Masses in the bill of quantities are incorrect

Hello everyone,

unfortunately, I have to address an unpleasant topic today. Fortunately, our construction went very, very smoothly. However, it is now becoming clear that the quantities in the bills of quantities from our architect were completely wrong. The problem is: cost control was not possible at any time, or we thought we were more or less on track since the total of the bids was somewhat accurate. Now that the final invoices are arriving, it turns out that our architect’s bills of quantities were quite poor.

For example, the sealing work areas were only specified for the roof, but not for the terrace. Or painting and plastering work were incorrectly tendered to such an extent that we have now received reports for more than €20,000 on the final invoice. For instance, full-surface fabric plastering of the exterior facade for €6,000 (which we only found out about by chance when it was being carried out). It should be noted that we did not commission or approve any of these "additional services" and quantity increases.

What is the legal situation here? And what about the practice?

In the end, it is extremely frustrating for us that we have been misled cost-wise the whole time and had no transparency, as we calculated based on the bid prices and the final invoices are now naturally significantly more expensive due to the incomplete bills of quantities.

Can the architect be held liable for this or did I just have bad luck?

Best regards
ivenh0

A deviation of the invoice from the offer may vary between 10-20% depending on the legal opinion.

It must be said that we did not order or approve all these "additional services" and quantity increases.

For example, who commissioned the facade, that is, who signed it? Who communicated with the craftsmen? I don't believe they perform things not ordered without a word.

Were there alternative positions in the offer that were not included in the offer price but without which the order could not have been sensibly fulfilled?
For each trade, one would have to compare the tender, the offer, and the invoice in detail to find a justification.

Maybe it could have been noticed already when comparing the offers, but that's easy to say in hindsight.

Hello everyone, unfortunately I have to get in touch today about an unpleasant topic. Fortunately, our construction went very, very smoothly. However, it is now becoming clear that the quantities in the bills of quantities from our architect were completely wrong. The problem: cost control was not possible at any time, or rather we thought we were somewhat on track since the sum of the offers roughly matched. Now that the final invoices are coming in, it turns out that our architect’s bill of quantities was pretty poor. For example, the waterproofing work areas were only specified for the roof, but not for the terrace. Or painting and plastering works were incorrectly tendered in such a way that we now received final invoice reports of over €20,000. For example, full-surface fabric putty of the exterior facade for €6,000 (which we only happened to notice was being done). It must be said that we did not order or approve all these "additional services" and quantity increases. What is the legal situation here? And what about practice? In the end, it really annoys us that we have been misled cost-wise the whole time and had no transparency since we calculated with the offer prices and the final invoices are now of course significantly more expensive due to the incomplete bills of quantities. Can the architect be held liable for this or am I just out of luck? Best regards ivenh0

What does the architect say about this? I mean, just because he forgot to include something (e.g. waterproofing work on the terrace) doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be done, right? Measuring and charging is basically nothing other than miscalculating. If he hadn’t miscalculated, you would have paid the amount without grumbling! What interests me is how it can be that you received/took services that were not commissioned? Did the offers go to the architect directly, bypassing you? Such an offer for exterior/interior plaster consists of no more than 20 positions. Something like that would definitely stand out. Also, full-surface fabric putty is state of the art! Why didn’t you want to commission that? Inside, everyone wants non-woven wallpapers so there are no cracks and outside people save money. Be glad it turned out this way. To answer your question, I read somewhere that there are tolerance margins of 2.5%-5% after the offer phase by which construction costs may deviate from the offer price. 10-20% are allowed before offer submission and 25% at the first cost estimate.

What does the architect say about it? I mean, just because he forgot to include it (e.g. waterproofing work on the terrace) doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be done, right?
Measuring & calculating is basically nothing other than misestimating.

If he hadn’t miscalculated, you would have paid the amount without grumbling!

What interests me is how it can be that you received/took services that were not commissioned?
Did the offers bypass you and go directly to the architect? Such an offer for exterior/interior plaster consists of not even 20 items. Something like that would definitely be noticed.

Besides, a full-surface fabric filler is state of the art! Why didn’t you want to commission that? Everyone wants non-woven wallpaper on the inside to avoid cracks, and on the outside people try to save money. Be glad it turned out that way.

To answer your question, I read somewhere that there are tolerances of 2.5%-5% after the offer phase by which the construction costs may deviate from the offer price. 10-20% before the offer submission and 25% at the first cost estimate.

It’s less about not wanting to accept something and more that apparently things were simply commissioned by the architect behind our backs and without our knowledge/consent.

Of course, we would have accepted it too if there had been a price attached, but then we would have known where we stand.

It’s not about something being installed that we don’t want, but that the architect always told us we were within the budget, while on the other hand he diligently commissioned change orders without our consent and, above all, far beyond the budget.

Execution-wise everything is fine, but the way the process was handled is a disaster.

Ok, understood. In my view, it is not acceptable to independently commission and pay for additional or omitted items without approval and consultation. Unless he has been given a free pass in the contract or in the verbal agreement. I have kept control myself and have not relinquished the payment of the invoices. What does the architect say about this?

Building also with an architect, we have indeed granted him a power of attorney to conduct contracts/negotiations on our behalf, however every "final" contract is signed/approved by us again as well as every change is discussed (at our request), we are talking about Euro amounts starting from 1000k upwards.