Service providers always prepare a cost estimate when the customer wants to know in advance how much he will have to pay for a service.
How to create the cost estimate
The legislator has regulated the characteristics of the cost estimate in the German Civil Code (BGB) in a legally binding manner. A cost estimate is initially non-binding unless it is expressly stated otherwise. In the case of binding cost estimates, service providers are obliged to adhere to the stated costs and services. The following aspects should be included:
- The planned work should be described in detail in terms of type and scope.
- The expected working hours required should be specified, along with the associated costs and the number of workers.
- All required materials and material costs should be listed.
- The expected or planned working period should not be missing.
- If additional trades are involved in the work, information about this should also be included.
- All information must be accurate and correct. Ten to 20 percent of additional costs later on are considered a significant cost overrun.
- In addition, additional costs must be announced to the customer in good time. After this, the customer has the right to terminate the contract.
Use templates
Purchasing invoicing software brings the following benefits:
- It contains ready-made templates in numerous variations that can also be customized.
- Not every document needs to be created anew.
- Offers can easily be converted into invoices later. You can still change items that were processed differently than planned.