Construction costs were estimated far too low

Hello Hansi,

it's a pity that you have gotten into such a situation. I can well imagine that you are experiencing sleepless nights.

How is the mentioned "fixed price" defined?

Couldn't you somehow insist on adhering to this fixed price, or did the increases arise due to changes during the construction phase?

Regards,

Dirk

If you want to have at least some cost certainty, you should tender as many trades as possible simultaneously. At the start of construction, we had already awarded over 80%! In my job, we only grant commercial real estate loans with at least 70% cost certainty - there is a reason for that. However, that doesn't help you anymore now...

In this case, the fixed price is our advantage. Just wanted to say that the craftsman also had problems with the architect because the tender was a bit different than the plan. The craftsman is now paying a lot out of pocket. Seen this way, the craftsman is in the same situation as us. And meanwhile, I am really afraid that maybe the remaining tenders are also not quite right and WE might then have to pay extra after measurement. The situation is really bad. How can one still manage to sleep in such a situation?

Hansi

If the craftsman has agreed on a fixed price due to the tender but then has to build differently must, he should still have a right to reimbursement of his additional costs towards you.

Sorry, I don’t quite understand that now...

Do you have a fixed price or not?

Who promised you the possible fixed price?

For which construction measures does the fixed price apply?

We did several tenders per trade. Not only through the architect but also on our own. Only: if you think a heating system plus installation costs €15,000 and then you receive offers all over €25,000, you stand there not knowing what’s going on. Then the architect says: the heating installer X is way too expensive because he checked and compared it and... We then sit down, study the offers and find that one heating installer has various positions included that another one doesn’t, etc. We share this with the architect and he says: true. I saw it the same way... :confused: We read and understand every tender as well as our knowledge allows, also read books about building, call craftsmen, etc. Even today I cannot say how high the construction costs will ultimately be. Simply because I have no idea how much some works cost. KfW house or not... which plaster and why? Then 4 or 5 tenders come back and their amounts partly do not differ significantly. Worse are even the costs nobody tells you: rent for the box for construction power, sewer, filling, departure, costs of the municipality for closures, surveying, energy certificate, etc. Things like that an architect must know if he constantly builds. Why doesn’t he say that? Still my question: where does the responsibility of the architect begin? Can he really write any arbitrary sum X in the building application and if the client can no longer shoulder it, then tough luck and life for the architect simply goes on? Hansi