Payment on delivery - Experiences?

Sounds dubious to me that the companies only start working once they have been paid. To me, that sounds like your provider has difficulties paying invoices or has taken longer in the past to settle invoices. That is not common practice. I would be cautious. Right now, my alarm bells are ringing very loudly.

Good day,

The contract does not specify whether it is according to the Building Code or VOB. I suspect that it is then the Building Code.

You can believe that in church; that’s where it belongs! As you have described it so far, it is more likely a VOB contract.

I was told by the provider that the companies sometimes only start working when the money is in the account (which seems even more strange to me). After delivery and performance, he can do it too, but then he would get worse prices; since I have a fixed price, that is actually not my problem.

That says a lot about the parameters you used when choosing your contracting partner.

Nevertheless, I certainly will not simply pay an amount greater than 20,000 in advance.

If you accepted the contract as it is – confirmed by your signature –, you have no other options than to pay the demanded amount within the agreed payment term (alternatively the payment term on the invoice). So you should free yourself from statements like the above, because you have no legal grounds for them ;)

PS: please take a look at the entry under your nick on the left

Rhenish greetings

Since I also have serious concerns about such a contract design (the contract was probably not reviewed, right?), I could make you another offer:

If it is an GmbH, one could take a look at the company's registry for the latest financial statements to see how the company has performed in recent years. Although this only provides limited information, since a lot could have happened since the last submitted balance sheet, at least one can estimate somewhat how risky the construction with the company is. If you have no knowledge of financial statements, you can also send me the name of the company via PM. Then I will take a look at what I find.

Hello construction expert & musketeer,

as a layperson, unfortunately I cannot tell whether it is VOB or the Building Code (neither is mentioned in the contract)

Unfortunately, the contracting party was not a free choice, as usually 100 applicants come for one plot of land with us. And the contracting party secured such a plot.

The exact wording is:

"Payments from the client are to be made according to the invoice. Thereafter, the invoice amount is due as follows:

Euro XXXX upon delivery of static calculations
Euro XXXX (material) / YYYY (assembly) upon delivery of windows
Euro Xxxx upon rough construction acceptance
Euro XXXX upon delivery of trades according to their payment requirements/installments"

for me, upon means at the earliest on the day of delivery. Since this is difficult with larger amounts, I naturally have to transfer beforehand. But what happens if the delivery date is not met?? And the next question is whether it is actually correct from an accounting perspective to issue an invoice before the service is provided (which would be the case here)? I myself have a small interface to accounting in my job and therefore I know that in industry between business to business customers, invoices are usually only issued after the service has been provided (exception: prepayment)

....well, I will now wait until the first invoice arrives.....

Unfortunately, the provider is not a GmbH...

Regards

There is no accounting problem since you are not entitled to input tax deduction. Therefore, §14 USTG, which describes the mandatory components of the invoice, does not apply to you. And even there, the only issue would be the date of service, and you could indicate the expected date of service.

I believe we don’t need to discuss this any further at this point. You signed the contract as it is, so you are obliged to comply. No one can tell you how the company will react if the money, for example, arrives in the account 2 days later. In my opinion, according to the Building Code, the wording is even lawful; regarding VOB, I cannot say anything.
For this, you would need advice from a lawyer and could also ask about the consequences of deviating from the contract. Such a letter from a lawyer or a short phone call can sometimes work wonders and costs peanuts compared to losing a whole installment in the event of the construction company's insolvency.
If you have a construction supervisor, they could also support you again because, in my opinion, the money should only be transferred after acceptance of the individual trades.

Alternatively, I would try to negotiate a compromise with the company again. For example, 50% of the money is in their account on the day of delivery, and the rest is paid immediately after acceptance/determination of actual delivery.
Here it would be necessary to look at how high the individual installments are and whether 50% of the installment could be borne if necessary.
But it also depends somewhat on the payment plan, so you don’t end up advancing too far already, whether you possibly have a completion guarantee, etc.
If you post the complete payment plan, Bauexperte might be able to review it again.