ᐅ Changing the floor plan shortly before submitting the building permit application makes house construction more expensive
Created on: 4 Aug 2017 15:20
C
ChrisEF
Hello everyone,
I hope you can give me some advice on my situation.
We bought a plot of land at the end of last year and want to build a single-family house with a home construction company.
A friend of ours (a professional architect) had already designed our dream home with us "just for fun" beforehand. We took the floor plans to the construction company and told them that we would like to have the house built like that. The company’s architect adopted the floor plans and made some adjustments.
In the meantime, an offer was prepared, the financing was approved, and the mortgage was registered. Everything was going according to plan.
Next, it was time to apply for the building permit / planning permission. Suddenly, our construction company realized that the house does not comply with the development plan, and instead of building a 1.5-story house, we must now build a 2-story house. After accepting this, we sat down with the company’s architect and redesigned the entire house.
It was necessary to convert the upper floor into a full story, so the knee wall height was increased from 1.25m (4 feet) to 2.75m (9 feet). We already suspected that additional costs would arise, but to avoid having to readjust the financing and mortgage, we removed the finished balcony, roof windows, chimney, and basement entrance door (total value about 15,000 euros) and reduced the house size by a total of 5m² (54 square feet).
Despite this, the house now costs almost 7,000 euros more than before.
We are currently wondering whether this price increase (almost 22,000 euros) is justified or if they are trying to make extra money after the contract has already been signed.
On the other hand, we wonder whether the construction company should bear the additional costs themselves to make the house comply with the development plan, since planning according to the development plan was their responsibility, not ours...
We have also considered withdrawing from the contract, but for now, we want to try to resolve this in a peaceful way.
I would appreciate any helpful answers.
I hope you can give me some advice on my situation.
We bought a plot of land at the end of last year and want to build a single-family house with a home construction company.
A friend of ours (a professional architect) had already designed our dream home with us "just for fun" beforehand. We took the floor plans to the construction company and told them that we would like to have the house built like that. The company’s architect adopted the floor plans and made some adjustments.
In the meantime, an offer was prepared, the financing was approved, and the mortgage was registered. Everything was going according to plan.
Next, it was time to apply for the building permit / planning permission. Suddenly, our construction company realized that the house does not comply with the development plan, and instead of building a 1.5-story house, we must now build a 2-story house. After accepting this, we sat down with the company’s architect and redesigned the entire house.
It was necessary to convert the upper floor into a full story, so the knee wall height was increased from 1.25m (4 feet) to 2.75m (9 feet). We already suspected that additional costs would arise, but to avoid having to readjust the financing and mortgage, we removed the finished balcony, roof windows, chimney, and basement entrance door (total value about 15,000 euros) and reduced the house size by a total of 5m² (54 square feet).
Despite this, the house now costs almost 7,000 euros more than before.
We are currently wondering whether this price increase (almost 22,000 euros) is justified or if they are trying to make extra money after the contract has already been signed.
On the other hand, we wonder whether the construction company should bear the additional costs themselves to make the house comply with the development plan, since planning according to the development plan was their responsibility, not ours...
We have also considered withdrawing from the contract, but for now, we want to try to resolve this in a peaceful way.
I would appreciate any helpful answers.
Marvinius II4 Aug 2017 22:42But if you can build with a knee wall height of 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) instead of the original 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in), then you don’t need such a major redesign, right? Sure, raising the knee wall will be a bit more expensive.
Have you really financed so tightly that you need additional funding for €7000 more?
Have you really financed so tightly that you need additional funding for €7000 more?
ChrisEF schrieb:
Of course not... :-(
According to the development plan, the knee wall in the attic may be a maximum of 80cm (31 inches) high... If we have 1.5 stories, the upper floor is the attic, which would need a higher knee wall to achieve a full two-story design.
However, we visited the building authority and could build a 1.5-story house if the knee wall of the attic is at least 1.8m (5 feet 11 inches) high...
This way we would likely maintain the character of the residential area.
It’s a very strange development plan, but we just have to live with it. I don’t really get it, but you always calculate a 5-10% buffer for unforeseen issues.
Especially if the house costs “only” 220,000, you still have to invest some money into the construction site somewhere.
It’s best if you ask the general contractor again—after all, you all made the mistake... but the general contractor should be the expert regarding the calculated number of stories, since a layperson usually wouldn’t catch that (unless it’s something obvious [emoji853]).
Marvinius II schrieb:
If you can build with a knee wall height of 1.8m (6 feet) instead of the original 1.25m (4 feet), then you shouldn’t need such a major redesign, right? "right" is correct
Both 1.25m (4 feet) and 1.80m (6 feet) are within the critical height range (regarding where you can place vertical facade windows and work, and where roof windows are appropriate). However, a knee wall height of 1.80m (6 feet) additionally makes it more difficult to work effectively with dormers. These extra 55 cm (22 inches) are like a gift to a favorite foe here.
If we had the sections and floor plans, it would be a bit easier to provide constructive input.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
We have a knee wall height of 1.30cm (0.5 inches) and the building has two full floors. Haven’t you considered having it checked to see if this could be achieved through a different modification?
It might also be worth recalculating. Our architect initially thought it would be 1.5 floors, but after a more detailed calculation, it turned out differently.
It might also be worth recalculating. Our architect initially thought it would be 1.5 floors, but after a more detailed calculation, it turned out differently.
ONeill schrieb:
We have a knee wall height of 1.30cm (0.5 inches) and the building is two stories. Haven’t you checked if this could be achieved through a different modification?
Maybe have it recalculated as well. To fulfill the two-story requirement by exceeding the non-full story height, this would be a practical approach, and it has already been
toxicmolotow schrieb:
I still don’t understand why the knee wall needs to be raised so much. You can achieve a two-story building in other ways, for example with one or two large dormers. suggested. Unfortunately, the local development plan clearly limits the knee wall height (in the roof above the second floor) and expects the second floor to be a traditional full story with straight walls; although the building authority is open to a compromise, effectively allowing the roof slope of the third floor to start already within the second floor as a kind of “negative knee wall.”
Some municipalities unfortunately interpret the purpose of a development plan as requiring all houses to look the same as the mayor’s own house ;-(
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
The increase of the half-story by exceeding the area that would define a half-story apparently isn’t allowed, since the knee wall is specified to be a maximum of 80 cm (31 inches). This means that in the attic there can be a knee wall of 80 cm (31 inches), and on the first floor a full story with a ceiling height of at least 2.75 m (9 feet).
As an exception, are you now allowed to build on the first floor with only a 1.80 m (5 feet 11 inches) knee wall, or how should I understand this?
As an exception, are you now allowed to build on the first floor with only a 1.80 m (5 feet 11 inches) knee wall, or how should I understand this?
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