Construction delay - What rights do you have?

Now please answer the question about what the deadlines for the company are in the contract. It can't be that hard to find your contract and check what times the company has to meet.

I am happy to repeat myself. The answer to that might explain why the company plans so tightly time-wise.

Now please answer the question about what the deadlines for the company are in the contract. It can’t be that hard to find your contract and check which times the company has to meet.

I have already mentioned this in a post before. With our way of building, there are no deadlines in the contract because every client has a different pace. I just start, and when I notice how fast I am, I call the site manager and tell him he can have new bricks delivered. The same goes for the ceiling: the ground floor was half done after one week, so we agreed that the other half would be finished in the second week and that the ceiling could be installed in the third week. Then I was told that the ceiling installer only comes if scaffolding is set up.

So I postponed my scaffolding, which was reserved for July, to August 6th to make everything fit. In the evening of August 6th, the ceiling installation was canceled, but the scaffolding had already been standing since the morning.... Since the second date was supposed to be August 19th, I thought it was no problem, these things happen, and a few days are not a big deal... But now my patience has run out.

The scaffolding will cost us €3,800 for over 10 weeks, which is a very good price because I helped with the setup. Other companies wanted on average €5,000 to €6,000 for the same period.

I also find the time and scaffold planning a bit ambitious. Our scaffold has been up for about 4 months or so... it is used from time to time because core drillings for the ventilation system came in, ELT for all outdoor lights, all the seals, the roofers also still had outstanding tasks that were much easier with the scaffold. Now the facade is coming and then it can go away. So you better prepare yourself for your schedule to shift significantly.

Buying a scaffold was also our first consideration but with the size of our house we would have easily paid €15,000, I do not have that just lying around...
And besides, the scaffold must be erected by a certified specialist company, which signs off that everything is correct.

Honestly: how big is your house? Used scaffolds in single-family house size can be found for €4,000. Self-assembly should work, please don't get me wrong, scaffold building is an important and demanding job, but not exactly known for the highest qualification requirements. Stop with the liability. With your high amount of self-performed work, you surely signed in the house construction contract that no one is liable for anything, only yourselves for everyone else. So no matter what happens on your construction site, you are always liable if someone falls from the scaffold: "slipped on a screw that the client lost there as part of their own work." That's how it unfortunately works.

We have about 420 sqm of scaffolding area, you can gladly send me a link where you can get something like that for 4,000€ that is not from Poland and has approval. Then I'll dismantle it and get it myself.

Building scaffolding yourself is not rocket science, but I would still have it erected by a professional company. When we built it, the BG scaffolding inspectors checked it and stopped construction sites, including my ex-neighbor. For us, they only looked at the sheet (who built what when and how) and moved on.

The scaffolding stood at our place for about 16 weeks, with the roof (solid wood) on it by the 3rd day. Windows, insulation, plaster, lightning conductor, painting the roof overhang, etc. It was winter; otherwise, it would have taken 2 or 3 weeks less.

I have already mentioned this in a post. In our type of construction, there are no deadlines in the contract because every builder has a different pace. I just start, and when I realize how fast I am, I call the site manager and tell him he can have new bricks delivered. The same goes for the ceiling: the ground floor was half done after one week, so we agreed that the other half would be finished in the second week and that the ceiling could come in the third week. I was then told that the ceiling installer only comes if scaffolding is in place.

So I postponed my scaffolding, which was reserved for July, to August 6th so that everything fits. On the evening of August 6th, the ceiling was canceled, but the scaffolding had already been standing since the morning…. Since the second appointment was supposed to be on August 19th, I thought no problem, this can happen and a few days are no big deal... But now my patience has run out.

The scaffolding will cost us €3,800 for over 10 weeks, which is a very good price since I helped with the setup. Other companies wanted between €5,000 and €6,000 on average for that time.

Do you think so? I paid €4,200 for my 6 months and I did not help with setup!

Do you have any other very well-negotiated prices?

I did not say at the beginning without reason that the rental price is expensive.

My neighbor did the drywall work himself in EL because he wanted to save money. In the end, he was €2,000 more expensive (excluding his own labor time) than the general contractor.