ᐅ Is it worthwhile to hire a building surveyor for construction oversight?

Hello forum community,

As you can see, my question is whether hiring a building surveyor for support is really worthwhile, especially when it comes to a prefabricated house.

Of course, I’m aware that most people will say it’s indispensable. Rationally, I would also take one immediately, but it’s a budget item where we want to be sure and carefully consider if it’s worth it or not.

For us, the 3,500€ (around $3,700) it usually costs is not a small amount.

So, I would appreciate your feedback on how you decided and why you made that decision.

It would also be interesting to know if the building supervisor you had actually found any serious defects.

Thanks for your feedback.

Someone who can be an experienced damage assessor is not necessarily a good construction manager. The pathologist knows everything, but unfortunately too late.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Schwabenbauer schrieb:
It would also be interesting to know if a building supervisor you had actually identified a serious defect.

Well, was the insurance worth it? If you don’t have a building inspector, how can you be sure there are no serious defects?

Yes, it’s possible without one... but it’s better with. Unfortunately, it depends on who does it.

If I had to choose between a building inspector and a lawyer: I would take the lawyer. For contract review around 150 to 300 euros and for the final inspection (I would take them along) maybe 500 euros...

Schwabenbauer schrieb:
Is it really worthwhile to have accompaniment, especially with a prefabricated house?

Sorry, I didn’t address this special aspect earlier: prefabricated house means off-site manufacturing, so some details are only visible during the manufacturing process and will already be covered up during the assembly on site, thus hidden from the inspector’s view there.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Including a building inspector right from the start for 3,500€ is quite a statement. It always depends on the circumstances. On “simple” plots (e.g., flat land, deep groundwater, very good soil for foundations, etc.) and with a reputable, well-established company, you can probably do without one.

Inspectors tend to look for trivial issues in cases of good execution to justify their fee. They usually find minor things like a 1.5mm offset between tiles and point them out to claim back 50€ or so and similar small amounts. An inspector really becomes necessary once something seems odd to you or if something goes seriously wrong. For example, if it rains inside for weeks because the roofer can’t access the site, or if the waterproof membranes are not properly sealed, then you should call an inspector immediately. If you are building with a basement, it is better to involve one from the start.

We built without one and ended up with 2-3 minor cosmetic issues that don’t really bother anyone or even get noticed. An inspector would have raised complaints; we might have recovered 500€ of the 3,000€ costs (if that) and it still wouldn’t have looked any better. They might have fixed the cosmetic flaw, but it wouldn’t have been worth 3,000€. Overall, we were able to solve everything ourselves because we or our neighbors identified the few problems, and the builder addressed them without much fuss.

What is the total construction cost? 3,500 out of 350,000 would be just 1%, so relatively low.
... with 250,000 it hurts more

I wouldn’t recommend hiring an expert outright, but 3-4 visits including contract review would be advisable. For a prefabricated house, the first appointment should be after the installation.


Best regards