We are not building a house yet but are talking to as many homeowners as possible and reading extensively in this forum to prepare ourselves and at least avoid the biggest mistakes.
Yesterday, we had an interesting discussion with friends who have since abandoned their house construction because they became frustrated. I would like your opinion on one point from the discussion:
The architect prepared a tender for the brick facade. He calculated a certain area x and included this in the tender documents. The homeowners awarded the contract to a company. Only afterward did it become clear that the facade area was much smaller than stated in the tender. The facade company now wants to be paid for the difference. Who is liable here? The homeowners awarded the contract and initially face the problem. However, they relied on the architect’s professional expertise. Can they hold the architect liable?
How can such a misunderstanding be avoided? As homeowners, you can’t verify everything, can you?
Thanks in advance for your opinions.
Yesterday, we had an interesting discussion with friends who have since abandoned their house construction because they became frustrated. I would like your opinion on one point from the discussion:
The architect prepared a tender for the brick facade. He calculated a certain area x and included this in the tender documents. The homeowners awarded the contract to a company. Only afterward did it become clear that the facade area was much smaller than stated in the tender. The facade company now wants to be paid for the difference. Who is liable here? The homeowners awarded the contract and initially face the problem. However, they relied on the architect’s professional expertise. Can they hold the architect liable?
How can such a misunderstanding be avoided? As homeowners, you can’t verify everything, can you?
Thanks in advance for your opinions.
H
HilfeHilfe13 May 2019 01:31Hello, that’s why no individual contracts. Find a reliable general contractor with a fixed price, and that’s best. And always keep in mind: sometimes it’s worth a little extra (like a butcher). Mistakes can happen even in skilled trades. Always allow a buffer.
It depends on the tender specifications.
In our case, it stated that the contractor must verify the quantities and conditions.
Unit prices were agreed upon and then invoiced based on the measurement.
The architect’s quantities were always rough estimates and usually not entirely accurate.
We never paid more than what was actually incurred.
Why would we, if the quantity increases, the contractor would not perform at the original price anyway.
In our case, it stated that the contractor must verify the quantities and conditions.
Unit prices were agreed upon and then invoiced based on the measurement.
The architect’s quantities were always rough estimates and usually not entirely accurate.
We never paid more than what was actually incurred.
Why would we, if the quantity increases, the contractor would not perform at the original price anyway.
H
HilfeHilfe13 May 2019 10:47bibi80 schrieb:
It depends on the tender specifications.
In our case, it was stated that the contractor must verify the quantities and conditions.
Furthermore, unit prices were agreed upon and then invoiced based on the measured quantities.
The architect’s quantities were always rough estimates and usually not accurate.
We never paid more than what was actually incurred.
Why would we? If the quantity increases, the contractor will not perform it for the original price anyway.Yes, but sorry, the architect is the one designing the house! They are paid well for that. An accuracy of about 2-3% per square meter is acceptable. But seriously miscalculating is not acceptable.
bibi80 schrieb:
It depends on the tender description.And probably also on the type of procedure (request for quotation or tender).HilfeHilfe schrieb:
Hello, that’s why there is no single contract award.It is unwise to assign the contract to the same party responsible for preparing the tender documents. Awarding contracts individually is not inherently wrong.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
M
Mottenhausen13 May 2019 14:48Better to plan for higher costs than too low. At least in the previous case, the overall budget wasn’t affected; it might even have been relieved. How many square meters are we talking about? In the end, the construction company charges based on actual work done, so a few extra pallets of facing bricks shouldn’t have caused the project to stop. You can either save them for the garage, garden shed, etc., or try to sell them on classified ads.
I would always be cautious with stories like that. Of course, everyone else is always blamed.
PS: We also have 10-20 tons of frost protection material left over on our site, which we have to pay for because of a slight overestimation by the general contractor. But I prefer it this way rather than the other way around, with a sudden extra charge along the lines of: we need more, or we can’t continue, it costs xxxx. Take it or leave it.
I would always be cautious with stories like that. Of course, everyone else is always blamed.
PS: We also have 10-20 tons of frost protection material left over on our site, which we have to pay for because of a slight overestimation by the general contractor. But I prefer it this way rather than the other way around, with a sudden extra charge along the lines of: we need more, or we can’t continue, it costs xxxx. Take it or leave it.