Final construction installment defect compensation

Dear community,

I moved into a new single-family house in April 2018.
Overall, we have been satisfied with the construction of the house. Of course, there are always a few things that did not go so well or
defects arise here and there. Since we still have a final payment to the construction company, we would like to reduce this through compensation for defects.

I wanted to inquire in the forum about how much money can roughly be withheld for the defects that I will describe below.

1. Chimney:

A chimney of the brand "plewa" was installed in our house. Unfortunately, the condensate outlet was not properly connected. So it can happen, when using the fireplace, that water runs along the wallpaper and leaves ugly stains. In addition, the condensate outlet in the hallway does not create a visually pleasing accent. The construction company responded by installing tiles on the wallpaper so that at least the problem with the stains was solved. However, this is only a cosmetic fix of the problem. The actual problem, that the chimney was not properly connected, cannot be fixed.

2. Z-foil on windows:

The house was brick-clad. At many (all?) windows, the Z-foil, which is supposed to drain rainwater, was forgotten to be installed. On a bay window, where it was possible to retrofit the Z-foil because the roof hides the respective bricks, the problem was fixed. However, there are two windows on the upper floor where small amounts of rainwater enter the house during days of driving rain. According to the builder, it is no longer possible to install the Z-foil here without visually damaging the brick facade.

3. Interior plaster:

The quality of the interior plaster is poor in some places. For example, the cleaning door of the chimney was completely plastered over. After we cut it out, it is now concealed with a cleaning door that we purchased ourselves. Depending on the light, the plaster bubbles. Where the painter did not spend hours filling it, it looks borderline (fortunately mainly only on the upper floor).

I would appreciate it if you could help me. I am not sure how much money can generally be deducted from the final payment for these issues. I am aware that at best a rough estimate can be made here via the forum. That would be enough for me. One has to say that the builder has always tried to fix the defects. However, in my opinion, the above defects are permanent. Only the damage can still be kept within limits. That is why I think it is justified to withhold a reduction in value of the respective trades from the final payment. The final payment is about €8,000.

Thank you very much. I hope my explanations are understandable. If not, please ask.

I am a layman, others can surely assess this better. But my opinion on it:

I would completely ignore the last point for aesthetic reasons. But 1 & 2 are more serious issues. If the opposing party basically tells you: "You can use the chimney, water just runs out" as well as..:"well, we forgot, you just have a lifelong water problem when it rains" in my opinion 8k is not even enough.

Whether the comparison helps you is questionable, but if it does: with us, the bay window on the ground floor (about 3.5x1 meters) was not greened (flat roof) because in the course of greening the roof something else had to be done on the bay window. We feared that because of the "little bit" the builder would not come quickly anymore and so, to motivate him to come, we withheld 5k from the final payment. That is/was a trifle compared to your issues. But he still didn’t come anymore, we did it ourselves for 300 euros and kept the 5k.

I wanted to inquire in the forum how much money can approximately be withheld for the construction defects that I will describe below.

And I seriously considered reducing my answer by one hundred percent because you have withheld any pictorial evidence from us. We cannot work like this!

Hello,

at this point, I can only recommend involving an expert.
Withholding money can also quickly lead to legal disputes and then, in the case of unjustified withholding, to interest payments.

But briefly speaking in general:
The building should be handed over by the contractor to the buyer free from material and legal defects. Everything that does not correspond to the agreed condition is therefore a defect and can be remedied (in modern terms, fulfilled subsequently).

Here, visual defects are certainly to be assessed differently than technical defects.

However, I practically do not see any visual defects here, because blistering of the plaster is not a visual defect but rather improper workmanship.
Visual defects would be scratches, dents, or trowel marks. In the case of blistering, the plasterer should have fulfilled the work subsequently.

Your missing Z-foil or the missing condensate drainage are technical defects which, in my opinion, require remediation. I am not sure whether you want to buy a construction defect for an amount between €0.00 and €8,000?

Since it is hard to assess all this from a distance, I would spend the money on a (proper) expert who gives you an evaluation of the points.

Of course, all this would have been much easier 3 years ago when you moved into the house and accepted it.

Best regards,
Jann

First of all, thank you very much for your quick response! Unfortunately, the issue with the Z-foil only became apparent much later. Namely, when the water had eventually penetrated. The construction company always said that the money for the plaster would be offset later. Since we have not yet received a final invoice, we cannot say how much money it will involve. Just so I can join the conversation, I wanted to prepare accordingly.

Regarding the Z-foil, we had a former building expert over once. He said that it is difficult to technically fix it. If you knock out the clinker brick, you will always have this visual damage. Since the water might enter here at two windows about once a year, with quantities in the "ml range," I would then prefer financial compensation.

I have attached a few pictures for you.