Conditions for independent building experts

Hello everyone,

I have been a silent reader for a long time. Now things are becoming more concrete for us, the plot is reserved, the general contractor is probably found, and construction supervision possibly too. In addition to the construction supervision, the construction documents, contract for work, and soil report from the municipality are to be checked by the independent expert (Dipl. Eng. Architect FH). After reviewing the documents, I will negotiate them with the general contractor and hope that the contractor will accept as many as possible.

I have a few questions regarding the conditions and contents of his offer.

I have already searched for prices in the forum, but only found the two big providers with 3 and 4 letters. These are around €80-100 including VAT. My construction expert charges:

€107 net per hour
-5% discount (a buddy shares the office with him)
+8% overhead costs
+19% VAT
= €130.64 gross per hour

He has scheduled 5 on-site appointments of one hour each; additional time spent will, of course, also be charged.

Travel time to and from the site, about 30 minutes each way, will also be charged at the billing rate plus mileage allowance.

No documentation after the appointments is planned. If defects are found, he will clarify them directly with the site manager.

Telephone calls with me, the general contractor, or emails will also be invoiced based on time spent.

I expect total costs of just under €3,000 gross for 6-7 appointments with 1.5 hours on-site, examination of the construction documents, the contract for work, and the property documents.

Of course, I understand if he charges for his invested time. It just sounds to me as if he will bill every little detail meticulously, even though he says he won’t bill so meticulously.

I look forward to your opinions and suggestions for improvement.

If this is allowed, I would like to attach an excerpt of the offer without mentioning the [Bausparvertrag].

Rhineland greetings

Good evening,

If this is allowed, I would like to attach an excerpt of the offer without mentioning the building savings contract.

Yes, that is of course possible; just please remove any proof of origin and names.

Rhenish greetings

The prices offered are okay from my point of view. The only thing I find somewhat exaggerated is the regular hourly rate for driving plus the kilometer flat rate; it also includes overhead costs. However, it's probably not worth negotiating at this point (how many kilometers are there?).

With a total of 3000 euros, you have also chosen a reasonable budget in my opinion, so additional site visits are possible.

Creating the documentation only when it is really necessary is very sensible! I like that, if he doesn't notice anything, he doesn't have to do anything further and it doesn't cost any additional money. And he reports problems best directly to your contractual partner anyway.

Also: I see the meticulous billing as rather positive, also for you.

Per site visit, it is 50 km. Thus, the on-site costs (1.5h) at the construction site are just under €200 gross. As I read it, the €0.68/km plus the 8% overhead costs and VAT are added. So for the total 1 hour of travel time, approximately €170 gross. Total costs per site visit would therefore be €370 for 1 hour of travel and 1.5 hours on-site. I just discovered the Kfw program 431. Unfortunately, my building expert is not listed there. Now I am considering getting a second offer from one based in the construction location.