ᐅ Which tasks should be carried out by an external structural engineer?
Created on: 15 Feb 2018 09:23
H
Herr SteinH
Herr Stein15 Feb 2018 09:23Hello Everyone,
We are now close to signing a purchase agreement for a plot of land. I am starting to think about the next steps. For a long time, I had the following plan:
- independently obtain offers from 5 to 6 home builders
- review the offers with an expert and select the best one for us
- commission the chosen builder to carry out the construction
- hire an expert for independent construction supervision
I have already found an expert I would consider for construction supervision based on recommendations from others. The expert is a civil engineer and offers almost the full range of services for home construction – consulting, planning, tendering, awarding contracts, and construction management (he has been personally active in all these areas).
Now I am considering that the architects at the home building companies may primarily represent the interests of the builder and might not be motivated to design a house offering the best value for money – the main thing being that we build with them. Also, the offers might not be directly comparable because each company applies its own standard for all unspecified details.
Therefore, I thought about asking the expert about possible optimization options for the house design. However, he would likely charge this as a planning service, so the question arises whether it might be more sensible to do the house planning directly with the expert. In this option, the plan would look like this:
- plan the house with the expert, probably up to the creation of detailed specifications (bills of quantities)
- obtain offers from home builders based on these specifications
- and the rest as above...
I have the following questions:
- Is the second option significantly more expensive than the first, or would the builders offer lower prices because they no longer have to provide planning services?
- Is the potential savings from good planning enough to justify the additional cost of having the expert do the house planning?
- Which approach do you consider more reasonable? Where would you draw the line between what the expert does and what the home builder is responsible for?
Thank you very much in advance!
Best regards, Herr Stein
We are now close to signing a purchase agreement for a plot of land. I am starting to think about the next steps. For a long time, I had the following plan:
- independently obtain offers from 5 to 6 home builders
- review the offers with an expert and select the best one for us
- commission the chosen builder to carry out the construction
- hire an expert for independent construction supervision
I have already found an expert I would consider for construction supervision based on recommendations from others. The expert is a civil engineer and offers almost the full range of services for home construction – consulting, planning, tendering, awarding contracts, and construction management (he has been personally active in all these areas).
Now I am considering that the architects at the home building companies may primarily represent the interests of the builder and might not be motivated to design a house offering the best value for money – the main thing being that we build with them. Also, the offers might not be directly comparable because each company applies its own standard for all unspecified details.
Therefore, I thought about asking the expert about possible optimization options for the house design. However, he would likely charge this as a planning service, so the question arises whether it might be more sensible to do the house planning directly with the expert. In this option, the plan would look like this:
- plan the house with the expert, probably up to the creation of detailed specifications (bills of quantities)
- obtain offers from home builders based on these specifications
- and the rest as above...
I have the following questions:
- Is the second option significantly more expensive than the first, or would the builders offer lower prices because they no longer have to provide planning services?
- Is the potential savings from good planning enough to justify the additional cost of having the expert do the house planning?
- Which approach do you consider more reasonable? Where would you draw the line between what the expert does and what the home builder is responsible for?
Thank you very much in advance!
Best regards, Herr Stein