ᐅ Expert Consultant: In Which Construction Phases Is Their Involvement Crucial?

opalau schrieb:
I almost feel a bit bad clicking "Like" — thanks for the information. I already found our expert, who charges us 300 EUR (gross) per visit, quite expensive.

Well.. When building a house, almost everything seems costly to me. Enjoy the good prices!

We were accompanied by a private homeowners’ association, represented by an architect who told us that he had already worked as an expert witness in court and was – as we understood it – a “real expert,” who also undertook many further training courses, and so on.

However, he did not meet the requirements of a “real” expert witness/surveyor, if these are defined by whether his work is admissible in court. Later, for the evidence preservation procedure, we had to hire a recognized expert witness/surveyor who was officially approved by the court and who received over 3,000.- for a single on-site inspection.

If we had personally checked the court approval from the start, we would have noticed this and could have used the previously prepared construction reports for the evidence preservation procedure. In my opinion, an expert witness/surveyor should ideally provide court-admissible material right from the beginning, so that no re-inspection is necessary. For this, they must be approved and recognized. The cost is not higher than what we paid our architect from the private homeowners’ association.

Best regards
Gabriele

I would like to reopen the original topic: When is an expert necessary when building a row house with brick construction?

In general, you do not have the right to access the site freely, but at least at the times when they request payments from me, I should be allowed on site with an expert.

According to the payment schedule (rounded):
30–5% After earthworks have started – no expert necessary
28% Completion of the shell – an expert is definitely necessary
11% Windows, interior plaster – expert needed?
5% Screed, tiles – expert needed?
8% Facade, roof – expert necessary
6% Plumbing, electrical, heating – expert needed?
12% Full completion, handover against transfer of possession – an expert is definitely necessary

Furthermore, we have several experts to choose from:
- Architect (recommended by friends) through "the association"
- Local building inspector (ÖBUV Kreisbaumeister) (he has apparently supervised houses in the previous construction phase)

The local building inspector is significantly more expensive – but will that also benefit me more? The time he saves on reading in would easily be covered by the association expert.

BigFoot schrieb:

What if you build a turnkey house (TH)?
Generally, you don’t have the right to access the house during construction, but at least at the times when they request payment from me, they should allow me to bring an expert to the site.
According to the payment schedule (rounded):
30-5% after groundworks start – no expert needed
28% after shell completion – expert definitely needed [...]
12% upon full completion, simultaneous with transfer of possession – expert definitely needed

With a payment schedule like this – where I don’t see any land included – in my opinion this is not a turnkey contract, but a general contractor (GC) contract, and in that case the client naturally has the right to access the site, since they are the builder themselves.

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Hello 11ant,

No, that is the payment schedule including the land, from a genuine developer... Unfortunately, no right of tenure either :-/

Best regards

BigFoot schrieb:


According to the payment schedule (rounded):
30-5% After starting earthworks – no expert needed
28% Completion of shell structure – expert definitely needed
11% Windows, interior plaster – expert?
5% Screed, tiles – expert?
8% Facade, roof – expert necessary
6% Sanitary, electrical, heating – expert?
12% Full completion, simultaneous with handover of possession – expert definitely needed

Additionally, we have several experts to choose from:
- Architect (recommended by friends) via "the association"
- ÖBUV district master builder (he apparently already supervised houses in the previous construction phase)

The district master builder is significantly more expensive – but will he help me more? The time he saves by reading in I easily make up through the association.

The house owner’s rights thing may be true, but in practice, I don’t think it ever works that way. I also don’t have any formal house owner rights there, yet I go in and out every day. It’s even welcomed when I’m there to air the place out or give the workers a bite to eat. I simply can’t imagine your builder would forbid you that. For 99% of people, building a house is a major life event.

We also have an expert who would ideally like to come every three days. But now that I think about it, I probably could have done without him. The only good thing is that I can call him with questions and he can give me an immediate answer or ask a colleague. But I could have just as easily done that here in the forum.

It also depends on how much knowledge you have about construction. For example, facade and roof work. It’s not rocket science, and the expert doesn’t come equipped with measuring tools or anything like that; they just inspect visually. What do you actually have on a roof? Tiles, battens, membrane, insulation, membrane, gypsum fiberboard. Of course, there are other variants and construction methods, but just as an example. If you’re not clueless, you can check it yourself and point out any issues. The facade is also not complicated. Critical points are usually around windows and doors. Was a membrane or something similar applied at the flashing layer? You can check that yourself as well. How your masonry should look is usually specified in your construction performance description and should be consistent on all walls.

You’re building a detached or semi-detached house, right? One idea to save money would be to team up with your neighbors and share an expert.

If you really want to hire one, I would bring in an expert for the shell construction, the roof after the membrane is installed, the windows and doors, the underfloor heating, and then again at the handover of the house.