Specification annexes: what to check line by line
The annex is what you are actually buying. It sets the materials, brands, grades and quantities the developer must deliver, and anything it leaves open they may choose. Substitution clauses are where an expensive specification quietly becomes a cheap one.
Why the annex outranks the brochure
Marketing material is not contractual in most jurisdictions, and developers are careful to say so. The render showing a stone floor and the annex specifying 'ceramic tiles, grade to be selected' are not in conflict. The second one governs.
If a finish matters to you, it has to be in the annex in words specific enough to measure. 'High-quality European fittings' is not a specification. A named brand and model, or a stated grade and standard, is.
The substitution clause
Almost every annex allows the developer to substitute materials of 'equivalent or better quality'. Some substitution is genuinely necessary over a multi-year build, as products are discontinued.
The question is who decides equivalence and whether you are told. A clause allowing unilateral substitution with no notice converts a detailed annex into an intention. Ask for notification and a right to object, which is a far easier negotiation than removing the clause.
Line by line, what to check
- Floors, walls and ceilings by room: material, grade, and where a change of material occurs.
- Sanitaryware and taps: brand and model, not category.
- Kitchen: carcass and worktop material, appliance brands and models, and whether appliances are included at all.
- Doors and windows: glazing specification, frame material, ironmongery, and thermal or acoustic ratings if they matter.
- Air conditioning and heating: system type, capacity, and which rooms are served.
- Electrical: number and position of outlets, and whether the drawings match the schedule.
- External areas: terrace and balcony finishes, drainage, railings, and any landscaping included.
- What is explicitly excluded, often longer and more informative than what is included.
The measurement question
Check how area is defined and where it is measured from. Gross, net, internal, including or excluding balconies, walls measured to the centre line or the face: the same apartment can be described honestly with numbers several square metres apart.
Then check whether the contract provides any remedy if the delivered area differs, and by how much before it becomes one.
Questions on this
The annex is ten pages of generic descriptions. Is that normal?
Common, and worth pushing back on before signing. Every line you make specific is a line you can measure at handover.
Can I use the show unit as the standard?
Only if the contract says so, and it usually says the opposite. Show units are routinely finished above specification and are normally excluded explicitly.
What if the delivered finish is different but genuinely equivalent?
Then the substitution clause probably permits it. That is the reason to negotiate notice and objection rights rather than to argue about quality afterwards.
Read one before you buy one
The specimen shows the whole structure: status, what each payment was meant to buy, the forecast with its range, the photographic record and the limits of what was checked.