Kitchen surcharge after order placement

We are not talking about signing incentives like "sign now, only valid today." It's about a surcharge, x months after signing. This is a completely different instrument with a completely different goal.

However you pass the costs on to your price, someone will not like it. The kitchen studio could have just factored in the 4.5% right away and then set a "guaranteed price." Then the price is simply a bit higher from the start. would have only expected that the entire terms and conditions would have been explained to him verbally - and yes, that would certainly have been better. The fact that this did not happen is no reason for me to get upset.

We are possibly talking about additional costs amounting to approximately €300-500!? We ourselves have negotiated a lot, calculated, planned, but still, there are small additional costs everywhere that simply have to be factored in. I would generally plan for 5-10% additional costs from the start.

This way, you don’t have to renegotiate harshly with the individual trades. Saving €400 and ending up with a disgruntled craftsman is not worth it to me. We didn’t haggle down to the last euro (although we negotiated very good prices), the craftsmen were constantly supplied with fresh coffee, water, and cake, and in return, a few things were repeatedly done quickly or slipped in additionally by the craftsmen present outside of the contract.

Saved 400 € and ended up with an annoyed craftsman, not worth it to me.

I fully agree with you on that, but the actual craftsmen in this case will have no idea what the customer previously negotiated with the planner/salesperson and therefore are happy to accept coffee and trucks without prejudice :)

I fully agree with you there, but the actual craftsmen in this case will have no idea what the customer previously negotiated with the planner/salesperson and therefore are happy to accept coffee and trucks without prejudice :)

Yes, that is true in this case. But there are also small companies where the boss is sometimes on the construction site, or you can quickly call the boss to see if this or that can be adjusted or if a small piece of sheet metal, for example, can be included... We had several occasions where satisfied craftsmen/bosses helped us quickly and uncomplicatedly. The best example was a roofer for a carport. He had already covered the house and garden shed. When covering the carport, there suddenly were no formwork boards or only at higher prices. But then he quickly got a delivery of 22mm (instead of 18mm) at the same price. He passed it on to us without a price increase (they were stronger boards), even though we would have paid more ourselves if necessary.

Interesting topic. I am basically on Hampshire's side - cooperation at eye level is the most nerve-saving way in all cases.

Partially, however, I really don't understand the argumentation here and I find it very one-sided. From my point of view, sales costs are part of the overhead costs, which I allocate to my services/products using a key. Now, demanding planning may sometimes result in a negative outcome - but the art is to generate a profit through the companies on average. Similarly, in my opinion, price increases in material costs behave in a certain way to some extent. Arguing such things afterwards is difficult and at least entrepreneurial questionable. However, I am also aware that contracts are often not worth the paper they are written on.

Here, it is even argued that inflation is at 4% and thus such business practices are more or less legitimized. Then the other way around: If I sign a contract for a kitchen today with 4% inflation currently and at the time of the actual order inflation is at 1%: Should the company give me the difference (3%) back?