from the prefabricated house company advises against this because the building application would not be legally secure and would not have enough heights to examine building regulation points.
Unfortunately, we cannot estimate what risks we would be taking with a building application without a height survey. The building regulations are very lenient and not difficult to comply with. We would also be interested in how the process would exactly work if we were to add the heights afterwards.

We would be very grateful if someone has advice or experience!

we want to build a prefabricated house and our planning is at the stage where we would like to submit the building application. Unfortunately, the development of our building area has been delayed and our plot in the new development area is not yet fully developed, so currently no height survey is possible. We now have the problem that we are contractually obliged to have obtained the building permit by the end of May and the building approval by the end of July for everything to be on schedule. If the completion of the house is delayed as a result, we have to pay a fine of nearly €3000 per month. The prefabricated house company has therefore granted us a completion date (end of February 2024) and a price guarantee.

There are several dozen stories here following exactly the same pattern: prospective builders are lured by price guarantees into making enormously expensive mistakes that they bitterly pay for afterward with skin in the game. No supposedly averted price increase is worth becoming a victim of this trick! Only one thing is "even more certain than the 'amen' in church": namely, that all obligations entered into at the stage of already delayed preconditions are an unpredictable time bomb.

Now the question for us is whether it would make sense to submit the building application without exact heights. Planning heights, for example from the drainage plan, are available and have been incorporated into the floor plans. The city building authority said it would not be a problem to "add the heights later" after the survey. However, our architect from the prefabricated house company advises against this, as the building application would not be legally secure and there are not enough heights available to check building law points. Unfortunately, we cannot estimate at all what risks we would be taking with a building application without a height survey. The building regulations are very lax and not difficult to comply with.

In short: no, it makes NO sense, and is even highly dangerous. Before the connected development, the final heights of the terrain are not only not yet surveyed, but also not sufficiently reliably predictable (yet they can nevertheless significantly disrupt the calculations). For example, water does not flow uphill voluntarily – both surface drainage and wastewater disposal still have expensive uncertainties at the described stage. You risk, for instance, technically and budget-wise not planned lifting stations. Or the house must be significantly redesigned, for example to comply with height specifications. Can you really just arbitrarily cut forty centimeters from the desired knee wall height without that triggering a domino effect of redesigns? Wait absolutely until essential facts are truly secured, otherwise the house manufacturer will swallow you whole before you even realize it. There are really plenty of (unfortunately all true) stories here of price increase escape attempts that backfired spectacularly. Price guarantee / fixed price / price increase are just some of the keywords that will lead you to these threads. Many explicitly deal with increases "despite guarantees."

I agree with . Honestly: 3k€ per month and you keep the price guarantee? That's a great deal. If the price guarantee is dropped, you quickly end up with several tens of thousands or more in additional costs.

There are several dozen stories here following exactly the same pattern: prospective builders are lured by price guarantees into making enormously expensive mistakes, which they later pay for bitterly with a fleece pulled over their ears. No supposedly averted price increase is worth becoming a victim of this scheme!
Only one thing is "even more certain than the 'Amen' in church": namely that all obligations entered into at the stage of an already delayed framework of preconditions are an unpredictable time bomb.

Thank you for the answer.
We were glad to be granted a price guarantee for this long period (contract signed end of Dec 2021, completion guarantee end of Feb 24).
Yes, because of the unforeseeable costs, we are now on pins and needles and trying to find a way out. We have to pay the €3000 from Feb 24 for each additional month.

How far along is the development? Are we talking about a 2-month delay or 10? Also consider that the completion of the development does not mean that the building application can be submitted immediately afterward. There can also be problems with the financing. We had the same problem. The development was completed at the beginning of September, the notary appointment was in mid-September. It took until the end of October before a site plan was available from the surveyor. The land registers were available at some point in January; before that, the bank is reluctant to disburse money.

In short: no, it makes NO sense, and is even highly dangerous. Before the connected development, the final heights of the terrain are not only not yet surveyed, but also not sufficiently predictable (yet they can still seriously disrupt the calculations). For example, water does not flow uphill voluntarily – both surface drainage and wastewater disposal still carry costly uncertainties at the described stage. You risk, for example, technically and budget-wise unplanned lifting stations. Or the house must be significantly redesigned, for example to comply with the height specifications. Can you really just cut forty centimeters from the desired knee wall height without triggering a domino effect of redesigns?

Part of the construction area is already developed; there everything apparently went according to plan. Nowadays everything is surveyed with GPS, so there should probably only be deviations of maybe 10 cm, right? Can't the entire house just be set 10 cm higher or lower? Of course, earth would then possibly need to be removed or added. The height specification is not a problem. We have 2 full floors and a basement, and according to the current plan, our house without the basement is 7.85 m high and it may be up to 12 m high. The city building authority just advised us accordingly; we thought that if we submit the building application without the heights and add them later, we would save time… then the city can already check the rest... What would be the concrete procedure if we submit the building application without height surveying?