Hello everyone,
I have a serious problem: I hired an architect for the renovation of a single-family house. The contract was to prepare the submission documents and handle the entire process with the authorities.
The contract date was, believe it or not, seven (7!!!!) months ago. During this time, I received two drafts that did not meet my requirements, and otherwise only empty promises. The originally agreed submission deadline was the end of May. If the now communicated submission around mid-October is met, that would mean a delay of four and a half months. Since we have already made a down payment and I don’t want to hire a new architect because of the entire process, I’m at a loss and am turning to you in the hope of getting some advice.
Throughout the project phase, no deadlines were met, let alone was I informed when deadlines could not be met. There were an incredible 21 missed or postponed appointments during this period. I was promised 3D plans of the exterior and interior at the beginning of September, even though the floor plan data was already finalized, but they still have not been delivered. Since I intend to rent out the property and expect rental income of 1500-2000€/m (around $1,600-$2,100 per month), I am now facing a loss of nearly €10,000 (around $11,000) from lost rental income alone. Due to the inability to apply for a loan and rising interest costs, the total financial impact of the delay likely amounts to a six-figure sum for us.
Is there anything that can be done here? As mentioned, I cannot hire a new architect now, as that would mean starting the whole process over again. Unfortunately, I should have pulled the plug on this three months ago....
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Best regards,
nico333
I have a serious problem: I hired an architect for the renovation of a single-family house. The contract was to prepare the submission documents and handle the entire process with the authorities.
The contract date was, believe it or not, seven (7!!!!) months ago. During this time, I received two drafts that did not meet my requirements, and otherwise only empty promises. The originally agreed submission deadline was the end of May. If the now communicated submission around mid-October is met, that would mean a delay of four and a half months. Since we have already made a down payment and I don’t want to hire a new architect because of the entire process, I’m at a loss and am turning to you in the hope of getting some advice.
Throughout the project phase, no deadlines were met, let alone was I informed when deadlines could not be met. There were an incredible 21 missed or postponed appointments during this period. I was promised 3D plans of the exterior and interior at the beginning of September, even though the floor plan data was already finalized, but they still have not been delivered. Since I intend to rent out the property and expect rental income of 1500-2000€/m (around $1,600-$2,100 per month), I am now facing a loss of nearly €10,000 (around $11,000) from lost rental income alone. Due to the inability to apply for a loan and rising interest costs, the total financial impact of the delay likely amounts to a six-figure sum for us.
Is there anything that can be done here? As mentioned, I cannot hire a new architect now, as that would mean starting the whole process over again. Unfortunately, I should have pulled the plug on this three months ago....
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Best regards,
nico333
HilfeHilfe schrieb:
Hire a different architect. Why are you working with an architect at all instead of a reliable construction company?
If you were a good investor, you would already know what needs to be done.What exactly needs to be done? I’m always eager to learn from experienced investors.Tassimat schrieb:
So, should the architect be involved in the renovation process, or only handle obtaining the building permit / planning permission?
If the latter, who manages the renovation after the permit is approved?
Here’s the question: What do you actually want?
You can:
- Push with deadlines (with or without a lawyer)
- Terminate immediately (with or without a lawyer)
- Look for a second architect in parallel and only terminate if the new one is suitable
- Claim damages
Don’t stress too much about the money, you’re still at the beginning of the construction. There’s a lot ahead of you. Better to have a steep learning curve now than at the end 😉 What I want: To get the application submitted as quickly as possible with my desired outcome.
How do you set deadlines when you are actually dependent on others and don’t want to start over from scratch?
nico333 schrieb:
How do you set deadlines when you are actually dependent on others, or don’t want to start from scratch?I think the first obstacle you need to overcome is the reluctance to start over. If I understand your posts correctly, you are still basically at the very beginning. But you already have a contract (?) partner who is bothering you so much that I can’t imagine you want to finish the project with them?
nico333 schrieb:
Are there any ways to approach this, or what can be done to ensure an architect truly commits to a project?Of course, managing the architect with clear contractual terms is key.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
nico333 schrieb:
What I want: To get the submission done as quickly as possible with my desired outcome.
How do you set deadlines when you’re actually dependent on someone else and don’t want to start over from scratch? It’s like raising children: You can only threaten consequences or penalties if you’re willing to follow through. For your architect, that means cutting them off if the deadline passes. Otherwise, you make yourself look ridiculous and in six more months, nothing will have happened. But you’ll still get a full invoice because they know they can get away with it (exaggerated, of course).
How about something like:
"Thank you for the work done so far. I have the following change requests; please incorporate these by October 10th so that the submission to the local authority can take place on [...]. Any further delay will be considered an immediate termination of the contract by you as the contractor. In that case, we reserve the right to claim damages due to non-fulfillment of the contract."
Of course, written a bit more politely and extended to one A4 page. Since you definitely want to keep the architect on board, this doesn’t have to be legally airtight. Maybe tone down the threats a little. This is just a rough draft from me.
guckuck2 schrieb:
I don’t quite get it yet. If you don’t approve a design, nothing can be submitted. Usually, it’s difficult to place the blame on one side when the delivered designs don’t fit. That’s the issue. You really have to write clearly and understandably what the architect should do now. I hope the design is already at the stage where only minor changes are needed and nothing fundamental. So please don’t demand unrealistic stuff like “I don’t like it, make a new one but better.”
@nico333 What exactly is still missing from the design?
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