Construction company halts work despite overpayment

That is nonsense. 5 or 10% result from the preliminary planning, building application, etc. A layperson is not involved in that.

correct.

That with €400,000 then being €40,000 is just the way it is. A general contractor will have his construction payment plan notarized and approved.

It depends a lot – in our work contract it said something like "The reasonableness of the installments cannot be checked by the notary. He is released from any liability by the parties in this respect"

How many sqm of living space were supposed to be achieved plus basement?

@Tassimat: We withheld €7490 by mutual agreement (defects: basement 10 cm protruding too far, boundary stone broken, wastewater pipes and light wells not in sand but in construction rubble, wrong backfill material of the excavation pit, etc.)

Understood. But what about the other €10,000 you mentioned that you did not pay (your post #14)?

The fact that the basement now protrudes 10 cm too far looks bad and does not fit into the landscaping plan. In front of the house, there should be 2x2 parking spaces and the light wells integrated into them, so to speak, drivable. The platform should be stroller-friendly, now we will have 2 steps down and 1 step up. The retention was entirely justified insofar as since 1.1.2018 a

And that can’t be compensated with a slight slope? Or filled up again? Even without filling: There is 4 meters of space for a ramp so that one can enter the house at ground level. The cars can also still be parked in front of the house. Anyway: What solution proposal did the contractor offer, what solution are you trying to enforce?

At a certain point, you have to decide whether to focus on problems or solutions.

Is the photo current? The scaffolding is up, I thought it had been cleared?

The height alignment looks okay from the photo, so the parking spaces will just have a slight slope towards the street; during heavy rain, you'll be thankful for that. Honestly, "helphelp" was treated pretty badly here in the thread, but considering the photo, I really don't understand what exactly is preventing a stroller-friendly path?

Construction debris instead of sand, such stupidity is resolved on site and also avoided if you're often present and ask questions. The construction workers at our place were never upset if you brought them a döner or cake once in a while and in that context wanted to explain some detailed questions or include your wishes. Solving something like that afterward is practically impossible, now that, for example, the light shafts have been foamed.

A boundary stone getting damaged happens, maybe it was unintentionally a truck driver from the building wholesale. As long as you agree with the neighbor on where the boundary is, that's fine. I mean, that's exactly it: you can talk a lot about it, take photos, write reports and assessments, and start a legal dispute, or you can clarify it quickly on site and keep going.

That's just how construction is. There are surely self-proclaimed premium home builders who add €50K to the house price upfront to cover such cases and then gift their builder, for example, massive interior walls instead of drywall as needed. But I wouldn't assume that. This all went badly, no question. It also doesn’t speak well for the company, first making a bait offer and later realizing it can’t be built that way. But with your current approach, you're wasting week after week more money for nothing.

It strongly depends - in our contract for work it said about this approximately

"The appropriateness of the rates cannot be checked by the notary. He will be exempted from any liability in this respect by the parties"

Yes, that could have been adjusted. Before the contract was concluded. But since nothing is mentioned about this here, we should not worry or argue about side issues here.