New approaches to collaboration and remuneration

December 2024

The revised service and fee regulations (LHO) of the SIA mark significant progress in the construction and planning industry. With the harmonisation of the SIA 102, 103, 105 and 108 regulations, the focus has shifted to greater cooperation, accompanied by clearly defined service descriptions and innovative approaches to fee agreements.

The current revision of the SIA’s service and fee regulations sets a new milestone in construction planning. For the first time, the regulations for architecture (SIA 102), civil engineering (SIA 103), landscape architecture (SIA 105) and building services engineering (SIA 108) have been harmonised. This harmonisation is intended to strengthen cooperation between the disciplines and avoid misunderstandings caused by inconsistent terms or service descriptions. The basis for this is a common phase model and the clear allocation of functions such as overall management, specialist planning, construction management and construction supervision.

Clear terms – fewer misunderstandings
A central focus is on the standardisation of terms. For example, the term “creative construction supervision” replaces the previously different use of “creative management” and “construction supervision”. These adjustments are intended to minimise confusion and facilitate communication between the specialist areas. Specialist coordination for building technology and installations is also regulated more clearly. It is defined as a separate service to be agreed and can be undertaken by different specialists depending on the project.

Future-orientated fee agreements
The fee calculation based on expenditure-determining construction costs that was previously used has been replaced by a method-neutral approach. This takes project-specific features into account and enables transparent adjustment of fees to individual requirements. The new Article 7 of the LHO describes in detail which criteria should be included in the calculation, thereby creating a basis for legally secure and fair fee agreements.

Consultation until 2025
The consultation on the new LHO will run until 28 February 2025. Interested parties can view the drafts and further information on the SIA website and submit comments.

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