Drafting General Terms and Conditions for Roofers

General terms and conditions for roofers are the standard conditions used by a roofing company, roofing specialist, or roof maintenance company for quotations, roof inspections, roof repairs, roof renovations, maintenance, and emergency leak repair. They regulate recurring agreements regarding payment, additional work, scheduling, safety, completion, warranty, maintenance, leaks, and liability.

These terms and conditions are not the same as the specific quotation or contract for services. The quotation describes which roofing work will be performed, at what price, and under which project agreements. The general terms and conditions govern the legal rules that apply to multiple assignments.

MKB Juristen drafts general terms and conditions for roofers that align with your activities, clients, materials, and warranty practices. We look specifically at roof inspection, leakage, bitumen, EPDM, PVC, maintenance, weather conditions, handover, and liability.

General terms and conditions are important as soon as you regularly perform roof inspections, issue quotations, carry out roof repairs, fix leaks, install roofing, offer maintenance, or provide a warranty on roofing work. In roofing practice, disputes often arise regarding the cause of leakage, the scope of the warranty, overdue maintenance, hidden defects, additional work, and water damage.

For roofing companies, good terms and conditions are particularly beneficial because many risks only become apparent during or after the work. Examples include old roof layers, wood rot, insufficient slope, clogged drains, storm damage, faulty previous work, or roof penetrations by third parties.

The content depends on your activities and clients. In many cases, we assess or arrange, among other things:

• validity of quotations and assumptions of roof inspections;
• payment terms, down payment, installment invoices, call-out charges and emergency rates;
• additional work, hidden defects and modification of the assignment;
• weather conditions, drying time, planning and safe working conditions;
• accessibility of the roof, scaffolding, fall protection and access;
• choice of material, bitumen, EPDM, PVC, insulation, roof tiles or zinc work;
• supplier warranty, performance warranty and warranty certificates;
• roof maintenance, inspection obligation, cleaning and clogged drains;
• delivery, repair points, photos and commissioning;
• leakage, emergency repair, emergency measures and follow-up assignments;
• solar panels, roof penetrations, skylights and existing installations;
• liability for water damage, consequential damage or damage to third parties;
• application of VEBIDAK terms and conditions or own terms and conditions.

The roofing industry often works with industry terms and conditions, such as VEBIDAK terms for business contracts or consumer terms. Such conditions can be a useful basis, but they do not automatically suit every roofing company or every project.

Your own general terms and conditions may be necessary if your working methods, warranty practices, choice of materials, emergency service, maintenance contracts, or clients deviate from standard industry terms and conditions. Furthermore, you must prevent different sets of terms and conditions from being used interchangeably or contradicting one another.

We therefore assess whether your own terms and conditions, VEBIDAK terms and conditions, consumer terms and conditions, or additional project terms and conditions best suit your roofing work.

Warranty on roofing work must be described concretely. It must be clear whether the warranty covers watertightness, workmanship, materials, repair of defects, or a combination thereof. It must also be specified which situations are excluded from the warranty, such as overdue maintenance, damage caused by third parties, storms, misuse, modifications by others, or existing defects.

Moreover, in roofing, material warranty and workmanship warranty operate side by side. The supplier can provide a warranty on materials, while the roofing company is responsible for the workmanship. Good terms and conditions clarify this distinction and, where necessary, link the warranty to maintenance, inspection, and the proper reporting of complaints.

In the event of a leak, urgency is often required. However, not every emergency repair is a permanent solution. Sometimes, only a temporary emergency measure can be taken until further investigation or a full repair is possible. General terms and conditions must therefore distinguish between inspection, emergency repair, permanent repair, and follow-up work.

It must also be clear how consequential damage is handled, such as damage to the interior, stock, installations, or business downtime. Such damage can be substantial and is not always proportionate to the price of the roofing work. Therefore, a careful liability arrangement is important.

A roof does not remain in good condition by itself. Roofing, gutters, downpipes, seams, roof penetrations, and connections must be inspected and maintained periodically. Failure to perform maintenance can affect the warranty and liability.

General terms and conditions for roofers can therefore specify what maintenance is required, when inspection must take place, how defects must be reported, and when the warranty may become void. This is particularly important for flat roofs, roofs with many penetrations, green roofs, roofs with solar panels, or commercial roofs.

General terms and conditions do not automatically become part of an assignment. You must declare them applicable before or at the time of concluding the agreement and give the client a reasonable opportunity to read the terms. In practice, this means: sending them along with the quotation, including them in the order confirmation, or offering them via a clear download link.

Merely referring to terms and conditions on the invoice is usually too late. Moreover, with business clients, contractors, or Owners' Associations, you must be very careful if the client uses their own purchasing or contract terms and conditions. If you wish your own terms and conditions to apply, you must clearly declare them applicable and expressly reject the client's terms and conditions.

Do you work for consumers, Owners' Associations (VvEs), and business clients? If so, you must take various legal and practical considerations into account. Consumers enjoy stronger protection, while business clients more frequently work with their own purchasing terms or project terms. In the case of Owners' Associations, there is also the question of who is authorized to issue orders and how decision-making and payment are regulated.

Therefore, a single general set of terms and conditions is not always ideal. Sometimes separate terms or separate provisions are necessary for private clients, homeowners' associations, business clients, and subcontractors.

Do you already have general terms and conditions for your roofing company? If so, we can check whether they still align with your activities, clients, and warranty practices. We examine, among other things, applicability, payment, additional work, leakage, maintenance, warranty, completion, weather conditions, safety, liability, and the relationship to VEBIDAK terms and conditions or other industry terms.

We also assess whether the terms and conditions are used in practice. A well-written text is of little use if the terms and conditions are not included, are not listed in the quotation, or do not align with your work orders, warranty certificates, maintenance agreements, and invoices.

After a brief intake, we discuss your roofing company, activities, clients, materials, quotation process, warranty practices, maintenance agreements, and key risks. We then draft custom general terms and conditions for roofers or review your existing terms.

You will receive terms and conditions tailored to your practice, with attention to payment, additional work, roof inspection, leakage, weather conditions, maintenance, warranty, completion, safety, liability, and correct use in quotations and order confirmations.