S
Shadowblues27 Dec 2013 13:16Hello,
our house construction is causing more problems than it’s worth. This summer, we spoke with the architect and were more or less promised that the shell of the house would be completed by the end of the year. So far, we have a partial approval of the building permit / planning permission and what I consider a flawed tender for the shell construction. It includes unnecessary and unagreed items (e.g., waterproof concrete basement, KfW 40 standard, etc.) as well as references to documents that do not even exist. Not every company invited to bid has even received the tender documents. It’s a typical copy-and-paste approach with poor quality control. The architect also repeatedly misses newly agreed deadlines. It was agreed that the decision on the wall thickness would be asked about in the tender and then decided, but this option is missing from the tender. I also learned informally that a new building permit / planning permission application will be required afterward – obviously a huge delay at this point. Therefore, I am starting to consider switching architects or handing over the entire project to a general contractor.
This architect prepared a design plan for a certain target budget. I am now concerned that a new architect might quote a significantly higher amount (although another architect gave me roughly a similar estimate). How can one change architects cleanly to quickly reach the goal while staying on time and within budget, and without releasing the first architect from liability?
Current status of work:
Architectural design and building permit / planning permission application completed, but only partially approved (carport and basement were not approved).
Structural calculations completed by the structural engineer; energy performance calculation for the KfW application has been pending for weeks – so financing is not yet secured.
Tender for the shell construction prepared but, as mentioned, flawed.
Best regards,
Roger
our house construction is causing more problems than it’s worth. This summer, we spoke with the architect and were more or less promised that the shell of the house would be completed by the end of the year. So far, we have a partial approval of the building permit / planning permission and what I consider a flawed tender for the shell construction. It includes unnecessary and unagreed items (e.g., waterproof concrete basement, KfW 40 standard, etc.) as well as references to documents that do not even exist. Not every company invited to bid has even received the tender documents. It’s a typical copy-and-paste approach with poor quality control. The architect also repeatedly misses newly agreed deadlines. It was agreed that the decision on the wall thickness would be asked about in the tender and then decided, but this option is missing from the tender. I also learned informally that a new building permit / planning permission application will be required afterward – obviously a huge delay at this point. Therefore, I am starting to consider switching architects or handing over the entire project to a general contractor.
This architect prepared a design plan for a certain target budget. I am now concerned that a new architect might quote a significantly higher amount (although another architect gave me roughly a similar estimate). How can one change architects cleanly to quickly reach the goal while staying on time and within budget, and without releasing the first architect from liability?
Current status of work:
Architectural design and building permit / planning permission application completed, but only partially approved (carport and basement were not approved).
Structural calculations completed by the structural engineer; energy performance calculation for the KfW application has been pending for weeks – so financing is not yet secured.
Tender for the shell construction prepared but, as mentioned, flawed.
Best regards,
Roger
B
Bauexperte27 Dec 2013 13:53Hello Roger,
I can only advise you to make a clean break before hiring another architect or general contractor. It will already be challenging enough to find out where and by whom mistakes were made.
The structural calculations belong to you, as does the online application for the KfW (if paid for) – you need to check whether these match the actual approval, since the basement was rejected.
You can, and actually must, stop the tender process because it is flawed, as you said, and you are the client.
Then sit down with your architect and agree on how to part "by mutual agreement." Only when this is properly settled can you look for a new architect/general contractor. Anything else will inevitably lead to complications, especially regarding liability.
Best regards, Bauexperte
Shadowblues schrieb:Meeting the deadline will be difficult; the contractors’ schedules are well booked.
How do you make a clean transition to quickly reach the goal, stay within time and budget, and not release the first architect from liability?
I can only advise you to make a clean break before hiring another architect or general contractor. It will already be challenging enough to find out where and by whom mistakes were made.
Shadowblues schrieb:You need to clarify why the basement was not approved; you can always have a carport built later.
Current status of the work:
Architectural design and planning permission / building permit application completed, but only partially approved (carport and basement of the same were not approved).
Structural calculations done by the structural engineer, energy calculation for the KfW application pending for weeks – so no secured financing yet.
Tender for the shell construction created but, as mentioned, flawed.
The structural calculations belong to you, as does the online application for the KfW (if paid for) – you need to check whether these match the actual approval, since the basement was rejected.
You can, and actually must, stop the tender process because it is flawed, as you said, and you are the client.
Then sit down with your architect and agree on how to part "by mutual agreement." Only when this is properly settled can you look for a new architect/general contractor. Anything else will inevitably lead to complications, especially regarding liability.
Best regards, Bauexperte
K
K.Brodbeck30 Dec 2013 09:29Hello Shadowblues,
very important: what kind of contractual relationship do you have with your architect? What does the contract say about unilateral termination by the client?
Without loss of time, you can forget it, but you already have time lost due to the building permit / planning permission not being granted! From the way it sounds, the new architect or site manager or whoever will first have to review the documents, then fix the building permit / planning permission before doing all the tendering! I think you may only have to pay partially or not at all for the faulty deliveries by the previous architect, but this will likely become a legal dispute (court case).
I don’t want to discourage you, but it’s better to have an end with hardship than a hardship without end! We have just recently taken over a project from another architect, and I see the amount of duplicated work involved!
Best regards
K.Brodbeck
very important: what kind of contractual relationship do you have with your architect? What does the contract say about unilateral termination by the client?
Without loss of time, you can forget it, but you already have time lost due to the building permit / planning permission not being granted! From the way it sounds, the new architect or site manager or whoever will first have to review the documents, then fix the building permit / planning permission before doing all the tendering! I think you may only have to pay partially or not at all for the faulty deliveries by the previous architect, but this will likely become a legal dispute (court case).
I don’t want to discourage you, but it’s better to have an end with hardship than a hardship without end! We have just recently taken over a project from another architect, and I see the amount of duplicated work involved!
Best regards
K.Brodbeck
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Shadowblues1 Jan 2014 16:52Hello,
then you didn’t quite understand my posts there. I ended up there because I also had issues with the offers and statements from the general contractors. In the end, I can now say that 2 of the 3 existing offers probably wouldn’t have even passed the building permit (planning permission) stage. So, my concerns back then weren’t unfounded. The floor plan developed with the architect is definitely better and more suitable than those from the general contractors. But, of course, it was also more expensive. Whether one of the general contractors would have worked on the floor plan in such detail after signing is, of course, uncertain. However, the work with the architect wasn’t completely smooth either. Ultimately, the floor plan was created mostly by me and only slightly adjusted. It definitely took a lot of time.
By the way, when reading through the specifications again, I found a sewage lifting system listed. For some reason. The wastewater flows downhill and definitely doesn’t need to be pumped. He said it’s just an option to make it more attractive for the shell builder and to get more offers, but to me, it still sounds like an excuse...
Regards,
Roger
then you didn’t quite understand my posts there. I ended up there because I also had issues with the offers and statements from the general contractors. In the end, I can now say that 2 of the 3 existing offers probably wouldn’t have even passed the building permit (planning permission) stage. So, my concerns back then weren’t unfounded. The floor plan developed with the architect is definitely better and more suitable than those from the general contractors. But, of course, it was also more expensive. Whether one of the general contractors would have worked on the floor plan in such detail after signing is, of course, uncertain. However, the work with the architect wasn’t completely smooth either. Ultimately, the floor plan was created mostly by me and only slightly adjusted. It definitely took a lot of time.
By the way, when reading through the specifications again, I found a sewage lifting system listed. For some reason. The wastewater flows downhill and definitely doesn’t need to be pumped. He said it’s just an option to make it more attractive for the shell builder and to get more offers, but to me, it still sounds like an excuse...
Regards,
Roger
Hello Roger, no, I don’t think so. Regarding the architect: How old is he? Is this his first house? You might think so when reading that he specifies a lift station even though you don’t need one, or doesn’t know how to achieve KfW 70 energy standards and then lists KfW 40 instead. The same applies to the waterproof concrete basement ("white tank"). Have you calculated what additional costs this would mean for you? A waterproof concrete basement compared to a regular basement already adds about 30,000 euros (around 32,000 USD), the lift station costs roughly another 3,000 euros (about 3,200 USD), and moving from KfW 70 to KfW 40 will probably add another 30,000 euros (around 32,000 USD). Does your budget still fit? Not to mention that construction costs compared to last year will likely increase by several percent. If you’re already having problems with the specifications now, how is the construction process and schedule supposed to run smoothly? My advice is: take your floor plan and structural engineering plans and go to a good general contractor. Tell them what you want and agree on a fixed price.
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