Payment of drainage plans

We have purchased a plot of land, the condition for the purchase was that the input planning was to be carried out by the sister company of the real estate agent. We had to sign the corresponding contract before the notary appointment. According to the contract, this company was to "create input planning and the necessary planning work by architects to obtain a building permit and assume the associated costs including approval fees and create the legally required drainage plan and assume the associated costs and fees." The architect employed at the planning company did not explain anything further to us about the content of the drainage plan. We were presented with a power of attorney for the engineering office, but we never had contact with the engineer. When the plans finally arrived, the room we had intended as a guest room was plastered over with pipes; all the pipes ran through the house, making the room practically unusable as a guest room. We do not want to change the rooms in the basement because otherwise the bathroom and guest room would be simply too far apart. What we overlooked was that the architect had at some point renamed this basement room to "heating/utility room." In the accompanying email, she wrote that she had "further developed the plans." However, we were always assured that we would remain flexible inside the house even after the building permit! We never suspected and it was never discussed that the drainage plan would be linked to this change. The planning company refuses to pay for the rectification that has now become necessary due to this change and the further fact that we always lead the pipes immediately out of the house and around the house (even if it is more expensive). They have offered us half of the invoice amount "to show good will." Do we have a chance of receiving the full invoice amount because the planning company has created drainage plans that were not the ones we wanted?

Hi,

are you the builder? Then you must have signed the plans.

Yes, we are the builders. However, the planning company had us sign a power of attorney for the engineering office, which created the plans and submitted them directly to the [Stadtentwässerung].

Yes, we are builders. However, the planning company had us sign a power of attorney for the engineering office, which created the plans and submitted them directly to the city drainage department.

Is a power of attorney enough for them? Also for the building application? Were there never any proper planning discussions?

Yes, that was sufficient for the city drainage department. Regarding the floor plan of the house, there were, of course, planning discussions (mostly by phone or email); with many further questions, we always ended up at the sentence "That is the task of the detailed planning" (and the gentlemen of this company were "only" responsible for the submission planning).

We signed the building permit application ourselves; after that, the architect only said that she would now commission the drainage plans – with our power of attorney. When we asked questions, she asked whether we would want to build again sometime... (But these are verbal statements that we cannot prove if it comes down to it). She shortly thereafter resigned from the planning company and did not say goodbye to us; several emails from us went unanswered. We eventually received the drainage plans by mail, and after receiving the building permit (without drainage plans), I had to laboriously inquire that the drainage plans were with a completely different authority and would be approved separately.

The planning company still takes the position that "a correction is not part of their services." But the drainage plans that the planning company was contractually obliged to prepare cannot just be any plans; in my view, they must correspond to our wishes and ideas. Or am I wrong?

But the drainage plans that the planning company was supposed to create according to the contract cannot just be any plans, but must, according to my sense of right, correspond to our wishes and ideas. Or am I wrong?

The entire planning should correspond to your ideas. But if you have signed the building application and given a power of attorney for the drainage application, it looks bad (just going by gut feeling).

Regards