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Drafting general terms and conditions for installation companies involves capturing the core risks of your work—installation, maintenance, warranty, liability, completion, and payment—in clauses permitted by law, which you include with every order. For an installer (central heating, sanitary, climate control), it revolves around five blocks: warranty, liability, completion, payment, and additional work. If you do this correctly, you are in a strong position in the event of a leak, a malfunction after completion, or a non-paying customer. If you do it carelessly, your terms and conditions will fail precisely when you need them.
The short answer
- Applicability: to all quotations, orders, and maintenance, subject to timely delivery.
- Warranty: separate installation warranty (installer) from material warranty (manufacturer).
- Liability: limited to the invoice amount or insured sum, exclude consequential damages.
- Delivery: establish the moment of acceptance and the procedure for defects.
- Payment: installment, advance payment, interest and collection costs.
- Additional work and force majeure: managing unforeseen work and delivery issues.
Drafting general terms and conditions for installation companies: where do you start?
Start with your own practice, not a model. Map out the work you do (new installations, replacements, maintenance, breakdown service), for whom (private individuals, contractors, homeowners' associations), and where things regularly go wrong. These three questions determine which clauses need to be emphasized. An installer primarily dealing with maintenance contracts requires different terms than a colleague who only installs new-build bathrooms.
Only then do you choose a basis: your own terms and conditions or the InstallQ industry terms and conditions as a starting point. Never blindly copy a competitor's terms and conditions — they are tailored to *his* work and risks, not yours.
Block 1: warranty
The warranty provision is the most difficult part for installers, because there are two layers. Therefore, arrange this separately:
- Material warranty: this is handled by the manufacturer (boiler, heat pump, taps). Stipulate that you pass on this warranty, but are not personally responsible for it.
- Installation warranty: on your own work (connections, piping, final assembly). Choose a specific term, for example 12 or 24 months.
- Exclusions: no warranty in case of misuse, lack of maintenance, intervention by third parties, or force majeure.
You may not undermine the statutory rules on conformity and warranty towards consumers; your warranty is in addition to what the law already provides, not in place of it.
Block 2: Liability and delivery
Liability. This is the most financially critical clause. For an installer, water damage or a climate-related/Legionella problem is the major risk. Limit liability to the invoice amount of the relevant job or to the amount your insurer pays out, and exclude consequential damage (business interruption, water damage to contents) as much as possible. This can be strict with business clients; with consumers, the judge assesses against the grey and black lists.
Delivery. Specify when the work is considered delivered and accepted — for example, after commissioning or in the absence of complaints within a short period. Describe how the customer reports defects and within what timeframe. This prevents a customer from raising “remaining issues” months later to delay the final invoice.
Block 3: payment, additional work and force majeure
- Payment: payment term (e.g. 14 days), option of an advance payment or installment invoices for larger jobs, plus interest and collection costs in case of default. For consumers, the statutory maximums for collection costs apply.
- Retention of title: delivered materials remain your property until full payment has been received.
- Additional work: stipulate that unforeseen work (rotted pipe, unusual situation behind the wall) will be charged separately at pre-agreed rates.
- Force majeure: in the event of delivery problems with materials or malfunctions beyond your control, the completion date will be postponed without you being in default.
Provision and applicability
The strongest clause is worthless if the conditions do not apply. Explicitly declare them applicable to your quotation and order confirmation, and provide them in a timely manner: send them along with the quotation or hand them over before or at the conclusion of the agreement (Art. 6:233/6:234 BW). Digital delivery is permitted, provided the client can save them. “Available for inspection at our office” is insufficient for consumer work.
Example. An installer diligently arranges his warranty and liability clauses but only sends the terms along with the final invoice. In the event of a dispute, the judge rules that the terms were not provided in a timely manner — the attractive clauses do not count.
Consumer or business — two regimes
If you work for both groups, consider two sets or a set with a separate consumer module. Clauses that hold up well against a contractor or Owners' Association (broad liability exclusion, short complaint period) may be invalidated against a private individual. A single generic set intended to work “for everyone” is often either too lenient for your business risk or too strict to apply to consumers.
Honest recommendation
Do you exclusively carry out small, standardized jobs for private clients and do you use current InstallQ industry terms and conditions that you consistently send along? Then you can easily handle the drafting yourself — the core is already sound and legal assistance is unnecessary. However, as soon as you want your own terms and conditions, work with business clients, offer maintenance contracts, or deal with serious damage risks (water, climate, legionella), it pays to have your warranty and liability clauses reviewed by a lawyer. A single invalidated clause can easily cost more than the entire review.
Arrange immediately or read on: general terms and conditions for installation companies, what are general terms and conditions for installation companies and have them drafted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with your own practice: what work do you do, for whom, and where do things go wrong? Then arrange the five core blocks — warranty, liability, delivery, payment, and additional work — plus applicability and provision. Choose your own terms and conditions or use the InstallQ industry terms and conditions as a starting point.
Warranty (installation and materials), liability limited to the invoice amount or insured sum, delivery and acceptance, payment with interest and collection costs, retention of title, additional work, and force majeure. For installers, the liability provision is financially the most important due to water damage.
Separate two layers: the material warranty is handled by the manufacturer (boiler, heat pump, taps) and you pass this on without personally guaranteeing it; the installation warranty applies to your own work, with a specific term such as 12 or 24 months. Include exclusions for misuse or interventions by third parties.
Better not. Those terms and conditions are tailored to his work, clients, and risks, not yours. An installer with many maintenance contracts needs different clauses than a colleague who only does new construction. Moreover, there may be copyright objections. At most, use an industry model as a starting point.
Specify when the work is considered delivered and accepted, for example, after commissioning or if no complaints are received within a short period. Describe how and within what timeframe the customer reports defects. This prevents a customer from raising outstanding issues later to delay the final invoice.
Often, yes. Clauses that hold up against a contractor or HOA, such as a broad exclusion of liability, can be invalidated against a private individual via the grey and black lists. If you work for both groups, consider two sets or a consumer module instead of one generic set.
If you expressly declare them applicable and provide them in a timely manner (Art. 6:233/6:234 BW): send them along with the quotation or hand them over before or at the conclusion of the agreement. Digital delivery is permitted, provided the customer can save them. Sending them only with the final invoice is too late.
