Facts
The defendant, owner of the property Gbbl. No. xxx, intended to renovate it, divide it into floor units, and sell it to end-users. He received a building permit on March 20, 2003, which was due to expire in March 2007. In the fall of 2006, the defendant first contacted the [B. AG] (plaintiff). On February 15, 2007, the parties signed an agreement with the following content: [B. AG] will develop a renovation project with a cost estimate on a submission basis for the project 'Umbau [L.] '.
The project will be submitted to the building permit authority through a project change procedure and will serve as the basis for creating a general contractor offer. The approximate construction costs amount to around CHF 4 million (plus/minus CHF 150,000.00) according to an initial cost estimate. If the general contractor offer exceeds this cost framework, this agreement is null and void. [B. AG] undertakes to execute the project at a fixed price after submitting the definitive general contractor offer.
If, after obtaining the building permit for the aforementioned object, no general contractor contract is concluded between the parties, the project plans and the corresponding cost calculations for the fixed price of CHF 150,000.00 will be transferred to the ownership of Mr. [A.] .
On December 14, 2007, the plaintiff submitted a general contractor offer to the married couple [A.] for the construction of a new turnkey building for a fixed price of CHF 4,150,000.--; the offer was valid for 60 days. No rejection of the project or formal complaints were raised within the offer validity period.
On June 9, 2008, the plaintiff invoiced the defendant for its expenses according to the agreement of February 15, 2007.
The Regional Court of Bern-Mittelland upheld the complaint, ordering the defendant to pay the costs and compensation. The defendant appealed to the High Court of the Canton of Bern.
By decision of December 21, 2011, the High Court overturned the decision of the Regional Court of Bern-Mittelland of April 8, 2011, and instructed it to obtain an expert opinion on the question of whether the construction description of December 6, 2007, and the services according to the cost estimate of December 14, 2007, regarding the construction project '[L.] ' met the minimum standard of a project for a turnkey building or not.
The High Court of the Canton of Bern upheld the complaint by decision of September 9, 2013, and ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff CHF 150,000.-- plus interest and lifted the payment order in the enforcement proceeding No. yyy of the enforcement office Bern-Mittelland.
Considerations
The Federal Court has combined the appeals in the proceedings 4A_523/2013 and 4A_527/2013 and treats them in a single judgment. The defendant complains that the lower court did not adequately address his arguments and incorrectly…