Kitchen surcharge after order placement

Hello everyone,

we received our final offer for our kitchen yesterday and now we found the clause on the offer:

"The offer is valid until 28.02.2022. If the kitchen is accepted from 01.03.2022, we unfortunately have to charge a price increase surcharge of 4.5%!"

I don’t quite understand?? If I order the kitchen now, then I commit to the price of the offer and of course I do not accept any surcharge. We are expected to move in April/May – so it is quite possible that the acceptance of the kitchen will not take place by 01.03.2022.

The dealer’s response to this was that the kitchen should be taken into stock until February next year, meaning the kitchen would have to be measured accordingly in good time as soon as the plasterer has been there. Then it might still work without a surcharge.

We are really very very very satisfied with our kitchen builder, but I really think this is totally unacceptable. What experiences have you had with this? Is something like this actually common?

Yes of course, although I find 4.5% a bit steep but okay.

Your options are: cancel the order, negotiate the price, or accept. Or consider this:

You think you will move in April/May, a lot can still happen until the kitchen people really arrive to set up. If you have relatively a lot of space, you can offer the following to the kitchen builder. He should deliver to the construction site by February, then it will be stored there until all the trades have made the necessary preparations, then he can come and set up on call – if the 4.5% is for storage.

then it will be stored there until all trades have made the preparations,

Who pays then in case of loss or damage? I suppose the kitchen guy will not (be able to) allow that.

We ordered yesterday with planned delivery for mid-March. There was no surcharge discussed. The kitchen was ordered directly and the parts are kept in stock. What is the collaboration worth to you? Are you already over budget, and is this therefore a hard pill for you to swallow?

yes of course, although I find 4.5% somewhat steep but alright.

Your options are: cancel the order, negotiate the price, or accept it. Or consider this:

You believe you will move in April/May, but a lot can still happen before the kitchen people are really there to install it. If you have relatively a lot of space, you can propose the following to the kitchen builder. He should deliver to the construction site by February, then it will be stored there until all trades have completed the preparations, then he can come on call and install - if the 4.5% is for the storage.

4.5% sounds like a lot at first, but it is normal in the current situation. As a rule, increases of at least 15% upward are currently passed on to the customer. There are reportedly builders, and I count myself among them, who had to pay 10% on top of the pure construction costs, then we quickly talk about 30k upwards, otherwise it won't be built.

Projected onto your case, it could mean that you either accept the 4.5% or you won't get the kitchen as desired. Maybe you can negotiate 50/50 with the kitchen studio.

We ordered yesterday with planned delivery for mid-March. There was no surcharge for price increases mentioned. The kitchen was ordered directly and the parts are kept in stock. What is the collaboration worth to you? Are you already over budget and is this therefore a hard pill for you to swallow?

Yes, I see it that way too? He can order the kitchen without measuring beforehand, can’t he? There are plans he can refer to, right?

According to his statement, it is also probably because if they can measure the kitchen in time beforehand, no costs will be incurred?

But you have probably already ordered now and the parts are taken into stock?