ᐅ Incorrect final staking out: who is responsible?

I would deduct the 200 EUR from the slab installer’s invoice under all circumstances. Let him take legal action if he wants to. Assuming you don’t need anything else from him (sewage, landscaping, garage, or similar).

Tolentino schrieb:

I would deduct the 200 EUR from the slab contractor’s invoice, no questions asked.

No, that would just waste time and cause frustration, which the project owner definitely needs for other problem-solving.

Tolentino schrieb:

Let them sue for it.

They will do that anyway since they delivered the service as per contract (assuming they actually did, but that has nothing to do with the re-surveying).
It’s just an unfortunate situation.
A project owner who isn’t building their third house can’t be expected to understand these details. Not guilty.

maxx004 schrieb:

What was requested was “[...] the floor plan and the site plan with the building project marked in.”

So the surveyor didn’t even have the dimensions of the slab, meaning they can’t stake it out, which isn’t standard practice anyway, so they didn’t ask for it. Not guilty.

maxx004 schrieb:

According to the slab contractor, this is wrong.

True, from their perspective. They are the slab contractor. They don’t care about the finished house. They build the slab. Naturally, they expect the slab dimensions to be staked out, so they didn’t ask for anything else. Not guilty.
The best approach would be for the site supervisor and the surveyor to meet at the construction site. While the surveyor positions their total station, the site supervisor drives in the batter boards. Then they review the plans together and agree on the measurements. After that, the nails are driven in and everything is documented in the detail staking sketch. Woulda, coulda, shoulda... lesson learned.

Yes, it may be that I am simply fed up with tradespeople who take out their incompetence and/or laziness at the expense of the lay builder, who naturally accepts everything the first person tells them without question and ends up caught in the middle.

Those who willingly put themselves at risk will end up paying the price.

In this case, it is the homeowner who was too reluctant to hire someone else to manage the construction.

The fault, therefore, lies with no one but himself. Still, I understand your motivation for the comment, as in reality this is often the case. And no one spends the homeowner’s money (or wastes it) quite as readily as unskilled tradespeople.

Thanks to everyone for your contributions, @Escroda, you summarized it well. Then I will cover the 200€ and write it off.

i_b_n_a_n schrieb:

In that case, it’s the client’s fault for being too stingy to hire someone else as the construction manager instead of doing it themselves.

In fact, we actually have professionals for every role
* Overall construction manager
* Architect
* Site manager from the prefab house manufacturer
* Certified building expert (for construction supervision)

Would the coordination between the surveyor and foundation contractor have been the overall construction manager’s responsibility, and I ended up doing his job? Or did I misunderstand you?

Tolentino schrieb:

No. The surveyor provided the fine staking according to surveying standards (house dimensions). The slab, however, is supposed to be narrower according to the construction plans. And the foundation slab contractor can’t form the slab correctly based on the properly established house dimensions. To me, that’s just poor performance. Even the rough carpenter of my general contractor managed to do it, and I consider him rather below average...

If he can’t do that, then yes, it’s poor. If he knows how! But what’s the point of a survey if in the end he has to do mental math?! What nonsense! I don’t ask to stake out exactly 12.38m (40.6 ft) if the slab is only 12.14m (39.8 ft) wide?! ...

This little issue shows me again that as the client, you really have to be your own best construction manager in many ways. Obviously, none of the people you hired felt responsible for this. So you have to coordinate again who is actually in charge of coordinating and checking the trades, documents, etc....

We are already tired that the people we deal with often choose the easy way or don’t think ahead. But it is OUR house and our project, and as long as the finished work is of good quality, we take on the management and thinking ourselves and are still grateful for good work, because that part we simply cannot do ourselves; the thinking, we can. After all, it’s our house, and no one else is as deeply involved in the details as we are.