Surcharge for light gray exterior facade ok?

Hello dear forum members,

we are building with a local general contractor. When inquiring about a light gray exterior facade, an additional cost of €3500 would be incurred.
An acquaintance (also in the construction industry) said that such light tones should not be charged.
I would now like to hear more experiences/opinions – is this normal or not?

In our construction specification, the following is stated:
"The mineral exterior plaster is therefore applied as a white premium plaster on a full-surface base coat. To prevent cracking, various substrates are properly reinforced. The surface is textured with a grain size of 2-3mm using a scratch finish."

Thank you all and best regards

A friend (also in the construction industry) said such light colors must not be charged.

Then ask him where that is stated. To my knowledge, we still have freedom of contract in Germany ;) Any general contractor can offer a specification different from the construction service description as they wish. It's an offer from the general contractor - you don't have to accept it.

With us, all colors with a light reference value > 30 were included. But as the previous poster already said: The contract may also state that you want your Mettwurst as a sanitary color. Freedom of contract 4 the win.

Then ask him where that is stated. As far as I know, we still have freedom of contract in Germany ;) Any general contractor can offer equipment that deviates from the construction service description as they wish. It's an offer from the general contractor – you don't have to accept it.

Might have been an unfortunate choice of words with "may." Of course, he CAN charge for it; the question is rather how fair it is and whether we can possibly negotiate that ;)

Fair only exists in sports. You can try to negotiate, but you have an extremely weak negotiating position.

A friend (also in the construction industry) said that such light tones must not be charged.

The surcharge prohibition on light tones from 1871 applies only on the left bank of the Rhine in predominantly Protestant communities.