Building without work plans

Hello Andreas,

As I understand the OP, the construction company is currently trying exactly that: _without_working drawings.

See also: "said the site manager on the phone, detailed plans will only be made for the roof truss."

Please _read exactly_ what is written there. "said the site manager on the phone, detailed plans will only be made for the roof truss".

Without knowing the OP’s provider, I would assume that the OP chose a nationwide provider like, for example, Stadt & Land. Such providers have fixed schemas for the working drawings of their houses; minor shifts in the room layout do not really change that. It is different with the roof – there are roof trusses prepared for finishing and fully finished roof trusses; dormers and cross gables, barrel dormers, bat dormers, etc.; here the working drawings for the carpenter often need to be adapted specifically to the respective object.

But apart from that: why do many GUs not want to release working drawings? How is a client supposed to approve working drawings and thus take responsibility for what is planned if he does not get working drawings? The construction company is making itself completely vulnerable there. If I do not get working drawings that I explicitly have to approve, as a client I can always say, "But the door still has to be moved 10 cm to the left, go rebuild!" And then the construction company first has to prove that this was commissioned exactly that way. Unclear contracts can also backfire.

The opposite is true. If the provider does not owe working drawings via a BB or work contract, he is obliged to build according to the applicable technical standards. No approval by the client is required for that, and the client has no grounds to scream at the "bad" provider. The esteemed colleague Roter Wettbewerber also works – as long as nothing has changed recently – without handing over working drawings to his customers; there is not even a working drawing meeting. Minor things like door hinges or window opening directions are discussed uncomplicatedly between site manager and client before the start of construction and recorded in the minutes.

Working drawings literally mean less the opening directions of window or interior doors than opening dimensions, positions of drainage pipes in the house, or position of the heat generator, etc.

I know that in the (in terms of strange rites, customs and business practices more than just overcrowded) construction industry it is apparently not uncommon for a GU to not hand over the plans, but what’s the fuss about? That only makes life difficult for oneself, doesn’t it?

For some clients, it is better if they stay out of the entire working drawing topic and let their provider build calmly according to applicable regulations. Every round of discussion about technical procedures "can" turn into dancing on a volcano, especially in times of internet-informed laypersons.

Does that answer your question?

Regards from the Rhineland

Our house was built by the developer without construction plans. Surprisingly, without major defects.

We are building a custom-designed house, so there will be no construction plans that the contractor could refer to. I should not have chosen the company, this is going to cause trouble. I will report on it.

In February, I sent the plans of our kitchen to the draftsman of the planning company [...]. She was supposed to take them into account in her planning. It was especially important to me that the window would be in the right place. Today, I met with my consulting architect at our construction site to look at the excavation pit, which was completed yesterday. On this occasion, I gave him the plans of our kitchen and asked him to compare them with the plans of the npg (I now also have an explanation for the spelling in lowercase). Now I received an email from him stating that the window would be below the countertop if it were built that way. [...]

. I can gladly forward my email to the lady who is responsible for the drawings at the company to you. That would then be the proof that I explicitly addressed the location of the window. What is the proper forum term for when it turns out that this lady obviously could not implement it?

For the sake of accuracy, I must report that I have now received the enlarged plans (with the mentioned errors) in paper form, the views of the facades are now also included, and that I also have the plans from the structural engineer. The consultant from the construction company said I should have uploaded them. However, at least they will be able to make use of them and the file was also too large.