Four roles, one responsibility
Being involved in the budget says nothing yet about who decides on it. The overview below separates each role's task from its basis and from what it cannot take on.
| Role | Task for the budget | Basis | What does not pass over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bauherr (the client) | set the budget, approve, release, instruct, commission | own decision; for federal projects RBBau A.3.2 | responsibility for the building project |
| Architect or designer | design within the cost expectations, determine and compare costs | design contract; basic services under Annex 10 HOAI | the decision on the budget |
| Projektsteuerer (project controller) | perform delegable client functions, report, coordinate | contract; service profile under the industry standard | the decisions of project management |
| Cost reviewer | independently recalculate and assess cost determinations | contract | the designer's responsibility for the determination |
The client decides
The federal guidelines put the principle in one sentence: "The client is responsible for the building project" (RBBau A.3.2, the Richtlinien für die Durchführung von Bauaufgaben des Bundes, or federal building guidelines; unofficial translation, as are all quotations in this article). There is no comparable rule for private clients, but the logic is the same: nobody but the client can set the budget, release a reserve or decide that an additional amount will be accepted.
This gives a simple working rule. Anything that changes the amount, the scope or the base date of the budget is a decision for the client and is documented by the client or by a person expressly authorised to do so. Everything else, meaning calculating, checking, reporting and preparing, can be delegated.
What the designer owes
The architect designs within the client's Kostenvorstellungen (cost expectations), even if these are only roughly outlined. On the trend of published case law, the architect must set out the economic framework as early as the Grundlagenermittlung (establishing the basis of the project); doubts about its extent are for the architect to clear up, and the cost expectations regularly become part of the contract if the architect does not object to them (BGH, judgment of 21.03.2013, VII ZR 230/11, as reported in the BGH press release).
The HOAI (Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure, the fee regulations for architects and engineers) describes what the designer should calculate and compare. In Annex 10, the basic services include a cost estimate with "comparison with the financial framework conditions" (LPH 2), a cost calculation compared with the cost estimate (LPH 3), cost checks against priced bills of quantities and tender results (LPH 6 and 7), and cost control of the contractors' invoicing and the final cost statement (LPH 8). For LPH 1 it provides no basic service on costs. Which services the regulations cover at all is the subject of the article on the scope and limits of the HOAI.
Comparing is not deciding. The designer shows the deviation; what happens to it is for the client to decide.
What a project controller can take on
In the professional literature, Projektsteuerung (project control) is a staff function: it covers the delegable client functions, not the decision itself. Projektleitung (project management), as a line function, takes the decisions. The HOAI contains no service profile for project control, so its scope and remuneration follow from the contract. What else the regulations leave open is summarised in the article on what the HOAI does not govern.
An independent cost reviewer is something else. The reviewer recalculates and assesses but does not steer. The two roles can be combined or kept apart; what matters is that the contract says who reports, who checks and who signs none of it.
Who signs what
Four decisions move the budget, and each has its own basis. Some of the form is laid down by law; some is only strongly recommended.
| Decision | Basis | Form | Signature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approval of the planning basis and the cost assessment | s. 650p(2) BGB | submitted "for approval"; written approval advisable | client |
| Release of the cost estimate and the cost calculation | design contract; comparisons under Annex 10 HOAI | set out in the contract, in writing | client |
| Instruction to make a change | s. 650b(2) BGB | text form, after 30 days without agreement | client or an expressly authorised person |
| Commissioning a variation | construction contract; under s. 2(5) VOB/B, the agreement "should be made before execution" | in writing, with a price | client or an expressly authorised person |
Approval under s. 650p(2) BGB (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, the Civil Code) is the first budget decision of the project. With it, the client accepts the Kosteneinschätzung (cost assessment) as the planning basis. The special right of termination under s. 650r BGB lapses 2 weeks after the documents are submitted, and for a consumer only once the consumer has been informed in text form; the details are in the article on the target-finding phase.
With instructions and variations, the risk usually arises on site. An oral promise from the site manager or the project controller that nobody authorised becomes a question of evidence in a dispute. A client who lets third parties act on their behalf therefore sets out in writing what they may do and up to what amount.
The articles in this branch
- Project control and client representation: who does what: the distinction between project management and project control, the costs and financing field of the industry standard, the tasks that stay with the client and the public sector counterpart in the RBBau.
- The private client: consumer construction contract, developer contract and budget: the protective rules for consumers, the 90 per cent limit on instalments, the 5 per cent security and the particular features of the developer contract.
This article reflects the state of the rules on the date of checking and is intended for professional guidance. It is not a substitute for legal advice or for an examination of the individual case.