§ 5. Performance and materials: what the tradesperson must deliver

This section says what you can expect from the job itself. The tradesperson must do the work as the trade requires, and must look after your interests with care. Where the situation calls for it, he must advise you or discuss the solution with you before choosing an approach.

As a general rule, materials are part of the job. If the work requires materials, the tradesperson is the one who obtains them, unless the agreement or the circumstances indicate otherwise. What is supplied must be of "ordinary good quality". If you have agreed on something else, for example simpler or more expensive products, the agreement applies.

The third subsection covers cases where the price has not been agreed in advance. If the job can be done in several fully workable ways, the tradesperson must choose the cheapest, unless you have said otherwise. If he breaks this rule, the consequence is a price reduction (prisavslag). The rule on setting the price (§ 32 fourth subsection) says that the price is then calculated as if the job had been done in the cheapest way. The tradesperson may still claim costs not included in this calculation, as far as is reasonable. The total cannot exceed what the work is worth to you as the customer.

This section is the first step in a series of rules about the job. Safety requirements (sikkerhetskrav) from the public authorities are dealt with in § 6. If, in the tradesperson's assessment, the job is not worthwhile for the customer, § 7 applies, and the consequence of staying silent is regulated in § 8. If work arises outside the job, § 9 applies, and the time frame for the work is set out in § 10. The package also shows that § 5 is referred to in the rules on when there is a defect (mangel) (§ 17), and that § 32 on setting the price refers here.

Example: a customer orders a repair without having agreed a price, and the job can be done using either a simple or an expensive method, both of which work. The customer has not said anything about a preference. The tradesperson is then bound to the simple method. If he chooses the expensive one, he cannot charge more than the simple one would have cost, plus reasonable additional costs. This is a constructed example that only uses the roles in the law.