ᐅ Architect’s Responsibilities Regarding KfW Funding Interest and Additional Matters

Hello everyone,

We purchased a house in February this year. It’s a semi-detached house from the 1950s, generally in good, old condition. It quickly became clear to us that we wanted and were able to invest a significant amount of money (up to around 300,000,000 Euros) to have everything done “properly.” We found an architect through a distant acquaintance who accompanied us for the inspection in December.

The purchase was completed in February, and we hoped for a quick submission of the building permit / planning permission application — we intended to renovate everything (new heating system, pipes, insulation, windows, etc.) and extend the back. We already had a draft design, which was roughly adopted and, of course, detailed further. The architect informed us at the second meeting that he had a new employee who would be responsible for our project. We were a bit surprised but accepted it. Some mistakes have been made by him (e.g., compass directions on the building permit incorrectly shown — my husband noticed this before submission; errors concerning the development boundaries, which, however, were never acknowledged), but that is not the main point here.

The original architect quickly made it clear that he was rather skeptical about insulation. As a result, we also assumed that achieving low-energy house standards or similar would not be possible. However, we stated early on that we were very interested in a photovoltaic system for hot water.

The building permit / planning permission was submitted three months ago, and since then we have been waiting — no one is responsible for the delay (at least not the architect). Meanwhile, we have been constantly trying to discuss KfW (government) funding programs with the architects. Both say that adapting the house to be age-appropriate is easier to implement than energy-efficient renovation. Because we persistently asked, they have now admitted that funding measures for energy-efficient renovation are also possible. Regarding further information, they consistently refer us to a financial advisor, who can only tell us that loan terms there are generally better than at our regular bank. We have now brought in an energy consultant to assess what really makes sense for our property. She believes that insulation according to the Energy Saving Ordinance is quite reasonable and not much more expensive. She met with the architects earlier this week.

We have already asked the architects several times to prepare a detailed cost breakdown — so far, we only have a rough estimate from 02/2018. But in order to decide what kind of funding might be suitable FOR US, we need comparable figures. Is that really too much to ask? What can we reasonably expect from the architect? He is contracted for all phases of the project.

We feel that the architects simply want to keep the planning effort as low as possible. We have to raise many issues multiple times before they are considered. For example, we asked for a drywall partition wall to the neighbor to be planned. At the last meeting, we were asked to finalize the kitchen plan as soon as possible. When we finally got the dimensions, we asked again if the drywall partition had been included. It had not. This has been repeated with many things so far, where we as laypeople have to remind them constantly. We certainly will not be able to think of everything... The new architect independently handles the exterior design of the entrance area — when we point out efflorescence in the basement, he replies that he can look into it during construction. We are laypeople, but their priorities don’t seem very logical to us...

Maybe I’m mistaken, so I would appreciate your assessments.

Best regards!