The contractor wants to issue an invoice for planning services

Thank you for your responses. We have not yet received the invoice, so I cannot say anything about the amount. We are no longer using his drafts. For our current planning, we have started again from scratch with another complete provider.

In one matter, I probably expressed myself unclearly: we have not yet received building application documents and structural calculations from him. I only meant that his fixed price would have included these services as well.

The idea that he could charge for preparing his offer never occurred to us. As a client, you must be able to obtain and compare offers from companies.

Yes, he adjusted the draft and the construction description. But in the end, both would have had to be correct for us in order to make any assessment of his offer. If someone does not provide information on manufacturers, quality grades, etc. in their construction description, I do not know whether the offered price is overpriced or justified. Therefore, we wished for a specification of the construction description.

Not for a quote, you are right about that. But usually yes, for a finished draft with incorporated change requests.

Do you mean a house plan by draft?

Seems very strange to me, and as long as you haven’t signed anything and it hasn’t been mentioned in any email that the initial planning is already chargeable, I wouldn’t pay that either. A friend of mine, who is building at the same time as us, had three companies propose floor plans and each time had them revised once; only one wanted to charge for this, but they communicated this clearly from the start and also had her sign a one-sided document. Unexpectedly, she decided against this company and then also paid the fee as agreed, which was around 1,000 euros. We already had our floor plan, but we also had a construction company revise the building specifications and the offer twice; in total, we met three times at the show house park. Also there: it was never mentioned that this would cost anything, and nothing was charged when we canceled. Otherwise, for example, you wouldn’t be able to have a visualization done in any kitchen studio without having to buy the kitchen right away.

So with us, two construction companies wanted 1000-2000€ for the sketches and preparing the offer, because it involves a lot of work after all. However, we only obtained offers from companies where this service was free. In all cases, it was clearly communicated what the cost was or that it was free.

Basically, I am of the opinion that offers should usually be free of charge and continue to be so.

It is simply the case, and this can also be seen with architects who are supposed to create draft after draft and revision after revision without a contractual basis, but then are not commissioned, that it is justified to issue an invoice and also to pay it. So why shouldn't this be the case with a general contractor? In the current order situation, I find it more than cheeky to consider this as free of charge. If it is offered free of charge, then it is something else.