Hello dear forum,
House planning should be something enjoyable, right?
Unfortunately, I feel that choosing our architect was a total mistake, and apart from wasting time, money, nerves, and lost child construction allowance, nothing has come of it. :-(
As the title says, after almost ten months, we realized that our architect has led us in a completely wrong direction. Last week, I terminated our contract, and now it is uncertain whether we will agree on the installment payments already made.
I am interested if anyone here in the forum has had similar experiences and how they resolved them.
Our issue is that from the start, a construction budget was set, which also appears in the contract.
After ten months of collaboration, it is still not being adhered to, despite several reminders.
I have now paid installment payments amounting to 11,000 EUR (around 11,000 USD) – foolishly – out of a total of 18,000 EUR (about 18,000 USD) for service phases 1 to 4…
Here is a brief timeline excerpt:
- 01/20 – Architect contract states a maximum construction budget of 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) – excluding building site, architect, special features (this should have been enough for a nice single-family house)
- then design planning until April – first installment payment
- 04/20 – Architect’s cost estimate 546,000 EUR (about 546,000 USD)
- redesign of design planning
- reminder of max. 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) budget – second/third installment payments
- 09/20 – Cost calculation 593,000 EUR (about 593,000 USD)
- confusion, as we realized we were moving in the wrong direction
- revised calculation 539,000 EUR (about 539,000 USD) – mainly due to adjustment of price per square meter and smaller windows
- loss of trust and termination of the contract by us
Looking forward to your feedback!
Best regards,
Johann
House planning should be something enjoyable, right?
Unfortunately, I feel that choosing our architect was a total mistake, and apart from wasting time, money, nerves, and lost child construction allowance, nothing has come of it. :-(
As the title says, after almost ten months, we realized that our architect has led us in a completely wrong direction. Last week, I terminated our contract, and now it is uncertain whether we will agree on the installment payments already made.
I am interested if anyone here in the forum has had similar experiences and how they resolved them.
Our issue is that from the start, a construction budget was set, which also appears in the contract.
After ten months of collaboration, it is still not being adhered to, despite several reminders.
I have now paid installment payments amounting to 11,000 EUR (around 11,000 USD) – foolishly – out of a total of 18,000 EUR (about 18,000 USD) for service phases 1 to 4…
Here is a brief timeline excerpt:
- 01/20 – Architect contract states a maximum construction budget of 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) – excluding building site, architect, special features (this should have been enough for a nice single-family house)
- then design planning until April – first installment payment
- 04/20 – Architect’s cost estimate 546,000 EUR (about 546,000 USD)
- redesign of design planning
- reminder of max. 450,000 EUR (about 450,000 USD) budget – second/third installment payments
- 09/20 – Cost calculation 593,000 EUR (about 593,000 USD)
- confusion, as we realized we were moving in the wrong direction
- revised calculation 539,000 EUR (about 539,000 USD) – mainly due to adjustment of price per square meter and smaller windows
- loss of trust and termination of the contract by us
Looking forward to your feedback!
Best regards,
Johann
Bookstar schrieb:
You mean after he’s gone through a third architect? Worn out in the sense of broken trust and failing communication is at least the current architect, from whom the original poster probably won’t expect any further designs. As usual, when someone masters the art of talking past each other at a high level, the belief that the problem must be the other party is included. So next, there will likely be a new architect, and the story will repeat itself.
Bookstar schrieb:
The problem is, all of this eats into an already way too small budget! The problem is that the plot of land doesn’t get any flatter in the meantime, so the need remains to compensate for the budget impact of the topography in terms of size and features. What an architect can never manage is to create a hillside villa at an affordable price.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
H
hampshire12 Oct 2020 16:18saralina87 schrieb:
Well, the original poster mentioned several times that they communicated the budget. If that’s true, then the architect simply planned around it. Even if that is true, we don’t know any further details. This wasn’t the first architect, after all. There is likely something else going wrong here.
saralina87 schrieb:
Primarily, the architect is a service provider and must adhere to the client’s requirements. That is absolutely correct. We don’t know the exact requirements or their priorities, only that a budget was mentioned multiple times as one of them. The architect may have followed 30 other requirements. We don’t know, and the whole situation seems strange. Based on this limited information, I wouldn’t start criticizing any architect in a forum.
S
saralina8712 Oct 2020 17:40... but I am also not claiming that it is the person’s own fault.
saralina87 schrieb:
... but I am not claiming that it is the person’s own fault.Who did this? I believe there is a pattern of behavior here, supported by the existing facts (known floor plan vs. Post #7) plus the fact that deductions seem to have been paid, even though, according to reports, contract terms have not been fulfilled.H
hampshire12 Oct 2020 19:08saralina87 schrieb:
.. I’m not claiming that the person is to blame either. That’s true.
“Blame” is also a meaningless term in this context.
A free and responsible adult, who is also acting as the client, always bears personal responsibility for the outcome. There is a common tendency to distance oneself from challenges when they arise. I see this tendency in the posts of the OP. It’s unfortunate.
S
saralina8712 Oct 2020 19:13hampshire schrieb:
That’s true.
The term “fault” is also misleading in this context.
A free and responsible individual, especially in the role of a client, always bears personal responsibility for the outcome. There is a widespread tendency to avoid this responsibility when challenges arise. I see this trend reflected in the posts by the original poster. A pity. I agree with you one hundred percent on that.
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