Hello,
I sent the message below to the foundation company. My questions are: who is responsible for the fact that no one informed me about the (missing) multi-utility house entry? Is it only the architect from abroad who did not (properly) inform himself about German regulations and drew incorrect plans/execution drawings, or is it also the construction company that implemented it as such? As can be read below, they contacted me about errors, but not about the most important issue.
And what if no formal handover (acceptance) took place?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Right of retention / Defect claims according to § 4 No. 7 VOB/B / No acceptance
First, you have not yet provided a plausible explanation for why the additional costs of approximately 450% for removing the excavated soil and constructing the driveway almost—but fortunately did not—occur. If I had fallen into your trap and paid the final invoice, I would be in a much worse position today.
Many defects have come to light, but I will first list the worst:
As a company, you are obliged to perform the work correctly and to inform customers if something does not meet current standards.
I am now at my wit’s end and don’t know how to proceed. Retrofitting the multi-utility house entry is tedious, expensive, dangerous, or even impossible. Furthermore, the contracted prefab house company refuses to carry out any more work.
I have been sleeping poorly for nights, and you contribute a lot to that as well.
I hereby demand that you rectify the defects described above by December 22, hire someone else to do so, or waive the final invoice as compensation for the poor workmanship.
If this does not happen, my legal counsel will take care of it.
I am entitled to claim damages, as damage has occurred. Due to the defect, other work can only be delayed or not carried out at all. Additionally, as the client, I have the right to withhold payments from interim invoices in the amount of twice the defect remediation costs.
You have therefore not completed my construction site as ordered and certainly not correctly.
P.S.: I do not recall any formal handover, nor do I recall you offering me (multiple) appointments for this. No site meeting minutes, no witnesses, no signature… I didn’t even know when you were finished.
No acceptance, no right to payment
Without formal acceptance, the invoice is not due. A reminder before the due date is ineffective, so the customer does not fall into default. Without default, the customer does not have to pay default interest or reimburse any legal enforcement costs of the contractor.
I sent the message below to the foundation company. My questions are: who is responsible for the fact that no one informed me about the (missing) multi-utility house entry? Is it only the architect from abroad who did not (properly) inform himself about German regulations and drew incorrect plans/execution drawings, or is it also the construction company that implemented it as such? As can be read below, they contacted me about errors, but not about the most important issue.
And what if no formal handover (acceptance) took place?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Right of retention / Defect claims according to § 4 No. 7 VOB/B / No acceptance
First, you have not yet provided a plausible explanation for why the additional costs of approximately 450% for removing the excavated soil and constructing the driveway almost—but fortunately did not—occur. If I had fallen into your trap and paid the final invoice, I would be in a much worse position today.
Many defects have come to light, but I will first list the worst:
- In both kitchens where the kitchen islands are located, empty conduits for the later installation of electrical cables were forgotten.
- That can happen, but what are sewer pipes (KG pipes) doing for the installation of electricity, water, and telecommunications in the house? Since 2017 at the latest, their use for this purpose has been prohibited in Germany. And don’t try to excuse this by saying it was drawn like that in the plans, because you did point out some things to me later that actually caused problems, such as a separate circuit for the water…
As a company, you are obliged to perform the work correctly and to inform customers if something does not meet current standards.
I am now at my wit’s end and don’t know how to proceed. Retrofitting the multi-utility house entry is tedious, expensive, dangerous, or even impossible. Furthermore, the contracted prefab house company refuses to carry out any more work.
I have been sleeping poorly for nights, and you contribute a lot to that as well.
I hereby demand that you rectify the defects described above by December 22, hire someone else to do so, or waive the final invoice as compensation for the poor workmanship.
If this does not happen, my legal counsel will take care of it.
I am entitled to claim damages, as damage has occurred. Due to the defect, other work can only be delayed or not carried out at all. Additionally, as the client, I have the right to withhold payments from interim invoices in the amount of twice the defect remediation costs.
You have therefore not completed my construction site as ordered and certainly not correctly.
P.S.: I do not recall any formal handover, nor do I recall you offering me (multiple) appointments for this. No site meeting minutes, no witnesses, no signature… I didn’t even know when you were finished.
No acceptance, no right to payment
Without formal acceptance, the invoice is not due. A reminder before the due date is ineffective, so the customer does not fall into default. Without default, the customer does not have to pay default interest or reimburse any legal enforcement costs of the contractor.
That’s correct! The architect must be licensed in Germany.
To be honest, I have significant issues with the defect notice in terms of content, tone, and form.
A defect notice should be brief, clear, and to the point—not a lecture to the recipient.
Ultimately, and not just because of that, the request for a written acknowledgment of receipt is missing. I don’t know if an email is sufficient. I would always send it by registered mail with a return receipt.
Your mentioned deadline was December 22nd.
I assume there has been no response? Or have they gotten back to you?
I can’t comment on the technical aspects; I would leave such matters to the architect. But this situation seems a bit unusual as well.
To be honest, I have significant issues with the defect notice in terms of content, tone, and form.
A defect notice should be brief, clear, and to the point—not a lecture to the recipient.
Emanrobin schrieb:
I sent the message below to the foundation slab company.
Ultimately, and not just because of that, the request for a written acknowledgment of receipt is missing. I don’t know if an email is sufficient. I would always send it by registered mail with a return receipt.
Your mentioned deadline was December 22nd.
I assume there has been no response? Or have they gotten back to you?
I can’t comment on the technical aspects; I would leave such matters to the architect. But this situation seems a bit unusual as well.
Let me make this clear: Even if you messed up, the construction company won’t be the one who suffers. Your legal counsel won’t change that either.
You would have been better off investing the money for legal advice in proper planning and construction supervision...
But now that the damage is done, focus on finding solutions instead of blaming others.
You would have been better off investing the money for legal advice in proper planning and construction supervision...
But now that the damage is done, focus on finding solutions instead of blaming others.
E
Emanrobin25 Dec 2022 12:47Pinkiponk schrieb:
I’m interested in this too. For the building permit / planning permission and other official approvals, we had to submit the certificate of completion from our architect along with registration numbers (professional chambers? registry?) everywhere. For the utility providers, we had to provide proof of qualifications for various installers as well as their registration numbers (trade associations? registry?). Slovenia (part of the EU) and yes, of course, we submitted the numbers.
E
Emanrobin25 Dec 2022 12:50ypg schrieb:
That's correct! The architect must be licensed in Germany.
To be honest, I have a major issue with the defect notice in terms of its tone, content, and formal aspects.
A defect notice should be brief, clear, and to the point—not a lecture to the recipient.
Ultimately, and not only that, it lacks the request for a written confirmation of receipt. I don’t know if email is sufficient. I would always send it by registered mail with a return receipt.
Your mentioned deadline was December 22.
I assume he didn’t respond? Or did he get back to you?
I can’t comment on the technical side; I would leave such matters to the architect. But this situation seems somewhat unusual. I didn’t copy everything here and yes, I sent it by mail. He responded and refuses to acknowledge it.
Here in the forum, we only have the information you provide us, which is currently very incomplete. From what I read, you seem to be a complete novice, working with an inexpensive architect from Slovenia and without an independent building surveyor. Based on the listed defects, experience shows this usually ends in a financial disaster. Realizing that you may have partially contributed to the problems, and then quickly taking corrective action by hiring a building surveyor, seems to me the only way to come out of this with minimal damage.
Emanrobin schrieb:
First of all, you have not yet provided a reasonable explanation for the approximately 450% cost increase for removing the excavated soil and constructing the driveway, which almost—but fortunately did not—occur. If I had fallen into your trap and paid the final invoice, I would be in a much worse situation today.
Many defects have come to light, but I will first list the worst: [...]
I hereby demand that you remedy the defects described above by December 22, hire someone else to do so, or waive the final invoice as compensation for the poor workmanship. Unfortunately, we can only understand very little of what you are telling here in a very fragmented way. I was barely able to piece together that you want to build a prefabricated house from a Slovenian manufacturer with a Slovenian designer involved, in Germany, where the site work and up to the top edge of the foundation slab have to be carried out “by others” and were subcontracted by you here. Who is responsible—and with what “quality”—for reliable work drawings of the foundation slab in this setup is probably anyone’s guess. I am not aware of any obligation for a German foundation slab contractor to verify compatibility of the specified components with utility providers’ regulations. Your list of defects is likely to become legendary as a joke in a law seminar. If I were a lawyer, I certainly would not take you on as a client after such a blunder. The more than fivefold increase in costs for an obvious lump sum speaks volumes about the sloppiness of the invitation to tender—so I find it hard to believe that the contract description was even remotely suitable to verify liability. Proper defect notifications, by the way, are complete lists and do not contain any appeals to pity.
Offtopic schrieb:
How can a foreign architect work in Germany? They can’t, so someone else is liable. I cannot really imagine an international set of plans being accepted by a German building authority. As far as I remember, the American lawyer Goldfine needed a German partner law firm at that time to represent the construction tycoon Schneider in Frankfurt court. Based on my knowledge of the German professional chambers system, I do not believe in such international openness in this case either.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics