The automobile club ADAC tells drivers to write down every job in the repair order, together with the completion date. Je genauer der Werkstattauftrag schriftlich formuliert ist, desto besser lassen sich Streitigkeiten vermeiden. The more precisely the order is written, the easier it is to avoid disputes. It also advises setting a written cost limit. A court case shows the limit holding. A customer asked a workshop to find and repair an electrical fault, with an agreed limit of 2,000 euros. The workshop claimed the limit had been raised to 5,000 euros orally. In August 2013 the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe ruled that the customer owed no more than 2,000 euros. A note on the order without his countersignature proved nothing.
Special Requests
Anyone who builds a prefabricated house in Germany soon learns the word Sonderwunsch, special request. The building description fixes the standard specification. The guide site fertighaus.de puts it simply: Abweichungen davon sind Sonderwünsche, departures from it are special requests. They usually cost extra. The examples are familiar to every builder: more sockets and data connections, underfloor heating instead of radiators, Parkettfußboden anstelle standardmäßig Laminat, parquet instead of the standard laminate. Changes agreed before signing always belong in the building contract.
The Building Description
A builder who builds a house for a private customer in Germany must first hand over a detailed Baubeschreibung, a building description, in text form. It must arrive before the customer signs. Section 650j of the Civil Code requires it, and the introductory act to the Civil Code lists what it must contain. This includes the type and scope of the work, plans with room and floor areas, the energy, fire and sound insulation standard, the construction of all main trades, the interior finish and the building services. It must also give verbindliche Angaben zum Zeitpunkt der Fertigstellung, binding information on the completion date. The description becomes part of the contract, unless the parties agree otherwise. Any remaining doubt about what it covers counts against the builder.
Slimmed-Down Bids
A public client in Germany may also describe only the requirements a building must meet and leave the design to the bidder. This is called a Funktionalausschreibung, a functional tender. In April 2023 the audit office for municipalities in Baden-Württemberg published a notice on it. It cites the legal literature: the description with a bill of quantities is the normal case, and the functional tender is die stets begründungsbedürftige Ausnahme, the exception that always needs a justification. Among the risks, the auditors name Abmagerungsangebote, slimmed-down bids. When a lump-sum price is agreed and the standards of execution are not set precisely enough, bidders can trim the standard to their own advantage.
The Bill of Quantities
A German construction job is broken down in a Leistungsverzeichnis, a bill of quantities. The work is divided into numbered positions. The numbers run in ascending order. Each position states a quantity and a unit, such as square meters of plaster or meters of cable. The bidder writes a unit price into every position. The document holds all the information needed to set the price.
No Longer Exhaustive
For large public contracts in Germany, Section 121 of the Act against Restraints of Competition long required the subject of the contract to be described so eindeutig und erschöpfend wie möglich, as clearly and as exhaustively as possible. A law to speed up public procurement took effect on 1 July 2026. It removed the word erschöpfend, exhaustive. The description now only has to be clear. The chamber of commerce in Erfurt gives the reason critics had put forward. For complex and innovative purchases, a description worked out to the last detail is often neither possible nor useful.
Their Words Hold
On 20 January 2012 the general assembly of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Rostock adopted a guiding statement for honorable merchants. Ehrbare Kaufleute achten die Gesetze und halten Verträge sowie Abreden ein. Ihre Worte gelten. Honorable merchants respect the laws and keep contracts and agreements. Their words hold. They versprechen nur das, was sie auch halten können, promise only what they can keep. They are interested in caring for business relationships with customers and suppliers over the long term. In Hamburg, the Versammlung Eines Ehrbaren Kaufmanns traces its roots back to 1517. It meets at noon on New Year’s Eve, and more than 2,000 people attended the assembly at the end of 2014.
Complain at Once, or It Counts as Accepted
Under § 377 of the German Commercial Code, a business that buys goods from another business must inspect them without delay after delivery. If a defect shows, it must notify the seller without delay. If it does not, the goods count as approved, unless the defect could not have been found on inspection. For a company, this means incoming deliveries must be checked right away. The same principle appears in other areas of law. A company bidding for a public contract that recognizes a violation of the rules must complain to the contracting authority within ten calendar days, or it loses the right to a review. In a civil trial, a party that knew of a procedural error and did not object in time can no longer raise it.
The District Chimney Sweep
Each chimney-sweep district in Germany has its bevollmächtigter Bezirksschornsteinfeger, the chimney sweep appointed for that district. Since 2013 owners may hire any chimney sweep for routine work such as measuring, sweeping and cleaning. Some tasks stayed with the district sweep alone. He carries out the Feuerstättenschau, the inspection of all fireplaces and heating systems in a building. The law requires it twice during his appointment, no sooner than three years and as a rule no later than five years after the last one. He also checks newly installed heating systems. Owners who miss the deadlines in his written notice risk a fine of up to 5,000 euros.
The Exam Verbs
German school exams use Operatoren, operators. These are verbs that tell the student what a task demands. The lists differ from state to state and are based on recommendations of the Standing Conference of Education Ministers. Each verb has a written definition. In a physics list from North Rhine-Westphalia, nennen, to name, means to list objects, facts, terms or data without further explanation. Begründen, to give reasons, means to confirm something in a logically stringent and complete way. Beurteilen, to assess, means to form an independent judgment using subject knowledge and subject methods, and to give reasons for it. A 2019 paper by Eike Thürmann finds that the system is less exact than it looks. The same verb is sometimes defined differently in different subjects.