ᐅ Delay caused by the plumber. What can I do?

Hello,

we are building a single-family house with a developer. We specifically chose a developer so that we wouldn’t have to organize so much ourselves. When it came to selecting the tradespeople for the different tasks, we were given some names by the developer and some were chosen by him. In particular, the plumber, who is also responsible for the heat pump and underfloor heating, was selected and hired by the developer.

Construction started for us at the end of August. Before Christmas, the roof was completed and the wet plastering inside the house was finished.
Then there was a break of about 3.5 weeks, which is understandable because of the Christmas holiday when everyone is off.

Now our problem.

Since the plumber has been on site, he has only done half the work. Before the plastering was done, he didn’t manage to install all water pipes concealed in the walls. The foreman said that we would open the walls again later to fix it. (At first, I thought that wasn’t my problem since I have a fixed price.) Now the plumber is working on laying the remaining water pipes and the ventilation system, but unfortunately he has been doing this for over two weeks, and that’s where my problem lies.

Either only one worker shows up and works, or no one comes at all! Then the construction site stops again for two days.

When I asked the head of the plumbing company, he always says his staff are sick and he doesn’t know how he will manage, etc. Apparently, they are handling all the developer’s construction sites, for your information. He also told me that our project is already so far along that it’s not that bad. (Normally, the site manager should take care of this, but he doesn’t.) Unfortunately, we did not agree on a schedule or a completion date for the project because the developer is from a neighboring town and you always want to believe in the best. (I know someone will probably say I brought this on myself, but that doesn’t help me now.) I cannot get an appointment with the site manager at the construction site (he doesn’t even answer his phone) to clarify the situation. Even when the site manager gives phone appointments, they don’t match the reality. (Unfortunately, I have already experienced all this and have had to call every trade to check if the dates provided were correct.)

Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed? What can I do? I don’t want to threaten legal action.

Without fixed deadlines in writing, your chances are slim. Why didn’t you at least agree on a completion date? Even if nothing happens in the next six months, there’s nothing you can do. So keep "pestering" the contractor until they have delivered their work 😉

As I understand it, you are not the builder yourself. You are buying a finished house – do you have any rights in that case?

ypg schrieb:
So, as I understand it, you are not the builder. You are buying a finished house – do you have any rights in that case?

We are building
Excerpts from the construction description "TURNKEY":

Bata schrieb:
We are building
Excerpts from the construction description “TURNKEY”:

Well then 🙂 ... It’s not a property developer but a general contractor / main contractor, so your initial statement is incorrect.
That makes THE difference, and I refer you to nordanney’s answer 🙂

Who is the contracting party? The plumber or the house construction company? Maybe they can apply more pressure. But when it comes to illness, there’s probably nothing anyone can do... and since you don’t have any guarantees, you just have to accept things as they come.