End cooperation with the construction manager, insurance does not pay

Hello everyone,

we have a problem )

Three weeks ago, when our roof was finally closed after a lot of personal initiative – finding a carpenter – we stood happily in our closed house in the evening.

The carpenter (who was mobilized by us since our "responsible man" couldn’t get it done) then pointed out to us that our rooms are not habitable if they are smaller than 1.50m.
SHOCK!

When I asked the architect, I got the answer that this can’t be. So at night I went to the construction site with a tape measure and the plans and noticed – oops, the 2m line is unfortunately not where it should be.

The next day I called the architect and asked her to please come to the site. At the site, she said, yes, that was our mistake, we put in the wrong degree. Then we demanded the companies to take the roof down again, build up the walls, and put the roof back on.
Alright, the companies actually didn’t have time for that and did it only because we didn’t want to stop construction for the winter. The architect said this is covered by insurance.

Now the roof is finally closed.

Now it’s time to pay the companies. Since the order was given by us to the carpenter, I also paid the invoice. The work was done as stated on the invoice.

Now the great developer comes to us with – the insurance doesn’t pay and the invoice is way too high.

If I now want to dismiss the aforementioned lady and her husband as construction managers, will we have a problem or can I do that? Is it mandatory to have a construction manager?

I don’t want to have anything to do with this company anymore, since difficulties have been a constant theme from the very beginning.

We don’t have a written contract, even though it’s a developer. It is only noted in the building application that the architect was appointed as construction manager.

Thanks, but I don't have to be careful because, as I said, we know each other from before and they won't take advantage of us. I'm quite sure of that. As I said, we have been in talks for half a year and so far no costs have been incurred and they have had enough work with us)

That sounded different a few months ago.

But you still seem not to know the difference between a developer, general contractor, and general contractor taking full responsibility.
You apparently have a general contractor taking full responsibility (since the land was bought from the municipality) and the general contractor hires and pays all trades. If you now get involved in between, I can imagine that there will be problems, since that would be a kind of self-performance.
As an insurance, I would also first resist if the order was not initiated by the construction company.

I think you won't be able to get around a lawyer.

That sounded different a few months ago.

But you still seem to not know the difference between a developer, general contractor, and main contractor.
You apparently have a main contractor (since the land was bought from the municipality) and the GC commissions all the trades and also pays for that. If you now interfere, I can imagine that there will be problems, since that would be a kind of self-performance.
As insurance, I would also initially resist if the contract was not initiated by the construction company.

I think you won't get around needing a lawyer.

Yes, you learn something new.
That is not quite right. He commissioned it but the invoices went directly to us. And if he couldn’t find anyone, then he simply didn’t commission anyone.

And the matter with the lawyer has already been set in motion.

However, what you wrote did not answer my question.