Construction company - start of construction, communication. Tips, experiences?

In our contract, it states that they must start construction within 3 months after the building permit is granted and once all obligations of the builders are fulfilled. Construction then started after 2 months, but since they had previously given us the feeling of "we can start immediately at any time," this waiting time was also met with incomprehension on our part. Hope it starts for you soon!

I think that’s a good tip.

Unfortunately, we also haven’t set a construction start date, only a completion date with corresponding "penalties". We considered specifying a time frame for a long time.
But in the end, the construction start depends on the building permit, and it is understandable that the company can only schedule you once the building permit is granted. Furthermore, a completion time must be specified, otherwise a digger might just show up and then nothing happens for months again.
We decided against it, due to the uncertain point of the building permit, also because we want to contract out the civil engineering and concrete work ourselves and also somewhat out of trust in the company. Let’s hope it wasn’t a mistake.

Setting the building permit as a deadline is a good tip for everyone who hasn’t signed a contract yet.

Wishing you much success for an early start!

We also haven’t set anything. When we inquired after the building permit, we were told that they wait so many weeks... I assume that the general contractors only start planning on their wall plan board once the building permit is available. Before that, there is no magnet with our name on it. Then the back-and-forth shuffling on the yearly planner begins. It will be the same for you.

If you call, you get a callback but we are repeatedly dismissed with general phrases (“we are trying to start soon,” “the weather has to be right,” “we'll manage soon,” ... etc.).

Of course, as a general contractor you don’t mention that you are one of many and will be last in line. You basically have to queue up at the back.

There is no, really no written reply to any email.

Are you working in the office? One less construction manager. He is on site almost every day... the office staff handling the email account have no authority...

How was communication with the construction company, site manager, and trades for you?

Little. The boss was irritable.

Did you contact the site manager often? Were you persistent?

No, we were not persistent. If they tell us that no one will work on the site every day and that this is just how it is, then that must be right. At the neighboring plots, sometimes no one showed up for a week...

Building permit in August, the company certainly didn’t wait for you and their books are full. Then winter comes quickly.

And then Corona. Instead of 4 craftsmen only 2, which delays things, then some in quarantine... even more delays. This drags out multiple construction sites, and the last ones suffer the most.

What else comes to mind: more expensive houses are prioritized because the general contractors earn more with those. Maybe that’s why you are being fobbed off more than others.

Hello everyone,

thank you very much for the many tips and experiences!

Hey,

signed the contract in September 18 (main contractor, solid construction) with reservations, which were then lifted in November 18
in February 19 the sampling took place
beginning of April submission of the building application
beginning of June issuance of the building permit and thus scheduling with the main contractor with a maximum of 8 weeks
end of August there was the initial meeting on the property with the site manager
beginning of September the earthworks started
construction then continued until shortly before Christmas and then resumed in the 2nd week of January

The contract included a planned handover date, the house was scheduled with 8 months (1 month more due to underfloor heating) construction time. Ultimately, it was about 3 weeks past the deadline, due to delays in trades on other construction sites. Because of the delay, there was then an agreed "compensation."

So all in all, I would say a regulated process. The site manager was always reachable, if not, then there was an immediate callback, at the latest the next day. Emails were also answered promptly.

Yes, we also expected about 12 months from building permit to move-in, for us the processing time of 8 weeks after building permit for the execution planning was included, after that we thought it would start...

So a maximum of eleven months, but from an indefinite date. Yes, that was silly. Have a lawyer read the contract about how termination would look like (or whether the contract is drafted in such a way that it would be immoral due to gross one-sidedness). A lawyer also knows how to put a debtor of a service in default.

We do not want a lawyer or to terminate the contract at this point due to the incalculable cost and time risks. However, having the contract checked by a lawyer again is a point we keep in mind if things continue this way...

Do you have someone knowledgeable on your side? "Your" site manager is unfortunately the site manager of the main contractor and therefore does not necessarily have your interests in mind.

August building permit, then the company surely did not wait for you and has full books. Then winter comes very fast.
In which region are you located? Is it winter there? But the temperatures are right, with all the rain/frost earthworks make no sense, concrete work in frost is not
feasible without additional services.

We have an expert who also says that a start in winter is possible, if you want there are means and ways. We are building here in the Hamburg region, there has been hardly any snow so far and temperatures fluctuate between -3 at night and +6 during the day. However, there are certainly 3-4 days with 3-8 degrees when we wonder if something could not already be done. Otherwise we can wait until April. I have the feeling the main contractor feels no pressure and prefers to work by the book, i.e. waiting for spring.

Are you working in an office?
One site manager less. He is on the site almost every day... the office staff on the email account have no authority...

That may be true, however he is also responsible for material orders, so he does sit partially in the office. It is very annoying anyway, as in the end you have nothing in writing, and the oral communication has a rather non-binding character (perhaps that is exactly the intention).

Corona quarantine, "more expensive" projects, can all be reasons but no consolation, as the commitment interest is pushing down and we have total uncertainty about when it will continue.

From experience, I can only advise everyone now to negotiate a construction start into the contract. The idea of a deadline from the building permit is good. Legally, there must be a completion deadline, but if no construction start is fixed, you may wait until it suits the main contractor. However, we had discussed the topic before signing the contract, but were firmly blocked with the argument that there are too many unknowns and no one can know when all conditions for the start exist. Our mistake that we trusted and still signed like that.

So the back house should now be built up to the screed stage before it can even start with us; the talk was about a waiting time of 4-6 months depending on the weather in winter! That of course shocked us.

Does this have anything to do with it? Basically, it is always annoying when the other person's schedule lags behind.

Does this have anything to do with it? Basically, it is always annoying when the other's time is delayed.

For that, we have now found a solution with the GÜ to start the work simultaneously. Nothing has changed neither on your end nor on ours...

For this, we have now found a solution with the GÜ to start the work simultaneously. Nothing has changed either at the back or with us...

So you are not alone and the only ones?