Law governing contracts for work and services

The contract for work and services is one of the most frequently concluded type of contracts. It is not only in the building sector (building contract, architect’s contract, engineering contract, prefabricated home agreement, real estate development or turnkey contract) but also in a multiplicity of other situations that a contract for work and services is concluded such as a:

 

  • demolition or wrecking contract
  • waste disposal contract
  • recycling contract
  • towing-off contract
  • advertising contract
  • transport or shipping contract
  • salvage contract
  • funeral contract
  • printing contract
  • EDP contract, hardware and software contract
  • building-cleaning service contract
  • expert and surveyor contract,  arbitrator’s expert opinion contract
  • inspection contract
  • repair contract         
  • assembly contract
  • project control contract
  • repair contract (motor vehicle repair contract, PC repair contract,   

    machine repair contract)

  • restoration contract 
  • chimney-sweeping contract 
  • livestock breeding  contract                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
  • publishing contract
  • maintenance  service contract (motor vehicle maintenance service  

   contract, PC maintenance service contract, heating system

   maintenance service contract).

 

Our expert lawyers for building and planning and architects’ law are first of all focusing their attention on the drafting of pertinent general business terms and conditions, and then just as well on the verification and/or review of existing terms and conditions. In this context special problems are faced in cases where both contracting parties are respectively using their own general business terms and conditions when these are contradictory to or even in conflict with one another.

  Problems are also arising if the performance rendered by the entrepreneur (contractor) is defective, deficient or incomplete. Cases of this nature are subject to statutory warranty rights (remedy of defects or deficiencies by re-working and repair or replacement, price reduction, rescission of contract as

well as claims for damages). In these respects it is also necessary to equally study and verify the respectively valid warranty provisions. This applies in particular when it comes to the issue of actions which are to be considered in view of the applicability of the statute of limitations.

 

Depending on the type of contract and the parties’ status (consumer / entrepreneur) the law provides for different periods of limitation.

 

In the case of major projects (e.g. the construction and installation of complex machinery) problems can also arise as early as in the course of the production phase. In such cases it is necessary to scrupulously check and verify whether the contract for work and services should be terminated by the customer already during the production phase, or whether the contract should rather be modified to adjust it to changed conditions by means of pertinent supplements or addenda. In situations of this type it is frequently claims for damages on which parties’ interests are focused, such as, e.g. lost profits, or useless/futile expenses.

In many of these cases it is then the requirements which are defined in the performance and targets specification to which special significance is to be attributed.

 

In the case of contracts or agreements the scope of which cannot be defined or determined from the very beginning on because of their complex nature a frequent issue is the dispute concerning the amount of a remuneration or indemnification which is to be paid. It is particularly in these situations that it is necessary to find an answer to the question whether an additional remuneration can be asked for from the principal.

 

 

 

Other legal areas around Commercial and Corporate Law