Is it worth having a building surveyor as construction supervision?

Hello forum community,

as you can read, my question is whether it is really worthwhile to have a building inspector accompany you, especially with a prefabricated house?

Of course, I am aware that everyone will say that this is indispensable. Rationally, I would also take one immediately, but it is a budget item where we want to be sure and consider whether it is worth it or not.

For us, the 3500€ that such a service is said to cost is not exactly a small amount.

So I would be happy to receive feedback from you on how you decided and why you decided that way.

It would also be interesting to know whether a building supervisor you had actually found a major defect.

Thank you for your feedback.

Someone who can be an experienced damage assessor is by no means necessarily also a good site manager. The pathologist knows everything, but unfortunately too late

It would also be interesting to know if a construction supervisor you had actually found a serious defect.

Well, was the life insurance worth it? If you don't have a building inspector, how do you know there are no serious defects?

Yes, it is possible without one ... But having one is better. Unfortunately, it depends on who does it.

If I had to choose. Inspector or lawyer: I would take the lawyer. For contract review about 150 to 300 euros and for the acceptance (I would then take him along) maybe 500 euros ...

is it really worth having accompaniment, especially with a prefab house?

Sorry, I didn't cover the special aspect earlier: prefab house means prefabrication, some details only become visible during the manufacturing process and are already concealed during assembly on the construction site, and are thus hidden from the expert's eye there.

Including a building surveyor per se for 3500€ is quite a statement. It always depends on the background. On "simple" plots (e.g., flat, deep groundwater, great soil for foundations, etc.) and when working with a renovated good company, you can probably do without it.

Surveyors, when the execution is good, will eventually look for trivialities just to theoretically be worth their money. They then find more superficial things like a 1.5mm offset between tiles and criticize them to get 50€ back and similar stuff. A surveyor belongs on the construction site at the latest from the moment something seems strange to you or something goes drastically wrong. If it rains indoors for weeks because the roofer can’t get there, if the waterproofing membranes aren’t properly glued, etc... then immediately get a surveyor. And if you’re building with a basement, better bring one in right away.

We built without one and have 2-3 small aesthetic issues that don’t bother anyone or are even noticed. The surveyor would have complained, we would have gotten back 500€ of the 3000€ costs (if at all) and still wouldn’t have had it look better. Maybe they would have fixed the aesthetic defect, but it also wouldn’t have been worth 3000€. Overall, we were able to solve everything ourselves because we recognized the few problems ourselves (or neighbors did) and the construction company always tackled the issue without much fuss.

How high is the construction sum? 3500 out of 350000 would be just 1%, therefore low. ... at 250000 it already hurts more

I would generally not take an expert, but rather 3-4 visits including checking the contract. For a prefabricated house, the first appointment would be after the assembly.

Best regards in short