Construction ancillary costs: Bank requires signature from the architect

Secondary construction costs can be googled. It is correct that, among other things, earthworks, permits, etc. are included under this.

The earthworks thing is actually not correct. Those are not secondary construction costs ... those are structural costs!

This is only always treated as secondary construction costs here because construction companies do not cover all earthworks in their standard contracts. Build with architects ... there are no extra earthwork costs ... that is all included in the shell construction ...

Secondary construction costs are clearly defined in DIN 276: planning, structural analysis, energy saving ordinance, soil survey, architect fees, permits, insurance

Here in the forum, users get slammed if they don’t clearly distinguish between developers, general contractors, and general subcontractors but when it comes to secondary construction costs, earthworks, which are classic structural costs, are eagerly counted as ancillary costs.

I sent an email to our financier about half an hour ago in which I basically pointed out that ancillary construction costs must be differentiated with respect to outdoor facilities, equipment, or sample buffers, etc. Since the lady wanted to get back in touch with the bank today, I hope she "understood" what was written and that the right path will now be taken.

Our architect will not be back from vacation until July 3rd. But I admit that I find the signature rather embarrassing since I maintain the view that a signature always has something to do with a "guarantee." And I have the architect through the construction company and only buy the house along with the planning from them, not the "financing."

I also contacted the construction expert from the Bauherren-Schutzbund who is supposed to come on board starting with the preparation of the foundation slab, but I haven’t been able to reach him so far. Which I would have found just as unpleasant. But you do what you have to in order to somehow make progress.

I will definitely keep you informed about how things proceed so that hopefully the next person who has such a problem won’t be just as clueless and in the dark.

Das mit dem Erdarbeiten ist ja eigentlich nicht richtig. Das sind keine Baunebenkosten ... das sind Bauwerkskosten!

Those are really good points to think about
Sometimes you just can't see the forest for the trees

It was the same with our bank. We indicated ancillary construction costs amounting to 80,000 euros. These were then pure ancillary construction costs of 35,000 euros, the rest was divided into a sampling buffer, outdoor facilities, garage, and floor coverings/painting work. Our construction company then made a letter for the bank, in which it said: "For your planned construction project, you can expect the following ancillary construction costs... Our construction company was also initially uncertain, as they cannot say whether we will manage with the costs; that ultimately depends on us. I then asked the bank again and was then confirmed that the bank only cares whether you could spend that much money or whether the figures are reasonable. If it costs more, that would not be a problem; it just should not be less. The bank was then satisfied with the letter. Regards Sabine

Hm... we were once told that you can somehow give back a proportional % amount. Since we wanted to avoid additional financing, we tried to calculate as realistically as possible but preferably rounded up a bit.

Whether and how much we could give back we don't know. Since everything is always based on price comparisons and rough estimates, we will probably, like many others, be wiser only at the end of this undertaking.
On the other hand, we also have plan B in case, for example, more than 10k remains.
That then includes, for example, a photovoltaic system.
Although I must admit that I wouldn’t have a problem if it turned out to be less.

Building is really exciting and nerve-wracking.

Oh, one more thing that crossed my mind...
Where do you classify [Rigole] and [Zisterne]? External facilities? Earthworks? Or incidental building costs?

I googled additional construction costs again. For an architect-designed house, it is specified more precisely, as tempic explained. However, I would not go that far for the bank with a construction project using a general contractor. The soakaway and cistern were included in our additional construction costs (as were the earthworks), but if you now exclude earthworks, it becomes complicated, which does not have to be.


It would have been nice to get a hint about that. No one is ungrateful to have a mistake corrected.

Best regards in brief