Mandate
The budget ceiling you set before a contractor starts work
A mandate is a signed instruction from you to the contractor: do this work, for this price, by this date, with these guarantees. The clause is one sentence, sent in the first email before any work begins.
You are authorised up to EUR ___ to complete this repair. If you expect the cost to exceed that amount, stop and provide a written cost indication and a timeframe for completion before proceeding.
The mechanism: the mandate fixes the budget before the contractor sees the problem. Without it, the price is announced at the moment of maximum stress for the homeowner. With it, the contractor accepts within budget, declines, or surfaces overruns in writing.
The distinction matters at three moments. Comparing bids without a mandate clause is a comparison of intentions, not commitments. When work runs over, the contractor is bound to flag in writing rather than bill after. When something fails in year two, the mandate establishes who is responsible.
The calculation
Four inputs, all knowable before the contractor sees the problem. Estimate the hours. Multiply by the local hourly rate for the trade. Add a call-out fee counted as one hour at that rate. Add materials as a share of labour, which varies by trade: around 80% of labour for plumbing, 50% for electrical work, 35% for painting, 100% for roofing. The ratios lean generous on purpose, because a mandate is a ceiling that should cover most jobs. Round the total to the nearest 25.
Worked example. Anni in Helsinki has a bathroom leak traced to a corroded shower mixer and the supply connections behind it: a half-day plumbing job. Four hours at EUR 90, mid-range for a Helsinki plumber with VAT included, is EUR 360. The call-out, counted as one hour, adds EUR 90. Materials at 80% of labour add EUR 288. That totals EUR 738; rounded, the mandate is EUR 750. The contractor sees one sentence and one number; the breakdown stays with Anni.
Sibling frame: quote (the contractor’s offer) and estimate (a non-binding ballpark). Confusing any two of the three is the most common single source of homeowner overpayment. See the how-to-set-a-mandate guide for the calculation method in full.