Glossary
Objektgeschäft (project business in German wholesale)
Objektgeschäft (project business) is business tied to one specific construction project, the Objekt or Bauvorhaben. It usually starts with a tender that includes a bill of quantities, unlike the day-to-day stock and counter business.
In short
Objektgeschäft (project business) is tied to one construction project, the Objekt or Bauvorhaben. It usually starts with a tender that includes a bill of quantities.
Many parties take part: the client (Bauherr), the planner (architect or Fachplaner TGA), the installer, the wholesaler and the manufacturer. Wholesalers and manufacturers often have their own project teams.
The work runs over weeks or months. The wholesaler reads the LV, finds products for each item, asks manufacturers for project conditions and lead times, makes an offer to the installer and follows up.
Example
An installer bids for the heating and sanitary work of a new building. The planner’s LV lists the items. The wholesaler finds a product for each item and then sends one Werksanfrage to each manufacturer. It covers only the items that this manufacturer makes, each with its item number (OZ), quantity and long text.
Each manufacturer answers with project conditions, availability, lead times and its own offer, often as a PDF. The wholesaler works these answers into its offer to the installer, item by item. Project-specific conditions from the manufacturer are common.
Deliveries often go straight to the site as a Streckengeschäft. Weeks later the installer may place its order, and the wholesaler must still be able to match each answer to its LV item.
What to watch for
Leitfabrikate and the wording „oder gleichwertig“ are common. Check every named product for equivalence.
Bedarfspositionen and Wahlpositionen count differently toward the bid total, so check the item type of every line.
Deadlines follow the installer’s own submission date, so the manufacturers’ answers must arrive in time.
Several wholesalers often quote the same project. Keep the link between LV items and manufacturer answers, so that every answer reaches the right item.
Not to be confused with
Lagergeschäft and Thekengeschäft: the day-to-day business from stock and at the counter. It is not tied to one project.
Streckengeschäft: a delivery mode that is often used in project business. It describes how goods travel, not the type of business.
In Mercura
Mercura reads bills of quantities from project business as GAEB files or PDFs and suggests a matching article from the customer’s own catalogue for every item.
Related terms
Streckengeschäft (drop shipment in wholesale)
A Streckengeschäft (drop shipment) is a sale in which the wholesaler buys and sells the goods, but the manufacturer delivers them directly to the customer or the construction site. The goods never pass through the wholesaler’s warehouse.
Werksanfrage (supplier quote request to the manufacturer)
A Werksanfrage is a wholesaler’s request to a manufacturer about the items of a project: project conditions, availability, delivery times, technical questions or an equivalent product.
Or equal (brand name or equal)
Or equal (brand name or equal) is a specification clause that names a product as the standard and allows an equal product that meets the salient characteristics stated in the specification. The offer has to identify the product it offers.
TGA (building services, MEP)
TGA (building services, MEP) is the Technische Gebäudeausrüstung of a building: its technical systems, from water, gas and wastewater pipes to heating, ventilation, electrical power and building automation.
Bedarfsposition (provisional item)
A Bedarfsposition (also Eventualposition) is an item in a German bill of quantities for work that is only carried out if the client orders it during construction. Without total, the bidder states a unit price only.
Leistungsbeschreibung (statement of work in a German tender)
A Leistungsbeschreibung describes the work being tendered. It is the umbrella term: a Leistungsverzeichnis, with quantities for each item, is one form of it, and a Leistungsprogramm, with goals and requirements, is the other.
On mercura.ai