UK Staircase Supplier to Germany — Shipping, Customs & Logistics Guide

Central spine staircase ready for dispatch — manufactured at our EN 1090-1 EXC2 facility near Kraków, shipped intra-EU to anywhere in Germany within 1–3 working days.

Here's a question we hear every week from German architects, developers and self-builders: "You're a UK company — so how does shipping to Germany actually work? Is there customs? Do I pay import duty? Will the staircase comply with my Landesbauordnung?"

The short answer is: it's much simpler than you'd think. Continox is a UK-designed brand, but our modern staircases, glass balustrades and external staircase systems are manufactured at our EN 1090-1 EXC2 facility near Kraków, Poland — firmly inside the EU. That means every delivery to Germany is an intra-EU goods movement: zero customs duty, zero border inspections, zero import VAT surprises. The staircase ships on a curtain-side articulated vehicle, arrives at your site in 1–3 working days, and comes with the full documentation pack your Prüfingenieur needs — IStructE structural calculations, EN 1090-1 Declaration of Performance, and a state-specific Landesbauordnung compliance cover sheet. This guide walks through every step: routing, transit times, documentation, VAT treatment, DIN 18065 compliance, DIN 18008-4 glass specification, and how we handle the multi-LBO landscape across all 16 German states. Whether you're fitting out a Berlin penthouse, a Munich villa, a Stuttgart executive home, or a Hamburg townhouse — the logistics process is the same.

Why It's Simpler Than You Think

Most people assume that ordering from a UK company means dealing with post-Brexit customs complexity — import declarations, duty payments, border delays, maybe even additional certification. With Continox, none of that applies. Here's why in three sentences: our manufacturing facility is in Poland, not the UK. Poland is an EU member state. Your staircase ships from Poland to Germany as an intra-EU movement — legally identical to ordering from a German manufacturer in Düsseldorf or a Spanish supplier in Barcelona.

The UK element of Continox is design, engineering and project management. Your point of contact is English-speaking, your structural calculations are certified by an IStructE Chartered Structural Engineer (an internationally recognised credential), and your design process follows UK architectural precision standards. But the physical product — the steel, the glass, the timber treads — ships from a facility 870 km from Stuttgart, 750 km from Berlin, and 1,100 km from Hamburg. All within the EU single market.

Straight-run single spine system — fabricated to EN 1090-1 EXC2 at our facility near Kraków and shipped customs-free to any German address.

The Brexit Advantage — EU Manufacturing

Post-Brexit, goods shipped from the UK to Germany do attract customs declarations, potential duty, and border processing time. That's the scenario Continox avoids entirely by manufacturing inside the EU. Our facility near Kraków dispatches directly to German sites — the goods never cross a non-EU border. There is no EORI number required for the shipment, no customs broker, no C88 import entry, no duty calculation. The staircase is an EU-origin product with an EU-origin Declaration of Performance.

Because the staircase is manufactured and dispatched within the EU, the EN 1090-1 EXC2 Declaration of Performance (DoP) is issued under EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) — not under the UK's post-Brexit UKCA regime. This is significant for German building control. A DoP issued under CPR carries CE marking and is automatically accepted by every German Bauaufsichtsbehörde. A UKCA-marked DoP from a UK factory would require additional assessment. Continox's EU manufacturing location eliminates this friction entirely.

The combination is genuinely advantageous. IStructE (Institution of Structural Engineers) is one of the world's most respected structural engineering bodies — its chartered-member sign-off carries weight with German Prüfingenieure who recognise the institution's rigour. Meanwhile, the physical fabrication follows EU standards (EN 1090-1, Eurocode) in an EU facility, eliminating any standards-equivalence questions. You get British engineering discipline and EU regulatory frictionlessness in a single supply chain.

Route Mapping — Kraków to Every German City

Every Continox delivery to Germany follows one of three corridor routes from our facility near Kraków. Transit times are working days from dispatch — not from order confirmation. Lead time from confirmed order to dispatch is 4–9 weeks depending on system complexity and finish specification.

All transit is by curtain-side articulated vehicle with full CMR consignment documentation. The driver carries a copy of the EN 1090-1 DoP and the delivery schedule. Staircases are crated with timber bearers and shrink-wrapped for transit protection. We coordinate delivery timing directly with the site team — typically specifying a morning or afternoon delivery window.

Documentation Pack — What Ships With Your Staircase

Every Continox delivery to Germany includes a comprehensive documentation pack designed to give your architect, Prüfingenieur, and Bauaufsichtsbehörde everything they need for Bauabnahme sign-off. Here's what's in the box — literally, in a waterproof document wallet cable-tied to the main crate.

Frameless glass balustrade with full DIN 18008-4:2024-12 documentation — every glass panel ships with individual test certification.

VAT Treatment — Reverse Charge Explained

VAT on Continox deliveries to Germany is handled through the intra-Community supply reverse charge mechanism — a standard EU VAT procedure for business-to-business cross-border goods movements. Here's how it works in practice:

Continox issues the invoice from our EU entity (Polish VAT registration) at the net price — zero VAT charged on the invoice. The invoice references the intra-Community supply exemption under Article 138 of the EU VAT Directive and shows both our Polish VAT number and the buyer's German USt-IdNr (Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer).

The German buyer (whether a company, architect, developer or GmbH) self-assesses German Mehrwertsteuer at 19% on their next Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung (monthly or quarterly VAT return). This is a neutral transaction for VAT-registered businesses — you declare the acquisition tax and simultaneously claim it as input tax on the same return. The net cash impact is zero.

For private individuals (not VAT-registered) purchasing a staircase for their own home, the supply is subject to Polish VAT at 23% charged on the invoice, unless the delivery value triggers the German distance-selling threshold. In practice, most Continox orders to private German buyers are managed through our order process to ensure the correct VAT treatment is applied — we handle the registration and compliance so the homeowner doesn't have to.

Multi-LBO Compliance — 16 States, One Documentation System

Germany's building code landscape is uniquely fragmented. Each of the 16 Bundesländer maintains its own Landesbauordnung (LBO) — a state-specific building code that adopts the federal Musterbauordnung (MBO) with local modifications. For a staircase supplier, this means a delivery to Berlin (BauO Bln §34) operates under different paragraph references than a delivery to Munich (BayBO Art. 32) or Stuttgart (LBO BW §34). The substantive requirements are largely similar — but the documentation must reference the correct state code, or the Prüfingenieur will send it back.

Continox maintains a compliance documentation system that generates state-specific cover sheets for every German delivery. When you place an order, the delivery address determines which LBO template is applied. The cover sheet cross-references the relevant Treppen §, Treppenraum §, Umwehrungen §, and any state-unique provisions (such as Hamburg's outer-wall stairwell preference under HBauO §33, or Baden-Württemberg's LBOAVO 60 cm Brüstungshöhe rule).

For a complete regulatory breakdown, see our technical authority posts: DIN 18065 staircase regulations, notwendige vs nicht notwendige Treppen, and DIN 18008-4 glass balustrade regulations.

On-Site Delivery — What to Expect

Knowing what happens when the lorry arrives eliminates the last source of anxiety about ordering from an international supplier. Here's the delivery process, step by step.

Glass balustrade panels with black powder-coated handrail — each panel individually crated and labelled for on-site assembly sequence.

UK Supplier vs German Manufacturer — The Real Comparison

The decision to order from Continox rather than a domestic German manufacturer comes down to five factors. This isn't a sales pitch — it's an honest comparison, and there are genuine trade-offs on both sides.

Where Continox wins: price (the 25–35% saving is real and reflects production-cost differences, not quality compromise), included structural calculations, EN 1090-1 EXC2 as standard, and design range breadth.

Where German manufacturers win: same-day transit, local-language communication throughout, and the ability to offer supply-and-install as a single package. If you need a manufacturer who will also manage the on-site installation, a domestic supplier may be a better fit. If you're comfortable appointing a local installer (which most architects and developers are), the Continox supply-only model delivers a better-specified staircase at a materially lower price.

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide is produced by Continox Technical Team for architects, developers and self-builders ordering bespoke staircases from the UK for delivery across Germany. All information reflects current intra-EU trade regulations and German Landesbauordnung requirements. Final Bauabnahme responsibility rests with the project's German-registered architect or Prüfingenieur.