The contractor wants to issue an invoice for planning services

He (BU) must prove entitlement to remuneration and not just acquisition activity

If someone wants to get paid for preparing a quote, since this understandably involves effort, that is perfectly fine. But then this must be communicated to the customer in advance, as well as which price is being charged. Nothing of the sort was ever expressed to us.

Thank you for your opinions!

In the current order situation, I find it more than cheeky to consider this as free of charge.

It is cheeky of the general contractor to suggest a service as free and then demand a price for it.

If it is offered for free, then it is something else.

He offered his service without a price. For me, that is free of charge.

In my view, an offer preparation is the listing of the service and the handing over of the standard construction service description; this does not necessarily include the creation of a floor plan and certainly not the request to customize the construction service description. You simply demanded too much and generated effort, and he let it happen, which he now wants to be compensated for without a business agreement. Again, if it had been an architect, you would have had to pay for it without question even without a written agreement, solely based on the verbal request for the floor plan creation, i.e., with the wording "can you create a draft for us" (even if you cannot use it).

It is cheeky of the GU to suggest a service as free and then ask for a price for it. He offered his service without a price. For me, that is free.

Did he really? Do you know if the GU said, I will create a draft for you free of charge? Or does the TE just assume, based on his other experiences with other GUs, that he should/must have done it for free. But I'm not saying that you should pay it without resistance, you can also try to sit it out and talk it away.

So discussing and adjusting the construction service description is part of the price negotiation. The car dealer doesn’t ask for an extra €50 just for firing up the configurator to check the price.

The drafts are a bit more difficult, but we also received 2 drafts so that prices aren’t discussed in a vacuum. We made the first real adjustment when it was clear to us that we wanted to sign. But I still believe that if he wants money for the draft, he should say so beforehand. Usually, such drafts are not individual but simply taken from the drawer or catalog if the manufacturer is large enough. It’s similar in our company as well. If a customer wants a normal demo, that’s regular sales effort. If he wants a customized demo, a price for a PoC is negotiated.