Sloping plot. Planned a bungalow with a double garage.

Hello forum members,

I own a sloped plot and plan to build a bungalow with a double garage on it.
The construction contract has already been signed with a construction company.
In the contract documents, the double garage is directly attached to the house, and the contract states: "The bungalow will be founded with a base slab on strip foundations or approximately 80 cm gravel cushion foundation to compensate for the slope."
Now the plot has been leveled. The slope is approximately 2 m in total. Afterwards, I received a new drawing in which the garage is separated from the bungalow, a corridor is drawn between the garage and the house, and then the house is drawn further down. I then informed the construction company that I want the original version as planned from the beginning, where the garage and the bungalow are connected and at the same level. However, the company did not like that at all. Now I am receiving an order letter for "175 cbm crushed stone base layer under the base with compactable material additionally installed as slope compensation" and a gross price of 7,392 euros which I am supposed to sign.

Do I have to bear the costs for the gravel?

In the contract, the drawing shows the garage attached to the house and the plot has always had this slope. Approximately 80 cm is an approximate figure and does not mean up to a maximum of 80 cm, does it? I told the company from the start that the plot has a slope of about 2 meters.

I would very much appreciate your opinions.

Best regards

Ah, did it work
Did the general contractor not inspect the property?

Basically, it can happen that the earthworks have to be carried out more extensively than stated and signed in the contract. Of course, then additional services in the item earthworks are added, which must be paid by the client on site, even if the client is the ordering party under the contract with the GU. That is why one should also keep a generous buffer for the earthworks, especially in the case of a hillside location.

In brief, regards

I understand it like this. In the construction description, he offered 80cm gravel bedding and calculated accordingly. Now he realizes he needs significantly more. It's steeper. He is trying to salvage something. If we take the garage forward, the house backward, then I roughly get by with the calculated amount of gravel. You now: I don't want that. He now: then it costs more. Don't you talk to each other?

So the question would be what the contract says about earthworks. In general, however, the BU cannot change the plan in such a way that the originally connected house and garage, possibly still with a passage, suddenly become completely separate. However, the price seems generally reasonable to me, after all it is about approx. 300 tons of gravel plus installation.

The general contractor did not view the property beforehand. However, he has known about the 2-meter slope since the first meeting. We even discussed it on the day of the contract signing. His employee told me on the phone that the reason for the new variant was that it would not look good if the house was built so high, as it would then appear to be hanging in the air. I then told her that, unfortunately, I could not share that opinion and would prefer the first variant as planned. After that, I spoke with the general contractor. He said that with the first variant "little fences and walls" would be needed to support the whole thing and that, from his side, the gravel (at his expense) would not be a big problem for him. He then wanted to send me a cost breakdown of the additional expenses, and now I am receiving an order form for gravel that I am supposed to pay for. Therefore, I have now turned to you because I would like to know whether I have to pay for the gravel that is needed for this house construction and is also part of the contract. The contract states "approx. 80 cm", not maximum. And the general contractor has known from the beginning about the 2-meter slope.