DR. JUR. MAR­CUS MERKEL

In the con­struc­tion sec­tor, rising tech­nic­al stand­ards and leg­al require­ments lead to a clear increase in the ser­vices of archi­tects at the plan­ning and exe­cu­tion levels. Both con­tract­ors and cli­ents find them­selves exposed to an increased num­ber of inter­face risks that endanger the suc­cess­ful course of pro­jects. This poten­tial for con­flict can be defused: for­ward-look­ing leg­al advice and con­tract draft­ing cre­ate a safe pro­ject basis for all parties.

We offer you advice in all mat­ters con­cern­ing agree­ments with archi­tects, engin­eers or pro­ject man­agers. You can rely on the con­struc­tion-related expert­ise and leg­al foresight of our experts in archi­tec­tur­al law in the nego­ti­ation, draft­ing and review­ing of con­tracts. We sup­port typ­ic­al prob­lems such as remu­ner­a­tion and liab­il­ity issues from the draft agree­ment to sup­ple­ment­ary agree­ments in a solu­tion-ori­ented man­ner. In doing so, we always fol­low the prac­tic­al and eco­nom­ic require­ments of con­struc­tion work; we prefer timely avoid­ance of con­flicts and the extraju­di­cial set­tle­ment of con­flicts of interest wherever pos­sible. Our firm is author­ised for the medi­ation of con­struc­tion mat­ters and also rep­res­ents you in arbit­ra­tion pro­ceed­ings in a leg­al capacity.

Our key ser­vices in archi­tec­tur­al law

• Advice on con­trac­tu­al issues, espe­cially on:
• the form­a­tion and ter­min­a­tion of the contract,
• the poten­tial invalid­ity of the con­tract, as well as the review­ing of viol­a­tions against leg­al provisions
• the scope of ser­vices and pre­cise details of the contract
• replace­ment orders
• Advice on remu­ner­a­tion mat­ters, espe­cially in rela­tion to:
  — remu­ner­a­tion bands and remu­ner­a­tion rates
  — the ser­vice phases
  — the arrange­ment of a flat fee or hourly fee
  — the min­im­um and max­im­um rates of the HOAI
  — the chargeable costs of a con­struc­tion project
  — the pos­sible arrange­ment of a per­form­ance fee
  — all spe­cial issues con­cern­ing remu­ner­a­tion, espe­cially in the case of plan­ning changes or a rejec­ted plan­ning application
  — the final invoice and matur­ity of the claim
  — any action for the recov­ery of fees sub­mit­ted by the architect
• Advice on liab­il­ity issues, includ­ing the judi­cial and extraju­di­cial rep­res­ent­a­tion of archi­tects, engin­eers, pro­ject man­agers and their liab­il­ity insurers