ᐅ General contractor requests price increase for the entire house
Created on: 6 Oct 2022 15:33
M
MSHausbau
Hello everyone,
I’ve read a lot and hope to get some advice...
We are building a house and are about 90% finished. The fixed price agreement expires at the end of October, and the contract doesn’t specify what happens afterward.
Now our general contractor is asking for €50,000.
His reasoning: As of today, the house is 18.66% more expensive, which is €51,250, so he is demanding €50,000 from us.
He already indicated over the phone that it probably won’t be the full 50K, but the 10K we offered was too low.
Now the question is, are we completely mistaken? I don’t see why we should pay extra for the entire house, only for the items that are still outstanding. That would be about €8,000 if you really apply the 18%.
Do you understand what I mean?
Does anyone have legal experience or some tips on how to argue this?
Our lawyer advises settling in the range of €15,000 to €20,000.
I’ve read a lot and hope to get some advice...
We are building a house and are about 90% finished. The fixed price agreement expires at the end of October, and the contract doesn’t specify what happens afterward.
Now our general contractor is asking for €50,000.
His reasoning: As of today, the house is 18.66% more expensive, which is €51,250, so he is demanding €50,000 from us.
He already indicated over the phone that it probably won’t be the full 50K, but the 10K we offered was too low.
Now the question is, are we completely mistaken? I don’t see why we should pay extra for the entire house, only for the items that are still outstanding. That would be about €8,000 if you really apply the 18%.
Do you understand what I mean?
Does anyone have legal experience or some tips on how to argue this?
Our lawyer advises settling in the range of €15,000 to €20,000.
fromthisplace schrieb:
I want to bring up our general contractor again. Just to be clear, this is only my personal example and therefore quite general: After signing the contract in August 2021 and starting construction in January 2022, we did not pay a single cent more. The shell of the building was built with an accuracy of 1 cm (0.4 inches), allowing us to order the windows in February. Our biggest issue so far has been that the plasterers messed up a window key.
As a result, a known couple has already signed their contract there, and another couple is currently in the quotation phase.
I don’t mean to say that we are the smartest or the best. We were also lucky with our gut feeling and the fact that our general contractor is focused on reputation, not profit maximization. What good is it for the friends’ couple if your house is top-notch but theirs is not? Unfortunately, that’s how it went for us.
F
fromthisplace10 Oct 2022 22:23Snowy36 schrieb:
What good is it to your couple friends if your house is top quality but theirs isn’t? Unfortunately, that’s how it went for us.That is frustrating for you. We have been in contact with many builders, either acquaintances or in various new housing developments. We categorically ruled out general contractors with “mixed experiences.” “Our general contractor” consistently had positive reviews, so I consider the risk to be low.
How did you find the clients of your general contractor? To ask them some questions?
fromthisplace schrieb:
That’s frustrating for you. We were in contact with many clients—either acquaintances or people from various new housing developments. We categorically excluded general contractors with "mixed experiences." Our general contractor had consistently positive feedback, so I consider the risk to be low.
F
fromthisplace11 Oct 2022 19:25Snowy36 schrieb:
How did you find the clients of your general contractor? To ask them some questions?Offline: Known clients, drove/walked through new development areas and approached unknown clients.
Online: Read about the general contractor here in the experience thread and asked follow-up questions, joined client groups and “What’s going on in district XY” groups on other social media platforms.
fromthisplace schrieb:
Offline: contacted known homeowners, drove/walked through the new development area and asked unknown homeowners.
Online: read about general contractors (GCs) here in the experience thread and asked follow-up questions, checked homeowners’ groups, and “What’s going on in district XY” groups on other social media platforms.What I meant is that GCs often only share contact details of homeowners where everything went smoothly and they also “encourage” positive reviews. At least that was the case with us. Our negative reviews are being attempted to be deleted, and we are certainly not on the list of homeowners that potential buyers are allowed to contact.