"That's a lot?" or "If I had known that beforehand!" are not uncommon reactions to labor cost estimates. The roof covering has suffered damage during a storm, the rented apartment needs to be renovated after a tenant moves out, or the paint on the windows needs to be renewed. No written contracts, no negotiations about prices, the tradesman starts work "on request" and later presents an invoice that the customer considers to be excessive.
Do you have to accept this invoice amount?
The legal situation is clear. All of the above-mentioned contracts are service contracts in the sense of §§ 631 ff BGB. If remuneration is not explicitly discussed, Section 632 I BGB helps the craftsman with a true-to-life fiction: remuneration is deemed to have been tacitly agreed if, according to the circumstances, the service is only to be expected in return for remuneration.
Regarding the amount of remuneration, § 632 II BGB refers to local custom. In plain language, this means that, for example, the time spent on all small orders is usually to be paid at the usual hourly rates (in the craft sector 40 - 50 euros) plus the cost of the materials used. Whether the time was objectively necessary is difficult to determine later. However, as long as the customer cannot prove that time was wasted, he has to pay for the proven effort. A side note: In the case of small orders, case law considers it common for the actual travel times incurred to be charged.
The bottom line is that there is no need to pay an extortionate price, but the situation is quite favorable for the tradesman.
Sometimes the customer asks about the price and receives a written or verbal statement of the expected costs. What should you do if the bill is significantly higher than expected?
First of all, it is important to distinguish between the situation in which the parties have effectively agreed on a fixed price. This only applies to the case in which the tradesman, as an expert, provides a non-binding calculation of the costs that are likely to arise. This can be done by means of a written cost estimate, but it can also be done verbally in such a way that the roofer, when asked, states that the problem has been identified and that the repair will cost no more than €500.00.
If an invoice for €1200 is presented after the successful repair, the customer is not obliged to pay this amount. According to § 650 BGB, the client of a work performance has a special right of termination if a cost estimate is significantly exceeded. In any case, an overrun is deemed significant if the invoice is more than 25% above the cost estimate. According to § 650 II BGB, the tradesman is obliged to protect the customer by informing him immediately if a significant overrun of the cost estimate is to be expected, so that the customer can decide whether the work should still be carried out under these changed conditions.
If the tradesman fails to provide this notification and incurs the higher costs without consulting the customer, he is only entitled to remuneration in the amount of the cost estimate plus the permissible overrun. So the roofer only gets €625.00, although €1200.00 would be objectively justified.
This unpleasant situation for both sides can be avoided if the customer and the tradesman only conclude the binding contract when the costs have actually been determined.
The customer should therefore initially only request a binding cost estimate in which the costs are specifically itemized. If the work cannot be estimated with certainty, the tradesman should be just as careful with cost estimates as with fixed price agreements and should first get an overview, if necessary by careful examination.
However, the entrepreneur should be careful here: According to § 632 III BGB, the preparation of a cost estimate is not to be remunerated in case of doubt. This also applies if elaborate investigations have to be carried out or plans, calculations, etc. have to be prepared for the production. The tradesperson should therefore agree verifiable remuneration, preferably in writing, for the preparation of the cost estimate if special effort is required.
Recommendations:
Customer:
No job without a price agreement or at least a cost estimate.
Tradesperson:
No cost estimate without careful price calculation, but always a clear indication if the cost estimate will be exceeded.
Tradesman:
If preparing the cost estimate incurs costs and effort, agree on a separate fee for the cost estimate.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.