ᐅ Unexpected Changes to the Building Plans by the Structural Engineer
Created on: 28 Jun 2020 21:41
T
Thomas7
Hello everyone,
We have just started building our single-family house – the foundation slab is completed and the first row of hollow bricks has been laid. I thought trust is good, but checking is better, so I measured all the rooms and brick positions. Compared to the construction plan as drawn up by the architect and approved by the building authority (building permit / planning permission), I noticed several deviations and immediately informed my general contractor. He told me everything was correct – the structural engineer had only made some changes for structural reasons. Indeed, it seems all changes are due to structural requirements, but now many walls are 17.5 cm (7 inches) thick instead of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) (the architect had previously specified some load-bearing walls with 17.5 cm (7 inches), but not as many). Overall, we lose 0.5 m² (5.4 sq ft), and some walls were shifted by 6 cm (2.4 inches) to avoid recesses.
This caught me off guard and is frustrating in some areas (for example, the narrower dormer – fitting a table was already tight in terms of width, and now we are short by another 12 cm (4.7 inches)). We were never informed that there might be changes, and even after the structural calculations, we were not told that definite changes would take place.
My questions are:
- Is this normal? Has this happened to you as well, or were you informed in advance?
- Do I have any claims for defects, or do I have to accept this? This is a bit general, but maybe someone has had similar cases? Losing 0.5 square meters (5.4 sq ft) roughly corresponds to about 1000 euros in construction costs...
Thank you very much in advance for your input...
We have just started building our single-family house – the foundation slab is completed and the first row of hollow bricks has been laid. I thought trust is good, but checking is better, so I measured all the rooms and brick positions. Compared to the construction plan as drawn up by the architect and approved by the building authority (building permit / planning permission), I noticed several deviations and immediately informed my general contractor. He told me everything was correct – the structural engineer had only made some changes for structural reasons. Indeed, it seems all changes are due to structural requirements, but now many walls are 17.5 cm (7 inches) thick instead of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) (the architect had previously specified some load-bearing walls with 17.5 cm (7 inches), but not as many). Overall, we lose 0.5 m² (5.4 sq ft), and some walls were shifted by 6 cm (2.4 inches) to avoid recesses.
This caught me off guard and is frustrating in some areas (for example, the narrower dormer – fitting a table was already tight in terms of width, and now we are short by another 12 cm (4.7 inches)). We were never informed that there might be changes, and even after the structural calculations, we were not told that definite changes would take place.
My questions are:
- Is this normal? Has this happened to you as well, or were you informed in advance?
- Do I have any claims for defects, or do I have to accept this? This is a bit general, but maybe someone has had similar cases? Losing 0.5 square meters (5.4 sq ft) roughly corresponds to about 1000 euros in construction costs...
Thank you very much in advance for your input...
Lumpi_LE schrieb:
Changes must be confirmed by you; they can’t just be changed on a whim.
First, request the current plans. In theory, you could request a demolition, but it might be better not to take that approach in the first conversation... Oh really? Then does the original poster sign off on the structural calculations? What nonsense.
H
hampshire29 Jun 2020 20:31Complaining and threatening won’t help. It’s easy to get upset in the forum over such a slip-up. What matters is finding a good solution—whether it’s a measuring table or something else.
aero2016 schrieb:
Oh really? Does the original poster then sign off on the structural calculations? What nonsense.Aha. What does that have to do with anything? Do you really know much about construction?Lumpi_LE schrieb:
Aha, what does that have to do with it? Do you really know much about construction? yes