Rescheduling costs - costs for a fall?

Hello,

We had the standard floor plan of the house building company for our new single-family house slightly modified. You pay redesign costs for that, which makes sense because we are deviating from the standard.

You have already learned quite early why here and in the other forums "cheap offers" are being mentioned.

We had a load-bearing wall, originally separating kitchen and living room, removed. For that, a lintel is necessary now. That makes sense too. Now we were told about additional costs of 2500 €. Does anyone have experience with that? It seems quite high.

It depends on how the lintel (visible or rather a beam) is executed – how are we supposed to estimate the costs here? Incidentally, it is always the case that with companies like, obviously, your favorite, you have to buy everything that deviates from their standard at a high price afterward.

We were told additional costs due to new structural engineering etc. and reinforcement changes…

That will be the case.

Especially regarding the structural engineering, I then wonder why I paid for the floor plan change, because obviously the statics have to be recalculated.

The structural engineering initially has nothing to do with the design planning. As I wrote further above, your provider must have every deviation from the standardized room program redrawn. In my opinion, he will have cooperated with a smaller planning office; meaning these costs have to be paid. Only then can the structural engineer calculate the deviations from the usual standard. He does not have to recalculate everything completely – that wouldn’t be feasible even for 2500 € – but only change some parameters, and the program outputs the result. But this service also needs to be compensated, the materials and labor as well.

That already makes us a bit calmer. I will still ask for a cost breakdown just to show that we don’t accept everything blindly.

This has little to do with you "not wanting to accept everything blindly," but rather with the requirement that a deviation from the standard is desired by you and therefore must be paid for in full consequence. It "might" well be that your provider cannot provide you with an exact breakdown at all because the difference is generated via a calculation program.

However, I do not understand the chain of reasoning here either – you know the original offer, know why there is extra effort, and know the additional costs billed to you. Why should the surcharge be itemized explicitly when it sums up the position of additional lintel? I hardly believe— with all due respect —that you would be able to understand or comprehend a breakdown into statics, reinforcement, lintel, material, craftsman hours, etc. Where would that come from?

If this is so important to you – similar to a car, where some drivers can name every screw personally – take some money in hand and commission an expert to supervise the construction. That would not only be a good thing for you anyway, but the expert can also explain the connections more understandably; letting you sleep more peacefully.

Rhenish greetings

You have already learned relatively early why "cheap offers" are mentioned here and in the other forums.

It depends on how the lintel (visible or rather a beam) is executed - so how are we supposed to estimate the costs here?

Since I can imagine that some people will look at this thread when it comes to individual planning and an additional lintel instead of a load-bearing wall, here is something else:

There are also inexpensive BUs/GÜs who create an individual floor plan including a longer steel beam without any extra costs. As a special feature with us, it was then calculated during the shell construction phase as an invisible beam, so that it is not visible.

Regards Yvonne

There are also inexpensive BUs/GÜs that create a custom floor plan including a longer steel beam without any extra costs. As a special feature for us, it was then calculated during the shell construction phase as an invisible support beam so that it is not visible.

We have now even had a – let’s call it – covering done. That means instead of embedding a steel or iron beam into the ceiling, an iron mesh was inserted into the wall above (so basically at the bottom of the attic wall) and this was concreted together with the ceiling. The advantage is that there is neither a support beam below nor a material change. It cost nothing extra. However, we also designed the house with an architect and are building with a regional GÜ who is not necessarily the cheapest, but delivers decent quality (as this example shows). Here we are back to the difference between a bargain provider and good quality.

Hello,

.... a steel mesh was inserted into the wall above (so basically down into the wall of the top floor) and this was concreted with the ceiling. The advantage is that below you have neither a beam nor a material change.

Which walls do you have in the top floor?

Rhenish greetings

above it is our load-bearing exterior wall of the third gable (shed)...

Which walls do you have in the attic?

Sorry, I actually meant to write upper floor (is attic also correct if it refers to a full story above the ground floor and only a cold roof space above it?). We have a 24 cm aerated concrete wall (Ytong) at this point on the upper floor.