House connections - wastewater/drainage

Hello everyone,

I would like to apply for the new house connections but am a bit confused.

After we received the building permit, the architect created the drainage plan and submitted it to the municipality (but have not yet received a response).

Do I need to apply separately for the wastewater/drainage connection, or is the application of the plan sufficient?

The architect has planned a rainwater retention system (this is a requirement from the municipality, as far as I understand). Do I have to commission this separately myself? Is it part of the drainage connection work?


I also received a letter from the municipality about water and drainage, but it only referred to the building permit and not to the sewer plan. It mentioned the costs for the water and drainage system and that we should report them after the construction work is completed.
Are these the fees for the water/wastewater connections?


From the general contractor, I learned that the electrician will apply for the electricity connection for the new house.
Do I need to coordinate anything for the various house connections (water, wastewater, electricity & internet)?

We will start with the foundation slab next week. Should something be done at this phase or only after the shell construction is completed?

Thank you very much
Best regards

We had to apply for the water connection at the water supplier. Call them, they will tell you what you need to do. Or you can find it on their website. From personal experience, I can tell you, apply as early as possible. Sometimes they take longer than you think.

Mostly it is separate. You pay once for the development costs up to the property - that is, the water pipe that connects to the property - unless the property is already fully developed when sold. (That was the case with us).
For us, the amount for the development of the water supply is also included in the notarized contract.

And then you still have to apply for the actual house connection. This is the part from the edge of the property into the house, and the installation of the water meter. This is usually paid by the builder (for us it was €1600 in Lower Saxony). Unless it is included in the contract with the general contractor.
Who applies for the house connections should be agreed with the general contractor. For both of our houses, the builders took care of it. For the first house we had to pay it ourselves, for the current house the builder included it in the contract, but that is rather uncommon.

But ask about this again. You need house connections for water, electricity, possibly gas, and telecommunications. Your electrician will do the electricity, you already know that. The rest you should clarify promptly with the construction company.

Drainage is something else again. We also had to apply for that separately at the office, but it went through very quickly for us. For the first house, the general contractor prepared all the paperwork, sent it to us for signing, and then included instructions on where to send it by mail. :D For the second house I don’t even know how it went, the general contractor took care of everything.

Who pays for the sewer connection for wastewater/rainwater should be regulated in your contract. For the first house we had to pay separately, for the second it was included.

The drainage plan was stamped by the municipality and returned to us along with a form in which we have to enter the covered and built-upon areas by degree of sealing after moving in (for rainwater). Whether your excavation contractor also installs the rainwater retention system should be stated in the documents. As a rule, it is advisable to install a combined cistern here, whose upper part is used for retention and the lower part for the garden.

You have to take care of utility connections yourself. With regard to electricity, I would check again; here in the EnBW area, the electrician applies for the meter. However, you have to apply for the connection from the main line to the connection box in the technical room. And before anyone pulls a cable through the multi-utility conduit, make sure it is clear who wants to go in which direction. Electricity and water must not cross; an electricity connection box under windows is also problematic (but in my case it was installed anyway because the water connection was already where the electricity would have been sensible...).

Thank you very much for your answers.

We have informed the municipality about the delayed response regarding the drainage plan and they immediately sent the stamped plan (it was completed 1.5 months ago but for some reason not sent). They also provided the following forms that need to be filled out and sent back:
- Application for approval to create a connection to the public water supply system
- Application for approval to create a connection to the public drainage system

The house building contract said nothing about house connections (only the sewage pipes laid outside the house).

The municipality gave many instructions about what needs to be checked on site before the start of construction and while the excavation is still open. I discussed this with the general contractor, who hired a civil engineering company to prepare an offer for this.

I assume the civil engineering company will then take care of all the house connections.