You like a model, the quotation fits and the supplier asks you to reserve it. Before making the first payment, ask what you are contracting at that moment. Reserving availability, commissioning design work and placing a manufacturing order may have different scopes even if the website button uses the same wording.
Start with a verifiable description of the order
As an editorial tool, we suggest an appendix containing the accepted configuration: dated and revision-marked drawing, specification, equipment, exclusions and delivery location. Identify the business you are contracting with and check its details against the offer and intended payment. Saving the catalogue cover is not enough.
For consumer transactions in Spain, article 60 of RDL 1/2007 requires pre-contractual information about characteristics, business identity, price and relevant payment and delivery conditions, among other matters. Contract classification and applicable sector-specific legislation need to be reviewed for each transaction.
Associate each payment with an identifiable milestone
We do not recommend a universal deposit percentage. Ask for each amount to be linked to its purpose, date or condition and expected supporting documents. What evidences production starting? What counts as a finished unit? What work will remain when it reaches the plot?
If the purchase depends on finance, permissions or an unresolved site check, discuss how that circumstance will be treated before signing. Obtain professional review of cancellation and refund terms; do not assume a sales conversation creates a contractual condition.
Moving a window changes the order too
Propose a change record identifying the request, drawing revision, effects on price and timing, and acceptance. Include what happens to the previous version. The aim is to avoid one team manufacturing from one document while another installs from a different one.
This organisational example is not a legal clause ready to copy:
| Requested change | Response worth documenting |
|---|---|
| Move a door | Revised drawing and necessary technical review |
| Replace equipment | Accepted reference, price and installation implications |
| Change destination | Logistics and project review before confirmation |
Do not assume you can always withdraw
Article 93 excludes certain property transactions and new-building construction from the distance-contract regime. Article 103 provides exceptions for personalised goods within its scope. We therefore do not automatically apply the withdrawal period of an ordinary online purchase to every prefabricated home.
Ask for the rules governing your contract and the consequences of changing your mind to be clarified, distinguishing agreed cancellation, statutory withdrawal and breach of contract. Business buyers should not assume the same consumer-protection framework applies.
A well-defined reservation need not promise that nothing will change. It needs to explain what is accepted today, what remains open and how subsequent decisions will be made. Keep accepted versions and payment records with your future home’s file. This English version concerns the same Spanish legal context as the original, not a worldwide contract rule.
Continue preparing your project
What do you still need to resolve before choosing? Tell us about your project and location (Spanish form) or receive new guides in our newsletter.
Sources and scope
Primary sources opened and read on 16 October 2026. Questions, tables and checklists are our own editorial analysis, not construction instructions, legal advice or product certification. The responsible professional must establish applicability to the specific project. No sponsorship or affiliate links.