Flat rate

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The package price ( English flat rate ) is in the economy , a price which for the acquisition or use of a product or a service regardless of the requested amount or timing recourse is levied and paid.

General

While the purchase price usually represents the consideration for a specific product , the flat-rate price is intended to signal that it includes several partial services or that it is independent of quantity or time. It must be clarified between the contracting parties in the delivery conditions which partial services are included in a flat rate and which are not.

Flat rate and “flat rate” are often used synonymously; the flat rate ( english flat price ) corresponds to the translation of the English word. The anglicism flat rate is the special form of a non-linear tariff , in which several components of a price system are combined in a flat rate.

In pricing policy, a distinction is made between flat-rate prices and their contrast between performance-related (linear) prices and inclusive or complete prices, modular pricing systems and flat rates. As an instrument of pricing policy, flat-rate prices are intended to induce the customer to use a certain product or service, even if the duration or intensity of use has not yet been determined. The price risk lies with the provider because when the contract is concluded, he cannot reliably calculate whether and to what extent the customer will use the product or service.

species

Flat rates are available in almost all economic sectors :

They all have in common that when the price is set it is not yet clear whether and to what extent the customer or consumer will use the service. When calculating the price , the flat-rate price must therefore be based on experience .

Special features in construction

The flat rate is particularly common in the construction industry for construction work or construction contracts . If a lump sum is agreed for the entire construction contract, this is referred to as a flat-rate contract . In the case of a flat-rate agreement, there is no need to measure or determine the quantity of the individual services. The contracting parties thus save themselves an often considerable accounting effort. The flat rate, like its unlike unit price , is a fixed price unless otherwise agreed. However, this only means that the construction work is offset by a fixed, flat-rate consideration . However, if the construction work changes beyond a simple change in dimensions, the flat-rate price must also be changed.

In § 2 VOB / B the flat rate is referred to as the “flat rate”. A flat rate must be expressly agreed, because otherwise the unit price is to be invoiced. Here it is a fixed price, with which the client and contractor consciously take the risk that there will be no subsequent change to the flat rate in the event of over- or under-performance. Its purpose is to give the client security about the construction costs when calculating .

A flat rate as such does not say anything about the scope of the services to be provided and to be remunerated with the flat rate. The scope of services results from the service description contained in the construction contract . This can be detailed if the contract contains, for example, a specification of services originally created for a unit price contract and detailed implementation plans (“detailed flat-rate contract”). The service description can be rather superficial and only provided with construction plans (“global flat-rate contract”).

The building contractor always assumes a certain risk, albeit of varying magnitude, that he has to provide more extensive or more difficult services than originally intended to carry out the (unchanged) building . If more extensive or more difficult services are actually required, the building contractor usually only receives the flat rate. Only if the difference to the originally planned scope of services is so significant that it is unreasonable to stick to the flat rate, the flat rate can be adjusted ( Section 313 BGB , Section 2 Paragraph 7 No. 1 VOB / B). When this is the case depends on the contractual agreement. In the case of a detailed flat-rate contract, the actual dimensions usually do not differ significantly from the dimensions originally contained in the specifications, so that a larger increase in mass very soon leads to a price adjustment .

This must be distinguished from subsequent changes to the originally agreed scope of services or additional services. These are to be paid for in addition to the flat rate ( Section 2, Paragraph 7, No. 2 VOB / B). That would be the case with a completely new partial service in the above case of the detailed flat-rate contract, or if a residential building receives larger garages or additional balconies, or if, in the extreme case, the building is to be increased by a swimming pool, which was not originally intended.

However, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) considers an additional remuneration claim due to a "disruption of the business basis" according to § 2 No. 7 Paragraph 1 VOB / B in conjunction with § 313 BGB to be possible with an agreed flat rate. Sticking to the agreed lump sum can no longer be reasonable in individual cases. In the case of a flat-rate price, price adjustments according to VOB / B are possible, so that whenever a flat-rate contract is not considered, a flat-rate contract should be concluded at least instead of a fixed-price contract.

Often the flat rate is also referred to as a fixed price , but this is often associated with misconceptions. In the absence of any other agreement, the flat rate is a “fixed price” only in the sense that it cannot be changed due to external circumstances such as inflation , wage increases or increases in material costs. However, it is entirely possible to agree price escalation clauses for such circumstances in a flat-rate contract, whereby the flat-rate price becomes a "sliding price". On the other hand, the assumption that a flat rate is a fixed price in the sense that all the changes or additional requests made by the client are already covered by the flat rate is wrong. Therefore, even with a flat rate agreement, the total price can easily be 30% above the original flat rate.

In construction practice, private clients are increasingly not agreeing to the traditional unit price contract , but rather a flat-rate contract, a guaranteed maximum price contract or another type of contract. In the public sector , PPP contracts are also playing an increasingly important role.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Flat rate  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann May / Claudia Wiepcke (eds.), Lexicon of Economic Education , 2011, p. 254
  2. ↑ Lutz J. Heinrich / Friedrich Roithmayr, Business Informatics Dictionary , 1994, p. 205
  3. ↑ Melanie Krämer, Price Complexity: Design Features, Customer Perception and Effects , 2010, p. 5
  4. ↑ Hermann Diller, Preispolitik , 2008, p. 492
  5. ↑ Stefan Scholz, Internet-Politik in Deutschland , 2004, p. 169
  6. ↑ Hütte pocket books of technology (ed.), Bautechnik , Volume I, 1974, p. 347
  7. ↑ Harald Gerhards / Helmut Keller, Lexikon Baufinanzierung von A to Z , 1993, p. 432
  8. ↑ BGH, judgment of June 30, 2011, Az .: VII ZR 13/10 = BGHZ 190, 212
  9. ↑ Andreas Büchs, Das VOB construction site manual , 2006, p. 202