Have you thought about reinforcements lately?

A commissioning for external construction management and quality assurance costs a builder-owner initially 3 % of the pure construction sum (but without property costs, plus possible expenses and travel costs). For example, with a construction sum of 250,000 EUR, this results in costs for construction management of 7,500 EUR net (plus VAT). If the external construction manager is to take over operative or controlling tasks, additional costs will be incurred depending on the effort involved.

Due to the high expenditure of a construction management and the usual hourly rates between 65 EUR to 100 EUR per hour in Germany and 100 CHF to 200 CHF in Switzerland, the assignment in the hourly expenditure is naturally an expensive solution, which wants to be well considered.

For private building owners, the use of an experienced external construction manager instead of an architect is always worthwhile when the architect has little practical experience with the handling of construction projects or is not (no longer) available at all, which can be the case more often with conversions, for example. In the case of a lack of trust, an external construction management can also come into play as a control authority or take over certain tasks in a targeted manner.

For commercial building owners, the use of a professional external site manager or construction manager is particularly worthwhile during peak order periods or in the case of special projects and demanding situations that could overtax their own staff in terms of expertise and time.

Depending on the order and the workload, we can offer hourly rates between 75 CHF and 175 CHF. Just ask us!

The commissioning of a client-side construction supervision is in itself voluntary and leads to extra costs (depending on the scope of services of the construction supervision) of approx. 0.5 % – 3.0 % of the construction sum. These costs can, of course, be considerably lower than the costs of undetected construction defects and their subsequent rectification.

The local construction supervision of the executing construction company monitors the processes on the construction site, controls the safety and efficiency of the work processes, as well as the quality of the individual work steps and acts exclusively in your interest. It usually costs nothing, as its costs should be covered in the unit prices or in a lump sum of the respective work contract.

A construction manager, regardless of whose side he is on, is always obliged to implement and hand over a commissioned construction work in accordance with the building permit, the planning, the performance specification and the recognised rules of technology. If this does not succeed, the responsible site manager can, if necessary. personally or the contracted construction company are liable for it.

The construction manager shall also be liable for a defect of a contractor if, within the scope of his construction management activities, he would have had the opportunity to ensure that the defect would not have occurred by means of inspections and/or other measures.

Within the scope of his construction management activities, the construction manager has the duty to enforce the interests of the client. Together with the client and the architect, he is obliged to define the service to be provided by the contractor and to check whether the service provided meets the requirements. If he finds that the performance does not meet the requirements, he is obliged to intervene until the performance is duly corrected.

If the construction manager carries out insufficient checks and therefore fails to detect a defect in a contractor which he could have detected if he had checked carefully, then he is in breach of the existing construction management contract with the client.

In the event that the construction manager breaches the contract and the owner suffers a loss as a result, the construction manager is automatically liable for the loss suffered by the owner.

Unlike freelance construction managers, the construction manager of a construction company is often not impartial and is usually even bound by instructions.

There is no list of checks defined by the lawyers which the site manager must carry out. The checks to be carried out by the site manager are based on the quality assurance manuals and on the experience of the site manager. The construction manager does not have to control every detail. However, he must control all those points which experience has shown to be likely to lead to failure in the event of incorrect execution. In particular, these are interfaces between the work of different contractors and critical points for the functioning of the building. For example, during concreting, the proper laying of the reinforcements or, in the case of a compact façade, the proper bonding of the panels, clean butting of the panels, etc.

Most site managers, when brought into the law on these grounds, have little sympathy for the fact that they are being blamed for a contractor’s misconduct and now have to answer for a mistake that was not their fault but that of the contractor.

However, they do not take into account that even a site manager, if he insufficiently controls a contractor’s work, makes a mistake and becomes liable from this mistake.

The construction manager’s liability is not reduced by the fact that someone else also made a mistake. If the contractor is no longer solvent and therefore cannot be held responsible for the errors for which he is responsible, then the construction manager will be held accountable for the full damage that he could have avoided if he had worked carefully.

The creditor then has the opportunity to bring both the contractor and the construction manager to justice. The creditor will in the first place take into law the person from whom he expects the greater ability to pay. Whether it’s because he’s more solvent or because he has better insurance coverage.

It is true that the construction manager who has been found guilty may subsequently assert a claim against the contractor by way of recourse. However, this involves a great deal of effort, expense and a very large risk should the contractor become insolvent.

It follows that:
The site manager must not only perform administrative tasks as part of his site management activities, he must also carefully check the work of the contractors. The construction manager must always know what work is critical and could lead to failure. He must know where his own expertise may be insufficient for the inspections and for this reason he must request the client to have these inspections carried out by a specialist.

The general term construction supervision also includes the function of construction management and object supervision. In the concrete sense of public law, however, building supervision is carried out by the building supervisory authorities, which are concerned with the enforcement of building regulations and building planning law. Building regulation law in Germany is state law, i.e. it is regulated independently by each federal state in the state building regulations. Building supervision is part of the regulatory law and serves to avert danger. The building supervisory authorities shall take the necessary measures within the scope of their duties. Which authorities are responsible for building supervision is determined by the respective LBOs. In most cases, however, the administrative districts and independent cities are responsible. In some federal states, such as Baden-Württemberg, larger district municipalities are also responsible for building supervision.

Almost all state building codes (except in Bavaria and Brandenburg) make the appointment of a site manager mandatory for construction measures that do not require a procedure. The building owner is obliged to name the site manager to the responsible building supervisory authority (BauAB).

However, appointing oneself as a construction manager does not help, because according to §59a a construction manager must have the necessary expertise and experience to carry out his tasks.

The LBO does not contain any specific requirements for the expertise and experience of the construction manager. Usually, this person himself or his client is responsible for ensuring that he has the necessary knowledge, i.e. that he is at least a master craftsman, technician or engineer.

As a job description, the site manager must demonstrate sufficient professional qualifications. An architect is not required. Suitable would be appropriate education and experience so also a civil engineer, foreman, experienced craftsman, experienced draftsman with construction management experience, technician, etc.

Clients and site managers always disagree on how often a site manager should be on site.

If one interprets the established case law in Germany, the architect or specialist engineer in charge of the construction is not obliged to be permanently present on a construction site.

Depending on the size and organisation of the construction site and the activities involved, the need for a site manager to be present in person can vary considerably.

As a rule, the construction management of the executing company should always be on site during any construction activity, but this may already be adequately covered by a qualified foreman.

Since a site manager must always maintain an overview of the construction site and document important processes, regardless of whether he is on the executing side or the side supervising the construction, there is always an obligation to visit the construction site regularly and to monitor the progress and quality of the work. The essential tasks therefore include not only the coordination of the construction site, but also the documentation of the construction process, ideally in the form of a construction diary.