Residential building insurance reduces payout

Concrete question. How much does the actual invoice differ from the offer?

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Invoice corresponds exactly to the approved offer. Unfortunately, timesheets were missing but were subsequently submitted after complaints.

My interpretation: As often, the insurance is looking for a hair in the soup to save money. Unfortunately happens in case of formal errors. How to deal with it, I don’t know, only know it from stories.
Very annoying.
I think it’s good that you don’t shift it onto the craftsman!

For my understanding, it is like this: the craftsman makes a binding offer for the insurance, they approve it, and off we go. In the end, the invoice is paid. If there is additional effort, it must then be clarified additionally with the insurance. Even a damage assessor on a car cannot see everything, and additional costs often arise during the repair. Specific question: how much does the actual invoice deviate from the offer? This is all vague here.

It does not deviate at all Offer amount = Invoice amount.

The insurance or rather the assessor had doubts at the time whether the hours from the offer were really necessary. However, they still approved and requested proof upon billing. The insurance then received the timesheets upon request after billing. However, they were not signed. I confirmed the amount in writing. I was only instructed to review and check the reports. No indication regarding the timing or the form. So I see no reason to refuse us full compensation. Are there legal grounds that oblige the craftsman to have the timesheet signed?

So... the craftsman has carried out the work that your insurance is supposed to pay for. Accordingly, you have to prove this. Then the craftsman did not give you a time sheet after completing the work, and you also did not countersign anything. Weeks later, the craftsman fills out his time sheets retroactively but does not sign them, and you confirm to the insurance in writing that this is correct...

The insurance... and any other company that is supposed to pay for the work of third parties as well... now naturally wonders how the craftsman still knew exactly how long he was on site after weeks and why he did not sign for it. To outsiders, it looks like he did not want to sign because he knows it is not correct. Without a signature and stamp, a friend of yours could have filled it out...

The insurance is not doubting the quality of the work, but the amount of work... and you unfortunately really messed up there. There is no other way to say it. If a craftsman does something, even if only for half an hour, you must always(!) get a time sheet with a signature and countersign it if necessary... otherwise, three weeks later you get a bill for 4 hours, and you have no proof that it is not correct...

Oh, I see. And a vehicle painter of course does not charge an insurance company 280 EUR/hour. All insurance companies have maximum rates for labor costs in the fine print. As a rule, the insurance companies suggest independent workshops that fall within the covered hourly rates. Anyone who wants to go to the authorized workshop charging 280 EUR/hour simply does not get the full labor costs reimbursed.

The insurance... and any other company that is supposed to pay for the work of third parties as well... of course wonders now how the craftsman still exactly knew after weeks how long he was on site each time and why he did not sign for it.

But that would only be a strong argument if the insurance had not already approved precisely that number of hours beforehand. What kind of fraud is it when you deliver exactly what was agreed? A signature does not change that. You would have a point if suddenly more hours were on the sheet.