Why building a house almost always costs more than calculated

I have once sent the page mentioned there to Weberhaus. I am curious what kind of response I will receive.

I am now just copying the response from my project manager here:

Hello Mr. XXX,

There are certainly many different opinions regarding the required fire protection switches.

You are right in saying that there is no obligation under the state building code,

the utility provider requires a system according to recognized rules of technology, which means that the electrical system must be installed according to the valid VDE guidelines at completion and commissioning.

(This requires the installation of fire protection switches from 18.12.2017 onwards)

The refusal of commissioning by the utility provider on site, and thus a complete rebuild of the meter box, would be an even larger and more costly effort in the course of completion.

If you want to waive the fire protection switch from Weberhaus, the electrical work would have to be carried out by yourself. (I think this option with other manufacturers is the so-called "choice" of fire protection switches, or the house will be completed by 18.12.17.)

This also means enormous additional effort and costs for Weberhaus; the flat rate of €1845 relates to an offer from Weberhaus to its builders to keep the frustration within limits,

the actual costs are significantly higher than that.
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I replied to him that then I do not understand why I am offered a fuse box at the price when buying a Weberhaus that is NOT state of the art, and that I therefore have to pay extra to have the switches replaced.

In their place, I would have simply added that to the house price and told the buyer directly from the outset: we have to build it like this from now on.

Then the builder would know from the start what to expect and would know exactly: Ok, he buys the house and it is state of the art, or he lets it go.

I buy a house and 6 months after my signature I am told that what I bought is not even state of the art and that I now have to spend almost €2,000 more.

I find that outrageous. Weberhaus is a market leader, they are alienating their customers like this...

I told him exactly that, and I am still waiting for a response...

How many fire protection switches are you getting? If it’s more than 15, I still consider the price okay. A fire protection switch requires 2 units of space and a fuse only 1 unit of space. The meter cabinet might also become larger because of that.

Weberhaus is coming towards me with a price concession of a good 1,000 €. That is of course very kind, as the switches in my case would probably cost a total of 3,000 €. Unfortunately, I was not told how many there are, I will probably only find that out in half a year when the house is finished.

It’s more about the principle here:

- You sign for a brand-new house and half a year later your own builder tells you that what you bought (which isn’t even built yet, but still in planning) no longer meets the state of the art and I would now have to pay a surcharge of actually 3,000 €. But since Weberhaus is generous, they cover a good 1,000 € of that, so I only have to pay just under 2,000 €.

Fire protection switches or not – this is the wrong way!
It’s about how I am treated as a customer here. And I find that in this situation anything but satisfactory.

If I am offered a house and I decide for it not within the offer deadline but only a few weeks later and the house gets 2 or 3,000 € more expensive because of the fire protection switches, then I might look a bit surprised, but I know about it before I sign and can deal with it.

But the case as it happened to me in my opinion is not acceptable. I hope that this is the only nasty surprise that remained, as I am very satisfied with the rest of the planning with Weberhaus so far.

In my opinion, you are right and I would seek a personal conversation.

With us, the architect "forgot" the 2 controlled residential ventilation systems for the granny flat; according to some law, these must be controllable separately. They cost an extra 4000 euros, I was not willing to pay this since the granny flat was already planned before signing. The architect covered 50%, the rest then as a credit for the sampling, which was okay with me.

It is always annoying when building a house becomes more expensive. In your case, it is technical requirements that have arisen during the waiting period. This can also occur in other areas. No one is really immune to this – not even a construction company.

A good and important point for this thread