ᐅ Unexpected Changes to the Building Plans by the Structural Engineer

Hello everyone,

We have just started building our single-family house – the foundation slab is completed and the first row of hollow bricks has been laid. I thought trust is good, but checking is better, so I measured all the rooms and brick positions. Compared to the construction plan as drawn up by the architect and approved by the building authority (building permit / planning permission), I noticed several deviations and immediately informed my general contractor. He told me everything was correct – the structural engineer had only made some changes for structural reasons. Indeed, it seems all changes are due to structural requirements, but now many walls are 17.5 cm (7 inches) thick instead of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) (the architect had previously specified some load-bearing walls with 17.5 cm (7 inches), but not as many). Overall, we lose 0.5 m² (5.4 sq ft), and some walls were shifted by 6 cm (2.4 inches) to avoid recesses.

This caught me off guard and is frustrating in some areas (for example, the narrower dormer – fitting a table was already tight in terms of width, and now we are short by another 12 cm (4.7 inches)). We were never informed that there might be changes, and even after the structural calculations, we were not told that definite changes would take place.

My questions are:
- Is this normal? Has this happened to you as well, or were you informed in advance?
- Do I have any claims for defects, or do I have to accept this? This is a bit general, but maybe someone has had similar cases? Losing 0.5 square meters (5.4 sq ft) roughly corresponds to about 1000 euros in construction costs...

Thank you very much in advance for your input...

This is not normal.
It happened to us due to an unmarked support for a central purlin.
We found out about it during a construction meeting.
We didn’t even try to assert any claims for defects but went straight into finding a mutual solution. This was found quickly.
Calculating by square meters won’t help you. You want to put a table there after all. Focus on this solution and get creative with your general contractor. What kind of table do you want, for how many people, and for what purpose? Could it be a differently sized table? Can the area be enlarged again? What alternatives are there...

because of tables, furniture, etc.

in the end, you still have to buy something new. frustrating that you didn’t receive any information. I prefer load-bearing walls to avoid the roof collapsing in the end.

Changes due to structural engineering are quite normal. Unfortunately, it seems the structural analysis was only addressed at the last minute, and construction started without proper coordination.

In my subjective view, this suggests the architect is working somewhat carelessly. An architect should know in advance which walls are load-bearing and how they must be positioned without offsets or projections, so they don’t have to be adjusted by 6cm (2.4 inches) later.

What is totally unacceptable is that the revised plans were not shared with you. Request the updated documents promptly, as there could still be further surprises. I would also recommend paying closer attention to the other trades. Who knows where else the architect might have planned inaccurately.

Tassimat schrieb:

I think this shows that the architect (in my subjective opinion) works rather carelessly. An architect should know in advance which walls are load-bearing and how they need to be positioned without offsets or projections, so they don’t have to be moved later by 6cm (2.4 inches).

I suspect the shift resulted from the width of the cross-gable being fully utilized, making it impossible to adjust the offset of the exterior wall on the outside to accommodate the thickened interior walls. However, this change should have been communicated, and a solution could have been chosen, such as constructing the now load-bearing interior walls from sand-lime brick while maintaining the wall thickness. Surprises are always unfortunate for the homeowner, but on the other hand, people are often warned not to “custom-fit” rooms too tightly, to avoid them ending up too small in their finished dimensions.

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Changes must be confirmed by you; it can’t be changed so casually. First, request the current plans. In theory, you could demand a dismantling, but it might be better not to go that far in the first discussion...