Renovation Contract Review: What a Lawyer Checks
A renovation contract is small in format but not in risk: refurbishing an apartment or office is work of the same legal nature as construction, and the rules of the contract for work in the Civil Code apply to it fully. In reviewing the contract a lawyer checks several blocks: the construction of the agreement and the remuneration rules, the question of personal performance, responsibility for materials, the duty to warn, and the regime of estimate overruns. Each of these blocks is a real foundation of renovation disputes.
The Construction of the Agreement and the Remuneration
The foundation is Article 629 of the Civil Code: by a contract for work the contractor undertakes to perform the work envisaged by the contract, while the customer must pay the agreed remuneration. Where the work includes producing something from material procured by the contractor, ownership of the product passes to the customer, and for a generic thing the rules of sale apply. The preparation of an estimate is not reimbursed unless otherwise agreed. The remuneration regime continues in Article 630: remuneration is deemed tacitly agreed where by the circumstances the work is expected only for remuneration; where the amount is not agreed, a tariff rate applies if a tariff exists, and in its absence the customary remuneration. Precise fixation of the price in a renovation contract is therefore essential: otherwise the market's customary price will govern.
Personal Performance
The specificity of renovation is that the consumer often chooses a particular craftsman. Article 632 of the Civil Code tests this expectation against the law: the contractor must perform the work personally only where this follows from the concrete circumstances or the character of the work. This means the general approach is free: involving a team is allowed, but where the customer chose the contractor because of a specific craftsman's skill, this circumstance substantiates a demand of personal performance, and such an expectation should be written into the contract.
Responsibility for Materials and the Duty to Warn
Materials are the central theme of renovation disputes. Article 646 of the Civil Code contains two rules: where the contractor performs the work with its own material, it answers for material of poor quality; the contractor also answers for incorrect use of the customer's material and must present the customer an account of the consumption of material and return the remaining material. This means that precise determination of the source of the material in a renovation contract is critical: whose material it is, who selects it and who reports — each answer determines the subsequent allocation of responsibility.
The value of a qualified craftsman lies precisely in seeing danger in time. Under Article 647 of the Civil Code, the contractor must warn the customer in good time that the material received from the customer is of poor quality and unusable, that following the customer's instructions the work will be unstable or unusable, or that another circumstance threatens the durability and fitness of the work. If the customer does not react despite the warning, the contractor may refuse the contract and demand compensation of damage. Written fixation of the warnings protects both parties, and when reviewing the contract the procedure for this correspondence should be provided for in advance.
Overruns of the Approximate Estimate
The most disputed line in a renovation price is additional work. Article 631 of the Civil Code sets the balance here: where the contractor significantly exceeds the approximate estimate, it may demand only the agreed remuneration, except where foreseeing the excess spending in advance was impossible. The contractor must immediately notify the customer of an increase that could not have been foreseen at the conclusion of the contract. Where the customer terminates the contract because of the increase of the estimate, it must pay for the performed work according to the approximate estimate. This norm determines how far the final price may grow and who answers for unexpected costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked about renovation contracts.
Must the contract be in writing?
A written form makes the description and proof of a dispute easier; an oral agreement demands additional evidence.
What happens when the approximate price is exceeded?
The limit of the overrun and the decision rule must be provided for in advance.
May the work be delegated?
An agreement on the personal character of performance should be written into the contract.
Who answers for the materials?
The contract determines the allocation of responsibility — an exact separation is essential.
How We Help on Legal.ge
Our team reviews renovation contracts from the negotiation stage onward: we structure the remuneration block with regard to the tariff rules, fix the source of the material and the accounting procedure, write in the warning-correspondence procedure and balance the risks of estimate overruns. Contact our specialists so that your renovation contract is protected from dispute from the very first day.