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.
H
HilfeHilfe10 Aug 2017 12:31Hello,
I am also puzzled that such a fuss is being made over 22k. YES, it is money, but within a certain range. Before I throw away something that was important to me before, I would keep it.
Put the items back in and split the 22k amount (15k savings planned plus 7k additional cost) by 50%.
That would be just 11k.
I am also puzzled that such a fuss is being made over 22k. YES, it is money, but within a certain range. Before I throw away something that was important to me before, I would keep it.
Put the items back in and split the 22k amount (15k savings planned plus 7k additional cost) by 50%.
That would be just 11k.
W
winnetou7810 Aug 2017 12:39I find it completely understandable to make a fuss over 22,000. But for some people here, that seems to be just pocket money. That's fine, of course, but not for everyone. You really should think carefully about whether such a comment is necessary.
H
HilfeHilfe10 Aug 2017 13:39Logically, it is a lot of money. However, one usually has certain expectations for the house, and the developer does not seem to be entirely blameless.
Who pays the architect? You or the home construction company?
Accurately interpreting the zoning plan – including preparing the building permit / planning permission application (which should then form the basis of the construction contract) – is the responsibility of the architect.
If the construction company takes over this task, they should be held accountable for any mistakes. If you have commissioned and paid separately for this service, then you will have to cover the additional costs and may be able to claim them back from your architect.
Accurately interpreting the zoning plan – including preparing the building permit / planning permission application (which should then form the basis of the construction contract) – is the responsibility of the architect.
If the construction company takes over this task, they should be held accountable for any mistakes. If you have commissioned and paid separately for this service, then you will have to cover the additional costs and may be able to claim them back from your architect.
Similar topics