Hausbau2019
2019-08-11 09:55:26
- #1
We are at the end of our nerves because the construction company xxx has been fooling us to such an extent that it is no longer bearable.
The construction contract was concluded on 16.05.2018 for the construction of a single-family house with a granny flat and a waterproof concrete cellar at a guaranteed fixed lump sum price of 474,000 €. Problems arose already during the excavation of the foundation pit. An employee of BG Bau found serious safety violations during his three site visits and repeatedly ordered work stoppages. For example, there was no sufficient site security and the slope angle did not meet the requirements. Furthermore, enormous amounts of soil were hauled away (1100 tons) and disposal was invoiced to me at around 17,000 €, of which about 500 tons were now missing for backfilling. After the employee of BG Bau warned a second time about the insufficient slope angle, instead of the required 60-degree slope, a 40-degree slope was created. This resulted in a huge, oversized excavation pit. As a result, old construction debris was removed, which would have remained in the ground with the required 60-degree slope. After the erection of the ground floor, further problems occurred. The managing director of the contracted construction company claimed that due to the structural calculations, massive walls had to be built in the attic instead of drywall. He initially estimated the additional costs at just under 1,000 €, but two days later it was 3,802 €, as he had forgotten a beam in the first calculation. In addition, there was a necessary change in the attic from his point of view, with additional costs of about 1,400 €. I then informed him that we were not willing to bear these additional costs because the changes were not client requests and the structural calculations had been performed by an architect he himself commissioned. On 27.11.2018, I sent an email to Mr. xxx asking him to adhere to our construction contract and to complete the house at the guaranteed fixed lump sum price. On 8.12.2018, there was a meeting at Mr. xxx’s office where I addressed the defects found so far. At the meeting, we were told that it was impossible for the cellar to protrude too far. However, I had photos proving otherwise. On the same afternoon, Mr. xxx called me; he was on site and had measured and had to admit that the cellar protruded about 10 cm too far, which also applied to the light wells and the entrance platform. Instead of admitting this mistake, he claimed that this was actually good for us because rainwater would drain better. Since all this was too much for me, I meanwhile sought a construction consultant. When I was on site with him on 12.12.2018, he arrived just in time to prevent the ground floor slab from being poured without a ring beam. The concrete had been ordered for 10:00 a.m., we were on site at 9:45 a.m., and the workers were on a break awaiting the concrete. They had forgotten the ring beam. After pouring the ground floor slab, work was supposed to continue in the 2nd calendar week of 2019. This had also been agreed in another meeting on 17.12.2018, in which our construction consultant also participated. We agreed to reduce the last invoice of 47,500 € by 7,500 € and withhold this amount until the defects were clarified and fixed. Mr. xxx confirmed this as well. However, apparently Mr. xxx no longer intended to continue construction at this time. After we transferred the 40,000 €, we immediately received a notification of obstruction stating that continuation of work was not possible due to low temperatures. The letter was dated 17.12.18, the date of the meeting in the afternoon. Our construction consultant rejected the notification of obstruction in writing, stating that we had no subzero temperatures. Furthermore, work was neither resumed in the 2nd calendar week nor later. Instead, the site was completely cleared in mid-January, and the scaffolding was removed. Since then, I have engaged a lawyer. Mr. xxx did not respond to letters from our lawyer. When our lawyer called him on 29.01.2019, he replied that he would no longer work on this site. He did not terminate the construction contract; he said we should do that. We subsequently filed a lawsuit at the Leipzig Regional Court. On the advice of my lawyer, we are suing for completion of the building. Since being served with the lawsuit, Mr. xxx has also engaged a lawyer. Our lawyer has been working since early May on a settlement agreement, as he believes this is the only way we will get our house completed within a foreseeable time and with foreseeable costs, since we have already paid Mr. xxx almost 200,000 €, but the value received is estimated to be only about 120,000 €. Besides the numerous defects that exist. I have commissioned an expert who found further defects. For example, the exterior walls in the waterproof concrete cellar have absorbed water up to a height of 72 cm, the interior walls as well. The aerated concrete masonry generally has mortar joints that are far too large, in the bottom brick layer stones were partially cut to only 20 cm width instead of 36.5 cm, besides our cellar protruding 10 cm too far above ground it is also 10 cm wider than the ground floor above it because the insulation was not considered and protrudes beyond it, all wastewater connections to the house as well as the sewage pipes need to be redone, the soil around the house must be replaced in a width of 1.50 m down to the cellar floor, the sealing between the cellar ceiling and masonry is insufficient, etc. According to the expert, the cost for remedying the defects is about 22,000 €. The court date is 02.10.2019. We will certainly prevail in court and win. At least, that is what I assume. But what use is that if Mr. xxx, as I have heard, is preparing for insolvency? In addition, since 11.07.2019 he has had a second company registered in his name, also as a construction company. Since we have already overpaid him by 80,000 €, have lawyer’s and court fees of already 20,000 €, defect remedy costs of about 22,000 €, expert and construction supervision costs still outstanding, the bank has been charging 500 € per month in credit commitment interest since June, and completion with a “replacement construction company” will be expensive, we currently have no hope of completing our construction project. Our lawyer applied for an earlier court date, but it was rejected due to overload.
Can anyone give me advice on what else I can do? It cannot be that we have to watch as Mr. xxx finances his new company with our money while everything is going downhill for us.
The construction contract was concluded on 16.05.2018 for the construction of a single-family house with a granny flat and a waterproof concrete cellar at a guaranteed fixed lump sum price of 474,000 €. Problems arose already during the excavation of the foundation pit. An employee of BG Bau found serious safety violations during his three site visits and repeatedly ordered work stoppages. For example, there was no sufficient site security and the slope angle did not meet the requirements. Furthermore, enormous amounts of soil were hauled away (1100 tons) and disposal was invoiced to me at around 17,000 €, of which about 500 tons were now missing for backfilling. After the employee of BG Bau warned a second time about the insufficient slope angle, instead of the required 60-degree slope, a 40-degree slope was created. This resulted in a huge, oversized excavation pit. As a result, old construction debris was removed, which would have remained in the ground with the required 60-degree slope. After the erection of the ground floor, further problems occurred. The managing director of the contracted construction company claimed that due to the structural calculations, massive walls had to be built in the attic instead of drywall. He initially estimated the additional costs at just under 1,000 €, but two days later it was 3,802 €, as he had forgotten a beam in the first calculation. In addition, there was a necessary change in the attic from his point of view, with additional costs of about 1,400 €. I then informed him that we were not willing to bear these additional costs because the changes were not client requests and the structural calculations had been performed by an architect he himself commissioned. On 27.11.2018, I sent an email to Mr. xxx asking him to adhere to our construction contract and to complete the house at the guaranteed fixed lump sum price. On 8.12.2018, there was a meeting at Mr. xxx’s office where I addressed the defects found so far. At the meeting, we were told that it was impossible for the cellar to protrude too far. However, I had photos proving otherwise. On the same afternoon, Mr. xxx called me; he was on site and had measured and had to admit that the cellar protruded about 10 cm too far, which also applied to the light wells and the entrance platform. Instead of admitting this mistake, he claimed that this was actually good for us because rainwater would drain better. Since all this was too much for me, I meanwhile sought a construction consultant. When I was on site with him on 12.12.2018, he arrived just in time to prevent the ground floor slab from being poured without a ring beam. The concrete had been ordered for 10:00 a.m., we were on site at 9:45 a.m., and the workers were on a break awaiting the concrete. They had forgotten the ring beam. After pouring the ground floor slab, work was supposed to continue in the 2nd calendar week of 2019. This had also been agreed in another meeting on 17.12.2018, in which our construction consultant also participated. We agreed to reduce the last invoice of 47,500 € by 7,500 € and withhold this amount until the defects were clarified and fixed. Mr. xxx confirmed this as well. However, apparently Mr. xxx no longer intended to continue construction at this time. After we transferred the 40,000 €, we immediately received a notification of obstruction stating that continuation of work was not possible due to low temperatures. The letter was dated 17.12.18, the date of the meeting in the afternoon. Our construction consultant rejected the notification of obstruction in writing, stating that we had no subzero temperatures. Furthermore, work was neither resumed in the 2nd calendar week nor later. Instead, the site was completely cleared in mid-January, and the scaffolding was removed. Since then, I have engaged a lawyer. Mr. xxx did not respond to letters from our lawyer. When our lawyer called him on 29.01.2019, he replied that he would no longer work on this site. He did not terminate the construction contract; he said we should do that. We subsequently filed a lawsuit at the Leipzig Regional Court. On the advice of my lawyer, we are suing for completion of the building. Since being served with the lawsuit, Mr. xxx has also engaged a lawyer. Our lawyer has been working since early May on a settlement agreement, as he believes this is the only way we will get our house completed within a foreseeable time and with foreseeable costs, since we have already paid Mr. xxx almost 200,000 €, but the value received is estimated to be only about 120,000 €. Besides the numerous defects that exist. I have commissioned an expert who found further defects. For example, the exterior walls in the waterproof concrete cellar have absorbed water up to a height of 72 cm, the interior walls as well. The aerated concrete masonry generally has mortar joints that are far too large, in the bottom brick layer stones were partially cut to only 20 cm width instead of 36.5 cm, besides our cellar protruding 10 cm too far above ground it is also 10 cm wider than the ground floor above it because the insulation was not considered and protrudes beyond it, all wastewater connections to the house as well as the sewage pipes need to be redone, the soil around the house must be replaced in a width of 1.50 m down to the cellar floor, the sealing between the cellar ceiling and masonry is insufficient, etc. According to the expert, the cost for remedying the defects is about 22,000 €. The court date is 02.10.2019. We will certainly prevail in court and win. At least, that is what I assume. But what use is that if Mr. xxx, as I have heard, is preparing for insolvency? In addition, since 11.07.2019 he has had a second company registered in his name, also as a construction company. Since we have already overpaid him by 80,000 €, have lawyer’s and court fees of already 20,000 €, defect remedy costs of about 22,000 €, expert and construction supervision costs still outstanding, the bank has been charging 500 € per month in credit commitment interest since June, and completion with a “replacement construction company” will be expensive, we currently have no hope of completing our construction project. Our lawyer applied for an earlier court date, but it was rejected due to overload.
Can anyone give me advice on what else I can do? It cannot be that we have to watch as Mr. xxx finances his new company with our money while everything is going downhill for us.