Price increase - Our construction company wants 21.4% more

I have to vehemently disagree with you on this: You can’t just shed your skin so easily, and a quarrel will never be that simple and quiet, at least not for one’s own life. You can still take an info session, at least at the consumer advice center… or not.

From an outside perspective, I would say that there are a few things you should have done differently, but at the same time I have to say that we are sunk into similarly bad stuff. Other people’s problems always seem easy to solve; in theory we usually have the black belt, but when it comes to our own problems we repeatedly fail. Your situation affected both of us, especially because we also had a severe, though completely different, experience here. We too trusted (too much), even paid a lot of money upfront, already live in “our” huge apartment, and suddenly the owner realizes he doesn’t want it after all, even though it was paid for with our money. He looks at the current development in the real estate market and what does he care about his talk (pre-contracts etc.) from yesterday; suddenly we are supposed to rent it at a high price. Unfortunately, the legal circumstances like division, access, etc. were not yet conclusively settled and were completely confusing because of the turnaround... long story. Long story short, we trusted what was contractually assured to us in advance and suddenly bam. My wife had/had probably suffered for a long time, I had to get out of this grip quickly, and boom... now we are building. Also due to the necessary hurry, we then made mistakes and apparently trusted too much AGAIN or didn’t ask consistently enough, while I also see that the “department of mistrust” just has other problems, none of them less serious. If someone claims everything always works out for them, I can’t really take them seriously anyway :-). I’m aware that I bear a large share of responsibility in all this, because most of it can only happen because I allow it or don’t pay attention. BUT: Being “like this” also brings many important advantages for us that cannot be calculated or paid for. You get to know different types of people and generally feel more comfortable with like-minded people, and usually you also develop deeper relationships, precisely because you go through life less superficially. In my life so far, I have met plenty of tough and know-it-all strategists, but I’m rarely friends with them. I prefer the “stranded,” the “stumbling,” to which I myself also belong, and if you express that openly and honestly on both sides you no longer feel quite so alone or, as you call it, “stupid.” From many subtleties, I probably know your basic attitude towards life, which I find very sympathetic. As a fellow “fool,” you are always invited to afternoon coffee with us “fools,” to then see that you are not alone with your “foolishness.” I am annoyed at such sometimes costly mistakes, but I also don’t want to be different in my basic attitude towards life. I would only offer this here to some, which you could in turn take as a compliment for yourself; so your “foolishness” again has the advantages mentioned, which other calculating wizards will never experience.

so dumb you really have to be first.

Thank you, I appreciate your understanding.

I would call that less understanding.

so your "dumbness" also has the mentioned advantages,

Now I have to say something again: You are not dumb if you trust. People with the primal instinct of trust instead of people with the primal instinct of distrust are not dumb. I also belong to the first type, sometimes I am amazed at statements here and actions there – more money is spent on legal protection and lawyers, more time on arguing, etc., that you can already see it as intention. Sometimes it also makes sense. But often I think: with a little less stubbornness, with a small "dumb/stupid" step, e.g. a down payment, an advance payment, a first offer, you often get further than if you "cleverly" offer a gesture of defense. As already said: I belong to the dumb ones, but I always got what I wanted. In the hardware store, I now also count as dumb at my age. If I face that, I get all the help and information I need. If I presented myself nastily like a broom (the building owner with the slaughterhouse), I would run into many walls and barriers. : Naivety and inexperience are not stupidity and no shame. However, one should not make submissiveness out of it.

I can also contribute a lot to being dumb: I had the garden laid out and paid the gardener in cash. "Of course" he then didn’t come back to work and was never seen again.

When I wanted to sell my condominium, it didn’t work out at first. I met X real estate agents and finally took one who sold the apartment far below price. Then, strangely enough, it worked immediately. Furthermore, the real estate agent promised me a discount if the apartment was sold "quickly" (no more than 3 viewing appointments). The discount was 200 euros out of almost 9000 euros total. :eek: And I thought I would get a discount. :rolleyes:

Last year, due to my own naivety when selling the apartment, I lost about 3/4 of an annual salary. Yeah, and? It only bothers me a little. Of course, I was also annoyed with myself. But only briefly, because the fallacy that you always knew it beforehand afterward is misleading. Everyone decides as best as possible in the situation. You did that too. And then it turns out differently.

Don’t be upset, see what suits you best now: check legal steps or, as they like to say here in Flanders: "just lie down next to the problem" (here they lie down themselves instead of lying the problem away. :D).

toi toi toi,

This morning I thought of something I want to tell you: how enormously important and helpful this forum is. I thought again about whom I communicated with first when I received the disturbing news. And even before my husband and friends or experts/specialists, I thought of you. You helped me both factually and emotionally, and for that I want to say thank you again. From my point of view, this forum has an enormously important function, and I especially want to thank all those whose construction project/life planning regarding construction is already completed and who engage here with time, energy (and yes, sometimes also nerves ;-) ).

I don’t feel so alone with all our misery now…. What I want to tell you is: put aside the thought that an existing building would have less risk etc. That means… I thought that too and got terribly burned…. so don’t waste another thought on it…. Regarding the whole consumer protection discussion, I want to say that I also find it crazy how poorly protected you are there. When the final invoice from a craftsman arrives and you pay it, the trade is considered accepted within two weeks. That’s insane. What am I supposed to do if the invoice for the roof comes? Not pay and tell the craftsman that I want to thoroughly check it after moving in six months later? The staircase builder also wanted his money right away, the stairs weren’t even unpacked yet…. We even discussed with him that we don’t know if everything is okay with it… but at some point I lost interest and patience to discuss with X parties during the individual contracting. We trusted him, he promised to be there for us if there was something wrong with the stairs. No way.

Since you also have to do without the sash windows - how about installing sash bars only on the front? Then you'll have the expected pleasure when you drive up to your property. You can retrofit the shutters later.