ᐅ Final invoice for heating and plumbing

Hello,

now that our construction project is practically complete, the final invoices are slowly arriving. Among them is the one from our heating and plumbing company, from which we also purchased our air-to-water heat pump.

The original quote showed us the price of the heat pump. This was an all-inclusive price including installation and commissioning, although this was not separately listed on the quote (however, it is not specified for any part of the quote, as the labor costs are included within the quantities for pipes and materials).

Now, when checking the final invoice, the price matches the original quote, but an additional item has been added as a special charge:

- Commissioning flat fee for customer service of 350 € net

During the commissioning, staff from our heating installer and technicians from the heating company were on site. To what extent should our heating installer have informed us beforehand that we would have to pay extra for the installation team? Or shouldn’t I have received an invoice from the installation team directly instead of from the heating installer?

The heating installer must surely be aware that customer service visits during commissioning involve extra costs, so I find it questionable that this was not communicated to me, but is now being charged. According to the quote, I assume the heating system would be delivered and commissioned, or am I mistaken? This amount is not exceeding my budget, but 350 € net is not insignificant, especially considering that there are other questionable charges as well.

Hello,

Orschel schrieb:

The original offer showed us the price of the heat pump. This is an all-inclusive price including installation and commissioning,

If the offer for the air-to-water heat pump does not mention commissioning, you are mistaken, and the costs for it are not covered by the quoted price.

Orschel schrieb:

During commissioning, people from our heating installer and technicians from the heating company were on site. To what extent should our heating installer have indicated beforehand that we would have to pay the installation team separately?

This is the well-known issue: what is not included in the contract is considered not purchased. Not exactly fair play, but also not as rare as assumed. This clearly reveals the differences between various providers. Furthermore, it is another reason why the additional construction costs and contingency reserves, which I always emphasize, make sense.

That a heat generator is usually commissioned by the manufacturer should be well known in my opinion. With new technologies—such as the air-to-water heat pump—most companies are overwhelmed and uniformly leave this task to the manufacturer; this costs money.

Orschel schrieb:

This amount does not exceed my budget, but 350 net is not insignificant, aside from the fact that other items are also questionable.

Then talk to your heating installer and see what you can negotiate.

Regards, Bauexperte

Great, but this just makes me doubt some contractors again. The typical home builder is usually an amateur and assumes something that isn’t correct. The heating company knows this, takes advantage of it, and in the end, their quote was cheaper than those from companies that fairly and transparently disclosed all prices and costs. That really frustrates me.

Just as an example, when I order a pizza delivery, it doesn’t say that the pizza is baked beforehand, and then you receive the raw dough and have to pay extra for baking... The pizza maker could also say: “It’s not stated anywhere, and acceptance doesn’t count…”

Aside from that, I expect my architect to point such things out to me...

Apart from that, you can’t just turn things around and say: I won’t pay because I wanted a friend who knows his stuff to handle the commissioning (whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter). After all, I would have had to hire an external company for the service anyway, right? Anything that has to be done separately from the contract should have been approved by me...