General Contractor Agreements

Peter Harlander
Harlander & Partner Rechtsanwälte „Ein gut ausgestalteter Generalunternehmervertrag erspart Ihnen viel Zeit, Mühen und vorallem Kosten“

Numerous points must be regulated and considered within the framework of a general contractor agreement:

Subject matter of the contract

In advance, the parties must clarify what the specific contract should include. The more detailed the pre-contractual agreements and coordination, the better a description can be made in the contract.

Type and scope of services of the contractor / cooperation of the client

One of the most central elements in a general contractor agreement. It must be precisely recorded which services are to be provided by the contractor and how far these service obligations extend. It is also recommended to record where and to what extent cooperation from the client is necessary or intended.

Completion date / contractual penalties

The agreement of a completion date is also absolutely central. This is the only way to enable realistic planning for both parties.

In the event of default – if a service is still outstanding on the fixed completion date – the agreement of contractual penalties is recommended. These should be tailored to the respective service in terms of their amount and should be chosen so that a payment would hurt the debtor noticeably. Anything else would run counter to the purpose of a contractual penalty.

Remuneration / payment modalities

It must also be regulated how high the remuneration claim is that the contractor has against the client and how or on what dates the payments are due.

Acceptance

The acceptance of the service is an important instrument. On the one hand, it is intended to ensure that the client actually receives what he has commissioned and may already have (partially) paid for; on the other hand, the warranty period begins for the contractor from this point in time.

It is recommended that a specific procedure is already contractually provided for the acceptance in order not to fall into discussions about the procedure at a later point in the project.

Warranty/ Liability

Especially in the B2B sector, there are extensive optimization possibilities both in the area of warranty and liability (keyword: damages). Simply “settling” for the statutory regulation is absolutely not necessary and not recommended.

Regulations on termination (ordinary / extraordinary), jurisdiction (particularly relevant in the case of foreign contracting parties) and foreign employees and the associated obligation of the contractor to register them with the social security in compliance with the regulations are also common in practice and should be regulated.

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