New building type E should make building in Germany simpler and cheaper
The German federal government aims to make building in Germany easier and cheaper - Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann presented the draft for a reform of the building contract law. Construction companies should be able to deviate from "comfort standards" in the future, which have been "recognized rules of technology" so far. The potential cost savings amount to up to ten percent according to the Justice Ministry.
"Good housing does not depend on whether every single DIN norm is observed", explained Buschmann. In the construction industry alone, there are currently around 3000 such requirements, which construction companies adhere to out of fear of lawsuits. Regulations of public law and building contract law currently hinder simple building.
Anyone who builds in Germany must adhere to the "recognized rules of technology" - these are not precisely defined, they result from jurisprudence, as the Justice Ministry explained. Therefore, what has proven to be effective in practice is legally secure. Courts assume that all DIN norms belong to the "recognized rules of technology", even non-statutory ones.
The draft law for the reform of the building contract law, which was published on Monday and is called the Gebäudetyp-E-Law, provides that "pure equipment and comfort standards" will no longer automatically be "recognized rules of technology" in the future. Such "comfort standards" include, for example, the number of sockets in a room or the norm temperature of 24 degrees in the bathroom. Therefore, in the future, these comfort standards only need to be observed if it is explicitly agreed in the contract.
The draft law complements the "guideline for simple and cost-effective building" of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, which was presented last week. The over 70-page "practice document" provides helpful tips "from the concrete slab to the socket". Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Klara Geywitz emphasized that with Gebäudetyp E, building will become cheaper for the industry, consumers will benefit from lower prices.
There will be no savings on safety, as the Justice Ministry assured. "Building safety will be ensured through public law provisions." For safety-relevant technical norms, a statutory presumption should be expressly assumed in the future that they belong to the "recognized rules of technology" that must be observed.
- With the proposed Gebäudetyp-E-Law, construction companies in Germany may no longer automatically need to adhere to "pure equipment and comfort standards," such as the number of sockets in a room or the norm temperature of 24 degrees in the bathroom, which could potentially lead to new building cost savings.
- The German Justice Ministry concluded that the potential cost savings from deviating from "comfort standards" in construction could reach up to ten percent, citing the Gebäudetyp-E-Law as a potential solution for making building in Germany easier and more affordable.
- Despite the aim of the German federal government to make building in Germany cheaper, the draft law for the reform of the building contract law ensures that building safety will still be ensured through public law provisions, thus ensuring that cost savings do not come at the expense of safety in construction projects in Germany.
