Enter the quote you are holding to check it against the typical range for the job, or set the ceiling first.
A mandate is the cap a property manager hands a contractor: hours, local trade rate, call-out, materials. They proceed within it. If the cost will exceed it, they stop and explain why in writing before continuing.
This is the tool for a repair you need now: something is broken, and sending a mandate commissions the work under your ceiling. Work that can wait puts you in a stronger position — you have time to make contractors compete on more than price. How to compare quotes for planned work
Select a trade and a scope to calculate your mandate.
I have a maintenance issue: [what you see — the symptom, not the solution].
Location: [room / floor / area].
You are authorised up to €0 including VAT 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.
Please confirm availability and expected timeframe.
You're signed in · run this in your fix flow and it files against your house.
Jonas calls an installation company. Repairman arrives: €90.00 call-out. Thirty minutes assessing: €32.50. €122.50 on the meter before any repair begins.
| Call-out | €90.00 |
| Diagnostic · 30 min | €32.50 |
| Labour · 3 h × €65 | €195.00 |
| Parts trip · 1 h | €65.00 |
| Materials | €100.00 |
| The bill | €482.50 |
The price is capped before the visit, not discovered after it. Jonas runs the calculator for plumbing at half a day and hands over the ceiling it produces, in writing. The same repair, under a cap:
| Labour · 3 h × €70 | €210.00 |
| Materials · as billed | €105.00 |
| Call-out · agreed | €55.00 |
| The bill | €370.00 |
| ↓ €112.50 saved · 23% | |
The ceiling is the cap, not the price. Jonas's ceiling is €575; his bill is €370: you pay what the work took. The ceiling sits above the reactive bill on purpose: it is sized to cover the full half day, not to predict the price. Most of the saving is the meter-running the mandate removed: the diagnostic on the clock, the parts trip billed as labour, the call-out never agreed. If the job needs more than €575, the contractor stops and explains in writing before continuing.
Describe the problem, not the solution. You write "find and address the cause of the leak", not "stop the leak". The contractor's expertise is the diagnosis; your mandate is the budget.