jeti79
2017-04-25 16:58:13
- #1
Hello everyone,
we are considering changing the developer. The bank has already approved the whole thing. My question would be, what might possibly argue against a change? Where could there be pitfalls? I simply hope for your experiences so that we don't overlook anything that should have been considered...
Background:
We signed the contract with the developer in August '16 and received the completed applications for the building permit in December, which was also granted in January '17. We informed the developer in December '16 that we wanted to start right at the beginning of '17, as soon as the weather allowed, which was confirmed to us. There is no contractually fixed deadline. Due to the in-house work (electricity, garage, and floor work on the upper floor), they did not want to commit to a schedule. Since then, communication with our developer has not been satisfactory:
Our site manager was apparently only informed at the end of January that he should supervise our construction and has appeared unprepared in every conversation so far. (For example, he asked in every conversation whether we had in-house work or not). Small traps that I include in our correspondence he overlooks.
When some of our neighbors started in the 2nd calendar week of February, we were still chasing the site manager on the phone about when it could finally start, to which he tried to appease us by saying he still had to find a construction company first. I replied that they could have done that already in December, when it was clear that the building permit would be ready in winter (the usual processing time here in town is 4 weeks, which was also the case for us).
It dragged on until mid-March until a construction company was found at all. (after allegedly another company strangely dropped out a week before the planned start of construction). This company then took a total of three weeks until the foundation slab was finished (flat, not excavated property without a basement). For our neighbors, this took almost consistently under a week. "Our" craftsmen were on site an average of 2 days a week, while others had workers on site every day.
Since then, there has been radio silence towards the construction company. I haven’t been able to reach the foreman for over 2 weeks. He does not respond to calls, voicemails, or emails. Our developer’s site manager keeps promising me at short intervals that work will continue – of course, without it actually happening. Our neighbors (several) are, for example, getting their floor slabs this week....
Therefore, we have now contacted our bank and other companies that would take over the construction for us. I have already informed our current developer and asked him to consider terminating the contract. (So far, we have paid the developer 2% for the architect services and 10% for the construction phase "foundation slab". The penalty for a contract termination would be 10% of the order amount, although I do not consider this justified, since the delays in the construction are considerable.)
we are considering changing the developer. The bank has already approved the whole thing. My question would be, what might possibly argue against a change? Where could there be pitfalls? I simply hope for your experiences so that we don't overlook anything that should have been considered...
Background:
We signed the contract with the developer in August '16 and received the completed applications for the building permit in December, which was also granted in January '17. We informed the developer in December '16 that we wanted to start right at the beginning of '17, as soon as the weather allowed, which was confirmed to us. There is no contractually fixed deadline. Due to the in-house work (electricity, garage, and floor work on the upper floor), they did not want to commit to a schedule. Since then, communication with our developer has not been satisfactory:
Our site manager was apparently only informed at the end of January that he should supervise our construction and has appeared unprepared in every conversation so far. (For example, he asked in every conversation whether we had in-house work or not). Small traps that I include in our correspondence he overlooks.
When some of our neighbors started in the 2nd calendar week of February, we were still chasing the site manager on the phone about when it could finally start, to which he tried to appease us by saying he still had to find a construction company first. I replied that they could have done that already in December, when it was clear that the building permit would be ready in winter (the usual processing time here in town is 4 weeks, which was also the case for us).
It dragged on until mid-March until a construction company was found at all. (after allegedly another company strangely dropped out a week before the planned start of construction). This company then took a total of three weeks until the foundation slab was finished (flat, not excavated property without a basement). For our neighbors, this took almost consistently under a week. "Our" craftsmen were on site an average of 2 days a week, while others had workers on site every day.
Since then, there has been radio silence towards the construction company. I haven’t been able to reach the foreman for over 2 weeks. He does not respond to calls, voicemails, or emails. Our developer’s site manager keeps promising me at short intervals that work will continue – of course, without it actually happening. Our neighbors (several) are, for example, getting their floor slabs this week....
Therefore, we have now contacted our bank and other companies that would take over the construction for us. I have already informed our current developer and asked him to consider terminating the contract. (So far, we have paid the developer 2% for the architect services and 10% for the construction phase "foundation slab". The penalty for a contract termination would be 10% of the order amount, although I do not consider this justified, since the delays in the construction are considerable.)