ᐅ Is a Building Surveyor Qualification Required for Final Inspection?

Good evening,

to prepare for the final inspection of the house, I am wondering whether I should hire a certified building expert. I know civil engineers who are familiar with construction within my circle, but they do not work as official inspectors. Does it carry more weight in enforcing identified defects if they are documented by an official expert? The construction company will bring their own "independent" inspector (affiliated with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce) to the final inspection.

That will probably be enough for you! But as soon as it becomes official, you will need someone who is officially trained or certified.

You don’t need anyone… but it is advisable. If you expect that something might be wrong, you should possibly bring along someone with the appropriate qualifications right from the start.

If you know someone personally, that is usually sufficient at first. They can inspect the construction now, and you can report defects if necessary. Just because someone has a professional title doesn’t mean the defect will be fixed any faster or at all. Whether something is a defect can often be checked in certain regulations or standards (DIN, VDE, etc.). Basically, anyone who understands these regulations can do this. For example, if the VDE states that hot water must come out within 1.5 liters (0.4 gallons), but it takes 5 liters (1.3 gallons) until hot water appears, you don’t need an expert opinion—you can simply refer to the relevant VDE regulation, and the issue will proceed accordingly.

A certified expert is usually appointed by the court in case of disputes. As long as the entire defect handling is conducted between you and the contractors, you only need someone knowledgeable who can actually identify the defect (which, with enough research, you can do yourself).

Hello

a bit of advanced technical info for those interested 🙂

VDE = Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies
Gas and water installation = DVGW = German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water

Olli

First of all, thanks for your opinions. I can well imagine that there will be some issues to point out. In fact, I already see some myself. My only concern is that the other party’s independent expert will carry more weight, and the identified defects might then only be resolved through the courts. Does a certified appraiser also assess the defects or their repairs in financial terms during the final inspection? In theory, shouldn’t I be able to withhold part of the final payment until the defect is fixed? My acquaintance might be able to give a rough estimate instead.