New bathrooms: bathroom studios, intermediaries, and fantasy prices

The suppliers have all price lists from which you get discounts depending on the quantities you purchase. The large sanitary company that buys 500 heat pumps per year from Bumke/Cordes/... simply gets a completely different price than the plumber around the corner who maybe buys 20. That is completely normal, because without a margin on the material, a craft business cannot survive, unless they charge 100% more for the fitter (which then nobody wants to pay, and then there is complaining again).

Why wholesalers only sell to specialist companies is also obvious: in wholesale you have no consultation, no showroom, no large open spaces -> better prices. The complaint rate is almost non-existent because the professional knows what the right product is and orders accordingly. There are simply many things in the sanitary/heating/electrical sector that a layperson should not process. How long would the "warning notices" have to be, how much does a wholesaler have to legally protect themselves to avoid problems if you don’t install the stuff properly? The structures are completely different...

Just order your stuff from Reuter or Amazon - but don’t be surprised if your plumber doesn’t want to install it, because then he also takes over the warranty for inferior goods that he did not procure, from which he makes no profit and that may not fit exactly. That costs a surcharge again.

If you buy Chinese goods and the seal on the toilet becomes brittle after a year and all the crap leaks out, the plumber installed it professionally – who pays for the damage then?

You are partly right. I think most private individuals make a fuss, complain about every little thing, and sometimes make life difficult for companies as well, and companies protect themselves with such structures. However, these structures are very rigid and costly. This is also one reason why construction has become expensive in Germany.

However, most of the time I think a more clever procurement strategy would be worthwhile for most craft businesses. Order quantity is irrelevant. My building technician sells me the heat pump for €10,300. I only need to enter the heat pump in the Google search bar and can buy it for €7,500 including shipping. Almost €3,000 cheaper. This quickly pays off a full-time purchaser earning €4,500 gross per month.

My house technician is selling me the heat pump for €10,300.

and bought it for, for example, €5,800, and now?

The flower and fish vendor also obtains his goods at the wholesale market and has a margin

In our bathroom renovation, the prices were pretty much exactly 20% above the price of common online shops. That was fine with me. In return, I didn’t have to worry about which accessories I additionally needed for installation and didn’t have to take care of anything else.

For small parts like sockets, the margin has to be higher, because if the part only costs a few euros anyway, procurement simply isn’t worthwhile otherwise.

The argument about the warranty is often used to unsettle customers and also to protect the plumbing company from customer complaints, which ultimately turn out to be caused by the customer.

If in your case the prices asked are completely outrageous, I would either address it or simply look for another company. But please check beforehand whether the prices are really comparable and, for example, whether the necessary accessories are included in the total price at the installer that you would otherwise have to buy separately.

Just order your stuff from Reuter or Amazon – but don’t be surprised if your plumber doesn’t want to install it, because then he also takes on the warranty for inferior goods that he didn’t source, doesn’t earn anything from, and that might not fit exactly. That will cost an extra charge again.

That misses the point. I get exactly the models from Reuter and co that were also available in the studio, from reputable manufacturers. If I order those now, I come to 11k euros, and the dealers also make their margin. That is quite a bit away from the studio’s 20k figure through an intermediary business, where no other services besides ceramics, fittings, and furniture are included.

What bothers me much more than the margins, by the way, is the lack of transparency. The studio offered to send me the price breakdown separately so I could compare it with the installer’s offer. After the installer sent me the offer. Just name one reason why they wouldn’t send me an offer before it goes to three resellers.

If you buy cheap crap and the seal on the toilet gets porous after a year and all that mess leaks out, the plumber installed it properly – who pays for the damage then?

Can you tell me from practical experience who covers major damages if everything was delivered from a single source? Let’s assume such a damage occurred, the installed cistern was defective, water leaked for a longer period into the bathroom and masonry. What can I expect – is it the manufacturer of the cistern, the plumber, do I have to go to court? Or does the craftsman come to us and say “Hey Jürgen, that’s unfortunate but sure, we cover it all, we are insured!”?

Fear and doubt are great price drivers.

The flower and fishmonger also fetches his goods from the wholesale market and has a margin

Yeah. But we are not talking about a bouquet for 25 euros here. We are talking about high-priced goods whose final price you can directly compare nowadays. If you see your TV for 1000 euros at MediaMarkt and get it for 800 euros online, you buy it there too. If MediaMarkt said “No, Ute, I can’t tell you how much the TV costs right now, but TV-Tobi will send you an offer in a week, he also gets really good prices from us,” you’d tell them off. But in the construction industry, the clocks still seem to tick differently.

In our bathroom renovation, prices were about 20% above those of common online shops. That was fine with me. In return, I didn’t have to deal with what accessories I needed for installation and didn’t have to worry about anything else.

I would totally agree with that, and the advice in the studio has to be paid for too. It’s not even about the cheapest price and the cheapest goods (those who buy cheap buy twice).

But he would install them? Actually, it results in a mixed calculation because he installs them and gives a warranty on them.
And the invoice naturally includes the warranty. Or did I misunderstand you?

No, he probably wouldn’t. And that leaves the end customer stuck because the specialist company has you pretty much in their power. But the warranty thing is total nonsense. If the box is broken, I have a warranty from the seller. Which is probably trivial in the example of sockets and switches anyway. If the parts were connected incorrectly, I should be able to demand remedy from the electrician even if the parts weren’t supplied by him. There is a relatively clearly defined interface between part and connection in electrics and plumbing. With sockets, that’s usually three screws. A mixer tap has three holes. Two are connected to water and it should be watertight.

Imagine how you would react if your car workshop said during the tire change to winter tires “Well, Herbert, we can’t put on those tires because you didn’t buy them from us, right.”

So yes, it might be normal for craftsmen themselves or those long in construction to see it that way. But if you look into it from the outside for the first time, the whole business model seems odd.