General contractor refuses to continue construction - How to proceed against it?

Factually, you are right. Just read again what the OP describes further up. And you only know his version of the story. It seems, as I hear it, that atmospherically something went wrong here, which led the GU to react this way. You all always have to keep in mind, the GUs and BUs can easily do without 300 thousand and an order. They don’t even know what should be done first. Books are still full. Still. If the GU fears getting processes and trouble with this customer, he’ll just hit the brakes. And every client, besides law and order, also has a goal: he wants a finished house. Therefore, only cooperative, polite, decent tone behavior remains. As a rule, that is effective. Our foundation slab was also first set out incorrectly, two boundary stakes were mixed up. I discovered it, the strips had already been dug and concreted, but the slab itself not yet. The GU corrected immediately, I talked with him, what do we do with the concrete strips? They are now not quite flush with the walls. Suggestion: we just make them wider where necessary. So done, house stands. Settlement cracks so far one, and that is small. Expert? Engineer? Tralala? No, an honest word. That suffices in my opinion. Karsten

In my amateurish assessment, the escalation clearly comes from the GU.

I agree! The questioner should not sign or say anything ... without their lawyer ;-). So: go to a specialist lawyer for construction law, get advice there, and then (if necessary informally, without a lawyer’s letterhead) respond to the GU.

Until then, don’t let yourself be driven crazy! It won’t come down to 11 days or two weeks or even a month if you live in the hopefully defect-free house in one or two years. The construction period is stressful, but that will pass ...

I understand it like this: The general contractor botched the foundation slab and is trying to cover it up. Extending a foundation slab is anything but trivial. I would have had the short foundation slab demolished or demanded a 20-year warranty with a guarantee. However, his general contractor apparently does not want to meet the agreed final deadline, and furthermore wants the client to waive their rights arising from the extension of the construction period. And then he is supposed to waive "claims for reduction" as well. Either the general contractor can prove that the execution corresponds to what was contractually owed and was carried out according to the recognized rules of technology. Then he does not have to fear any damages or reduction. If he did not work properly, it would be unreasonable for the client if a reduction were excluded. In my amateur assessment, the escalation clearly comes from the general contractor. Doing nothing here is the quickest way to RTL2. This has nothing to do with Rumpelstilzchen.

Thank you, I feel the same way as you.

The general contractor gives a 15-year warranty without a guarantee on the problem areas, not on the entire foundation slab. The guarantee is also a point we still have to negotiate. During all the phone conversations, the term "commercial depreciation" was also mentioned. The general contractor fears that we might claim damages shortly before the end of construction because of this.

We immediately said after becoming aware of the problem that they should completely redo the foundation slab, which they did not want to do. The extension was already finished. The shell builder had taken care of that quickly. Otherwise, it might have been easier to enforce the complete reconstruction of the slab.

In the last phone conversation, this option is back on the table, but the extension of the construction period should again be at our expense! They would carry this out with another shell builder. Dismantling, finding a new shell builder who has the appropriate time, construction — I estimate this will take at least half a year.

Expert? Engineer? Blah blah? No, an honest word. That is enough in my opinion. Karsten

Yes, it is enough. If you proceed correctly. Why did the shell builder keep silent about the error and quietly extend the slab? Allegedly he had spoken to the structural engineer, who gave his OK. Why did the general contractor know nothing about it when the extension was already finished?

We were at the construction site at 12:00 noon that day, actually for another matter. My wife thought the base slab looked too small. We measured the bay window, but since we didn’t have the drawing with the measurements, we went back at 6:00 pm. And oh, surprise, the bay window had been extended and poured and the slab prepared for pouring. The new foundation was already finished! All in 6 hours!!! And as mentioned, the structural engineer only created the report 3 weeks later. What kind of trust or honest word can one still speak of with such a procedure???

For the reasons mentioned above, we engaged an expert. The procedure was simply unprofessional and grossly negligent!

My reflex was to write that I would have done this and that. But that’s actually nonsense, because first of all it’s no use anymore and secondly I don’t even know what I would have done in your shoes. I can only say what I would do now: Define: I want to be in the house on time. It should be okay. Free of defects. That would be the basis I would discuss with the GU: 1) Is this technically okay now? Would you stake your reputation on it? 2) Then there is no damage. Therefore no compensation. I will not demand anything if you can assure me that everything is okay now. Then let’s put this crap to rest and keep building. That’s roughly how I conducted a conversation with the GU. Karsten