Construction progress: Duplex with WU basement and developed attic

Question: Did you contract with a [GÜ], that is a general contractor, from whom everything was supposed to come from one source? Construction management, architect, structural engineer, blower door test, all trades up to readiness for occupancy?

What does your lawyer say about you taking care of everything yourself regarding retention, termination, and such?
Who is handling construction management now?

Yes, everything completely. The lawyer from GU1 is out (retired). Lawyer 2 is still getting started. He first has to take care of construction manager 2. I am still trying to reach an amicable solution with GU2. Construction management now: more or less me. It only concerns the dismantling. Today I have another appointment with a local construction company; they will continue then. They are already contracted; today we will look at the substructure of the drywall, which is now down, to see if it can remain or not.

What prices are you continuing to build at now? GU2 certainly wasn’t crazy enough to take on GU1’s loss price, right?

Yes, he did. But here too, it’s not about the price per square meter. He paid €25,000!!!! for the fourfold window sealing. That was truly throwing money out the window. He gave the bricklayer, whom he didn’t know before, €10,000 in advance and he disappeared, of course with the money. Since he, as we now know, is a butcher and has no clue about construction, and certainly not his Russian laborers, the vapor barrier was installed incorrectly and the drywall (double-layered) is also not load-bearing and will be completely removed. And there are demonstrably (expert report) even more defects, so in total we are talking over €100,000. That has nothing to do with the price per square meter. He wouldn’t have done any better at €2,500/sqm either. Now of course you can say that with a decent company and a “normal” price per sqm, this wouldn’t have happened, but the posts here show something different. Not as extreme, but still bad and for much more money.

Basement: 200 sqm Living area: both semi-detached houses together just under 400 sqm

I have to correct myself, the basement is only 170 sqm. I based it on the ordered amount of tiles, but that includes a reserve.

The construction progress estimate from the expert was below what I had paid to the general contractor until then. Thus, the general contractor was overpaid. And the expert was supposed to know the construction prices. By the way, he was a state-certified and court-approved expert.
Excerpt:
Assessment of the construction work performed so far: The cost estimates are based on the signatory’s experience and were cross-checked with the prices of the company „xxxxxx GmbH“ and the construction company xxxxx.
Nevertheless, due to the company structures, staffing, and different overhead costs in the companies, significant calculation deviations may occur, so that only upon disclosure of a company’s overhead costs in individual cases can a reliable assessment of the construction work performed be made.
Considering the above, the construction work so far amounts to approx. €188,000.00 (gross).
However, we have paid €217,043.59 gross, excluding earth removal.

Nice that the thread continues here, thanks!

Despite all your (always identical) statements, stick to the fact that the price per m² is not plausible. Do you really believe that 95% of the forum members "voluntarily" pay €1000 per m² "too much"? So, for a not uncommon 170 - 200 m² single-family house, how many euros is that in total again? (Absolute additional cost!)

One might think that 10% of the construction sum is a good profit, which is absolutely seen €40K (or more?)

But you also see what happens elsewhere, even if the general contractor is no butcher :cool:. The risk is always there.

If the price were plausible with a bearable profit for the general contractor (would be), surely more houses would be built that way. I haven't read anything about that here yet and achieves his price of €1200 per m² with a lot of own effort (including "construction management," i.e. coordination of trades) and individual contracts.

That you still stick to your approach, do not sufficiently reflect mEA, means it will continue as before. Certainly, I am no expert (even if I once trained as a draftsman, studied civil engineering for about 4-5 semesters...), but you are no longer 25-30 either. (At least my) life experience tells me something is not right here.

I also emphasize again: I do not want to attack you here! Perhaps these hints help you to look at the matter differently and maybe that will solve the "knot"?