Construction contracts - how reliable are they?

Withholding money when a trade is not performed without defects is normal.

Well, here again the question is: what does your contract say? We had the contract addendum: "Construction status is only considered achieved when it is complete and free of defects" written in. Thus, we can withhold a payment installment according to the payment plan until everything is okay, which we have already had to do once (the roofer still had remaining work and didn’t come for ages).

If your contract says that you have to pay despite defects or incompleteness (which unfortunately is stated in many contracts, just phrased more nicely and vaguely), then again the question is: did you sign the contract?

I do not want to blame anyone just because we signed. I also did not simply stop paying, but asked the company to first fix the significant defects (which an expert has identified). These are not trivial matters when walls are crooked, the concrete staircase is hanging in the air because it was installed incorrectly, and so on... Withholding money when a trade is not carried out without defects is normal. Or do you pay full price for defective goods? Yes, we were naive when we chose the flex price option. I relied on it because I also had the contract reviewed by a contract law lawyer beforehand. I only want to warn against doing the same and am looking for others who might have been affected!

Well, regarding defects... it was a low-price provider... yes, one can expect clean work, but the sub sub sub companies are the ones with poor quality after all. The high-priced companies with good quality do not build in that segment. Or these craftsmen did something wrong

JuliaKiefer I'm really sorry. We also wanted to build with Argus. I know how quickly you fall for their contract, especially because it actually states that if you choose the flexible price, the fixed price (fixed price) will never be exceeded, so you shouldn't have a problem with that, right? What made us suspicious was that if you choose the fixed price, you also give up many privileges. It was about €20,000 more expensive for us. Then we wanted to build with ID Massivhaus, had almost everything ready, but we also decided against it. The construction performance description is just simply strange. Now it will be Neesenbau from Dortmund. They have a great contract. Just as it should be. I think all three mentioned house builders are low-price providers, but I think it can go either way. Let's wait and see.

Hello, we started building with Argus one and a half years ago. The construction has significant defects and Argus greatly underestimated the cost calculation, so the house will be about €150,000 more expensive. We cannot finance this. The company Argus then terminated the contract with us. Due to the variable price option, we will have little chance in court and are now facing financial ruin. I would like to bring this to the public and have the feeling that other builders with Argus are in the same situation. Are there any other builders here to exchange experiences or anyone who can give tips on where I can turn to make this public? Something like Bauretter or similar?

We can confirm that. It was the same with us. Since July 2018, our botched shell construction has been standing like this. It probably has to be completely dismantled. We are waiting for a court decision.

We are currently also building with Argus. I will soon submit a full report. However, documents about the construction project must first be submitted to verify that the information is truthful. Since the construction project is not yet completed, I have to wait with the report as well. One thing I can say: I can well understand the frustration with Argus.

Then we wanted to build with ID Massivhaus, had almost everything ready, but decided against it as well. The construction service description is just weird. Now it will be Neesenbau from Dortmund. They have a great contract. Just as it should be. I think all three mentioned house builders are low-price providers, but I think it can go either way. Let’s wait.
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Hello,

we are also planning a new build. We initially had contact with ID-Massivhaus. The extremely short construction service description also seems strange to us, although we otherwise had a very good impression. How is the construction going with Neesenbau? I would like to exchange ideas about this, but unfortunately I cannot send direct messages yet...

Best regards
Katharina