The deal allowed Hochtief 40 months to complete the project and set a new fixed price of $739 million, including about $45 million for design. The city puts its additional reorganization cost at $329 million, and Hochtief has written off losses of $108 million on the project, says a spokeswoman. Elphilharmonie's tribulations could have been prevented had there been "willingness at the beginning to plan the building in its final form and only then to procure," said Mayor Scholz, when the new contacts were signed.