Price increase - Our construction company wants 21.4% more

normally I really like your way of writing, but lately you are really overdoing it. It’s often really borderline :(

Back to the topic:

I see essential features of a doorstep transaction fulfilled

I absolutely don’t see it. §312g clearly says to me, "outside of business premises". The price increase was consciously negotiated and finalized here inside the business premises. If desired and at all possible, something other than the "doorstep transaction paragraph" would have to be found.

Well, information is a duty to fetch, not to deliver. Since January, the pig of price increases has been galloping through the new housing developments - I would have sought a conversation by March at the latest to find out what to expect. And I wouldn't have calmly gone to a sample selection two months after the end of the price lock. We have asked the trades several times since the beginning of the price explosion whether the calculations are still correct. That is also part of building.

Well, information is a pull obligation, not a push obligation.

Sorry, but I see that quite differently. It is a fundamental push obligation of the service provider, not of the customer! Unfortunately, one keeps noticing that the word "service" no longer means much around here. But I refuse to accept this as the norm.

So we are at about 2500 euros/sqm in the south of Baden-Württemberg.

Included are

- Basement with waterproof concrete (“white tub”)
- Electric shutters everywhere (living area with venetian blinds)
- Lighting and blinds controllable via Digitalstrom
- Guest WC with tiled shower
- Laundry chute
- Half-landing staircase
Etc.

Not included
- Groundworks
- Additional construction costs

We are building with a regional general contractor and all companies are located within a radius of about 15 km.
However, he also sticks to the price he promised us in September 20 with the offer.

Hi, I am looking for a general contractor in southern BW (between Offenburg and Freiburg). What you say sounds good—can you somehow tell me the name?
Thanks GD

It already makes a significant difference whether a lawyer knocks or the customer himself. A lawyer is not so easily convinced that his rubber boat can only capsize from the start. The customer himself is easily prematurely scared on the high seas and feels hopeless against the whale.

As I said, I am a lawyer myself and know how it works. Of course, the knocking came from the lawyer, but that made (as expected) no difference.
It is rather the case that they look at: how big is my counterpart. Whether the lawyer then comes or not is rather less relevant here.... it just seems to be part of the business model in the construction industry.
If I were a licensed lawyer in Germany, I would stir up hell all over the place, regardless of whether I win or not. Even if I thereby "only" cause him costs and trouble..... yes, that's how far we've gotten. But that no longer belongs to the subject :D

The construction industry is simply a filthy mess with very few honest/good ones. That is why it should be cleaned up legally. Consumer protection is not what is urgently needed due to lack of expertise. No, what the law currently provides is seller/manufacturer protection. I presume to say this because even the big pharmaceutical companies (where I have worked) do not dare such behavior.... not even with the smallest partners. On the one hand, because there is no legal fooling freedom there and on the other hand, because there is a certain amount of respect prevailing. The construction industry has lost all scruples. Unfortunately, that is my experience. I am happy for everyone who has still found good and honest construction companies/craftsmen.

Sorry, time limit for processing exceeded, so here it is afterwards: Just as an example: The common 14-day right of withdrawal in [D] is not comparable and I don’t want a right of withdrawal or anything like that now, but it shows what is theoretically possible in terms of consumer protection.....doesn’t have to be that extreme.