What does this prefab quote actually include?

Before comparing prefab prices, turn each offer into one scope checklist. Give every item a status: included, excluded or unconfirmed. Your first decision is whether the offer describes enough of the work to price your project. A headline total cannot answer that while delivery, foundations or finishing remain unresolved.

Ask for a dated, itemised written offer, its specification, drawings and exclusions. Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission recommends obtaining written quotes from multiple contractors and recording the agreed price, detailed work description, estimated completion date and payment structure. Its guidance concerns Irish home improvement and building work. The documentation practice is useful more broadly, but the legal guidance does not establish your rights in every European prefab purchase. [1]

Set the boundary

At the top of your checklist, record the supplier, project location, model, drawing revision, floor area and how that area is measured. Add the offer date, validity period, currency and whether VAT is included. Describe the completed result you are budgeting for, such as an installed building with connected and commissioned services and specified finishes. Keep land purchase and other costs outside that scope visibly separate.

Use one row per task or supplied item. Each row needs a description, status, responsible party, price or allowance, assumptions, document reference and offer date. Put the source and date beside the item, because a later email may clarify an older quotation. Where a document gives only a package total, ask for an itemised description of its scope even if the supplier will not price every component separately.

Three ways to mark the scope

For this checklist, mark an item included only when the written offer identifies it and confirms that its cost sits within the total. Mark it excluded when the supplier expressly leaves it outside the offer. Use unconfirmed for silence, conflicting documents or wording too broad to establish responsibility. These are working labels for reviewing an offer, not legal conclusions about what a contract contains.

Keep price certainty separate from scope status. An included item may carry an allowance rather than a settled price. Record the allowance, what it buys, whether it covers labour and materials, and how any difference will be charged or credited. Keep optional upgrades separate until selected and priced. Never enter zero for an unknown cost just to complete the total.

Work through the whole project

Start the scope rows with design and administration. Ask who supplies the site survey, ground investigation, architectural drawings, structural design, planning submissions and building approval documents. Record application fees, inspections and project coordination separately. Request named deliverables: preparing an application, paying its fee and obtaining an approval are different responsibilities.

For the building itself, request the specified structure, roof, external finish, windows, doors and insulation, tied to the relevant drawings. Then list internal partitions, stairs, floor coverings, decoration, kitchen, appliances and bathroom fittings. Record quantities and product specifications where they affect what you receive. Use a finish-level label as a prompt to request this detail.

For site works, separate clearance, excavation, spoil removal, foundations, drainage and making good. Ask which ground information the price assumes and who checks that the foundation design suits the building. NHBC’s published 2025 Technical Requirements address ground conditions, structural loading and foundation coordination for homes within its UK warranty framework. That is useful technical context for these questions, not a rule governing every European offer. [6]

Give delivery and installation separate rows. Request the delivery destination, access assumptions, unloading arrangements, lifting equipment, assembly, temporary protection and storage responsibilities. Ask who pays for waiting time or a repeat visit if the site is not ready. NHBC’s workmanship requirements distinguish unloading, handling, storage, installation and weather protection. Your checklist should establish who provides and pays for each applicable task. [6]

For services, separate equipment inside the house from work between the house and external networks. Ask about heating, ventilation, hot water, electrical fittings, plumbing, trenches, cables, pipes, meters and connection charges. Name the connection point on a drawing. Request responsibility for testing and commissioning as well as installation, so that each row describes a completed task.

Finish the checklist with handover and outside work. Request the schedule of inspections, test records, operating manuals, warranty documents and any completion documentation required for your project. Ask whether cleaning, waste removal, steps, paths, terraces and landscaping are included. For each exclusion, name the person or contractor who will arrange it and the stage by which it must be ready.

Check tasks that cross between contractors. In a hypothetical offer, internal plumbing might be included and external drainage expressly excluded, while the final connection is never mentioned. That produces three separate entries: internal plumbing included, external drainage excluded, final connection unconfirmed. Ask for the connection’s location, price and responsible party. Do not infer responsibility because the adjoining work has been priced.

Check the rules for your contract

German law provides a specific disclosure example. Where German law applies and the agreement qualifies as a consumer construction contract under BGB section 650i, section 650j generally requires a building description. Section 650i concerns a trader’s obligation to construct a new building or undertake substantial alterations for a consumer. Article 249 section 1 EGBGB requires the description in text form in good time before the consumer makes their contractual declaration. Section 650j contains an exception where the consumer or someone acting for them supplies the essential planning specifications. Do not assume these provisions cover every prefab supply order. [2] [3] [4]

For applicable German contracts, Article 249 section 2 specifies the description’s contents, including service scope, plans and area information, construction details and, where relevant, interiors, building services and external works. It also requires binding completion information, or the construction duration if the start is not yet fixed. Elsewhere, use these categories as useful questions without presenting German disclosure duties as local law. [5]

Resolve the unknowns in writing

Return the checklist to the supplier and request a revised offer resolving the unconfirmed rows. If the quotation, specification and drawings disagree, identify the exact passages and ask for a consistent revision. Keep the supplier’s answers with the dated documents they clarify. The CCPC also advises retaining written details and correspondence. [1]

You can then assemble a working total for your chosen scope: the supplier’s confirmed price, separately priced exclusions and any required adjustments to allowances already included. Avoid counting an allowance twice. Show unresolved costs beside the total as amounts still to establish. A complete checklist makes gaps visible; it does not make an incomplete budget final. Before comparing totals, check that the offers cover the same location, area definition, finish and responsibilities, with a source and offer date beside each amount.

Questions to send your builder

Send the builder these questions: Can you mark every item on this checklist included, excluded or unconfirmed? For each included item, is the price fixed or an allowance, and what assumptions could change it? Who completes each connection between your work and another contractor’s? Can you issue a revised, dated offer with the specifications, exclusions and remaining responsibilities attached?

Sources

• [1] CCPC: What to do if you've had a dispute or issue with a builder, contractor or tradesperson
• [2] German Civil Code, section 650i: Consumer construction contract
• [3] German Civil Code, section 650j: Building description
• [4] EGBGB, Article 249 section 1: Information duties for consumer construction contracts
• [5] EGBGB, Article 249 section 2: Contents of the building description
• [6] NHBC 2025 Technical Requirements