Hello,
I don’t want to write a long story about everything that has happened so far, so I will try to keep it brief.
We have already signed a contract with Hanse Haus (mid-May 2021). According to the contract, the price guarantee is valid for 15 months. Unfortunately, the architect is more than just incompetent, and we don’t know if we should already prepare for potential future problems. After all, this is not something you do every day.
- Our plot is not simple, as it is located in the old town center and there is no zoning plan (building permit / planning permission).
- It took ages just to get an appointment at the construction site with the architects at the beginning—1 to 2 months.
- After the first visit to the site, we hired surveyors, which went quite quickly. After one month, I asked the architect for a status update, but didn’t get a reply for two weeks, then on a Friday I received an email:
Hello, I will be on vacation for four weeks starting Monday and will contact you afterwards.
- I am basically doing the architect’s work by pointing out the parking regulations, asking everything possible at the local building authority in my municipality, and then at the responsible city building authority, and passing this information on in an organized way.
- He seemed to want to rush me into submitting the building application directly and skip the preliminary building inquiry, or at least that was my impression.
- In early November, the site plan finally arrived, of course completely confusing and incorrect (e.g., gray arrows overlapping gray areas, incorrect windows, the wrong address listed instead of mine, parking regulations ignored, etc.)
- At the end of November, the preliminary building inquiry was actually submitted, but was promptly rejected because it was submitted incorrectly. The building authority’s response: not processable in this form.
- It was resubmitted at the beginning of December, but was again rejected, still not processable.
- Mid-December it was finally successfully submitted. The worst part was that a particular sentence was missing that I had provided earlier to the architect after asking the building authority. So all the effort could have been avoided.
And all this was just for a preliminary building inquiry. I have documented everything in writing, always with CC to my Hanse Haus advisor. I wrote to the architect in a factual tone that his preliminary building inquiry was faulty (which it was) and not processable, and asked him to handle it urgently. Then he called me and said it wasn’t like that and that I should watch my tone (?); he hadn’t even sent an invoice yet. Unbelievable.
I already feel abandoned by Hanse Haus. Apparently, the architect cannot be changed; only when the 15-month period is approaching would they arrange a meeting with all parties and maybe extend the price guarantee by a few months. Of course, I haven’t described everything; this is just the most important part in my opinion. I would appreciate any advice...
I don’t want to write a long story about everything that has happened so far, so I will try to keep it brief.
We have already signed a contract with Hanse Haus (mid-May 2021). According to the contract, the price guarantee is valid for 15 months. Unfortunately, the architect is more than just incompetent, and we don’t know if we should already prepare for potential future problems. After all, this is not something you do every day.
- Our plot is not simple, as it is located in the old town center and there is no zoning plan (building permit / planning permission).
- It took ages just to get an appointment at the construction site with the architects at the beginning—1 to 2 months.
- After the first visit to the site, we hired surveyors, which went quite quickly. After one month, I asked the architect for a status update, but didn’t get a reply for two weeks, then on a Friday I received an email:
Hello, I will be on vacation for four weeks starting Monday and will contact you afterwards.
- I am basically doing the architect’s work by pointing out the parking regulations, asking everything possible at the local building authority in my municipality, and then at the responsible city building authority, and passing this information on in an organized way.
- He seemed to want to rush me into submitting the building application directly and skip the preliminary building inquiry, or at least that was my impression.
- In early November, the site plan finally arrived, of course completely confusing and incorrect (e.g., gray arrows overlapping gray areas, incorrect windows, the wrong address listed instead of mine, parking regulations ignored, etc.)
- At the end of November, the preliminary building inquiry was actually submitted, but was promptly rejected because it was submitted incorrectly. The building authority’s response: not processable in this form.
- It was resubmitted at the beginning of December, but was again rejected, still not processable.
- Mid-December it was finally successfully submitted. The worst part was that a particular sentence was missing that I had provided earlier to the architect after asking the building authority. So all the effort could have been avoided.
And all this was just for a preliminary building inquiry. I have documented everything in writing, always with CC to my Hanse Haus advisor. I wrote to the architect in a factual tone that his preliminary building inquiry was faulty (which it was) and not processable, and asked him to handle it urgently. Then he called me and said it wasn’t like that and that I should watch my tone (?); he hadn’t even sent an invoice yet. Unbelievable.
I already feel abandoned by Hanse Haus. Apparently, the architect cannot be changed; only when the 15-month period is approaching would they arrange a meeting with all parties and maybe extend the price guarantee by a few months. Of course, I haven’t described everything; this is just the most important part in my opinion. I would appreciate any advice...
O
Osnabruecker14 Jan 2022 09:49To the thread starter:
1.) Get expertise on your side, both professionally and legally.
2.) Engage in dialogue with your contract partner, that is Hanse Haus. Make sure they are informed of every step / copied in emails so they stay updated on the slow progress.
Your “architect” is not really yours if they are paid by someone else.
Yes, there is a lot of construction going on. Everyone is stretched to the limit. For Hanse Haus, price matters more than the quality of the planning. So they simply award contracts to the cheapest option.
The site manager responsible for execution will do everything to prevent a repeat. But for the next project, the sales team will again have two architect offers and choose the cheaper one.
(Criticism is not directed at Hanse Haus—I have no experience with them. It’s more a general pattern in the construction industry that businesspeople and technicians have different approaches.)
1.) Get expertise on your side, both professionally and legally.
2.) Engage in dialogue with your contract partner, that is Hanse Haus. Make sure they are informed of every step / copied in emails so they stay updated on the slow progress.
Your “architect” is not really yours if they are paid by someone else.
In der Ruine schrieb:
Is there a shortage of architects, or why do such “experts” remain on the market?
Yes, there is a lot of construction going on. Everyone is stretched to the limit. For Hanse Haus, price matters more than the quality of the planning. So they simply award contracts to the cheapest option.
In der Ruine schrieb:
Hanse Haus will surely never want to work with that person again after the disaster, right?
The site manager responsible for execution will do everything to prevent a repeat. But for the next project, the sales team will again have two architect offers and choose the cheaper one.
(Criticism is not directed at Hanse Haus—I have no experience with them. It’s more a general pattern in the construction industry that businesspeople and technicians have different approaches.)
B
Benutzer20014 Jan 2022 10:49Hamdu schrieb:
We have already signed a contract with Hanse Haus (mid-May 2021). Hamdu schrieb:
And all this just for a preliminary building inquiry. Why would someone sign a house construction contract when it’s not even clear what can actually be built? How can the price for the house be determined then?
First, you check what is allowed to be built, and only then do you choose the suitable home builder. You have created this problem yourself.
W
WilderSueden14 Jan 2022 11:03Could this possibly just be a preliminary contract?
The Schwörerhaus representative also tried to push something like this on us in the last five minutes, almost in passing. They said we should secure the old price list before prices go up at the turn of the year. This would have been without any specific house plan involved.
The Schwörerhaus representative also tried to push something like this on us in the last five minutes, almost in passing. They said we should secure the old price list before prices go up at the turn of the year. This would have been without any specific house plan involved.
S
Stefan00114 Jan 2022 12:16Do not hesitate to use clear and direct language when addressing Hanse Haus and the architect. The sooner you make it clear that you hold them responsible, the better.
Always demand specific deadlines, especially for the entire planning phase. If you only get confirmation for each next small step, it doesn’t help with the overall schedule (if they complete each step in one week but don’t mention that there are 104 steps, it won’t work out…)
For example, you can address Hanse Haus like this:
“The planning phase has already taken X out of 15 months due to the work of your architect. To what extent does this extended processing time affect your further scheduling, and how much time was originally planned for this step? After what time will you assign a new person in charge? Please provide specific dates by which certain planning milestones must be reached.”
Also, ask the architect to provide you with their schedule including deadlines. Only in this way can you hold them accountable for missed deadlines later on.
Always demand specific deadlines, especially for the entire planning phase. If you only get confirmation for each next small step, it doesn’t help with the overall schedule (if they complete each step in one week but don’t mention that there are 104 steps, it won’t work out…)
For example, you can address Hanse Haus like this:
“The planning phase has already taken X out of 15 months due to the work of your architect. To what extent does this extended processing time affect your further scheduling, and how much time was originally planned for this step? After what time will you assign a new person in charge? Please provide specific dates by which certain planning milestones must be reached.”
Also, ask the architect to provide you with their schedule including deadlines. Only in this way can you hold them accountable for missed deadlines later on.
Hamdu schrieb:
Good to know, in my opinion he was hired by Hanse Haus, the architect’s fees are included in the house price. We do not have a contract directly with the architect.In that case, Hanse Haus, or the home building company, is always the point of contact.H
HilfeHilfe15 Jan 2022 07:04From now on, keep a log and make it available to HAnse for acknowledgment. If there is a delay at any point, you will not be able to use arguments as a justification.
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