Your money

When you pay for the house that has been built for you, you don’t pay with clipped, defective or damaged money worth less than the face value of the currency units handed over, do you?

So, if you pay with good money, it seems obvious that you should receive a product as good as the money you hand over in return.

If you commission someone to build you a house (not a mansion, simply a house, your house), what you are doing is entering into a contract with an obligation of result, since its object is not simply the work effort, but the “result” of that work.

You accept that you have to pay the price of the works once they are finished.

But do the architect, the quantity surveyor and the building contractor really keep their side of the bargain as you do, carrying out the agreed works with the characteristics appropriate to their purpose, so that they can be deemed “acceptable”, that is, so that they meet normal standards of fitness and suitability?

If that is not the case (or only partly so), be in no doubt, and be firm about it: you must demand it.

What you commissioned was the design, management and execution of the works on your home, in accordance not only with what was agreed but also with today’s social reality, the rules of good construction practice and professional customs and standards, so that it meets the appropriate conditions of fitness and suitability.

As we have said, the object of the architect, quantity surveyor and building contractor is not simply the work effort, but the result of that work, that is, in short, its sound technical execution.

And don’t be misled: the mere existence of a project “stamped” (visado) by the professional association of architects, or the granting of a “building licence” based on it, or the issue of a “certificate of habitability” by the authorities, ARE NOT enough to consider the commission to design and build your “detached house” properly fulfilled.

You did not only commission the relevant professionals to design and build a detached house “and hand you a project with the administrative permits”, but also to manage the execution of those works and certify that everything was carried out as designed. For that commission you paid real money in fees, progress certificates and invoices, for both the project and the works management, and in return they must hand over a well-built house, fit and suitable to live in, nothing less.