Construction company owners often find themselves involved in disputes over alleged defects. The client wants something to be changed or fixed, and they don’t believe they got what they paid for. Maybe they think that the contractor was negligent or made clear mistakes – and those changes or repairs should be made for free.
The contractor, of course, may strongly disagree with this, either saying that the issue is not a defect or that they are not responsible for it. So it’s important to know how these cases work. To start with, there are two main types of construction defects that could lead to such a dispute.
Patent defects
If someone walks into the building and can immediately tell that there are issues, then it is probably a patent defect. This is something fairly obvious that the person finds after the construction project is done. For instance, maybe they try to turn on the sink and the water doesn’t work. They know immediately that there’s a defect with the building.
Latent defects
However, there are also hidden defects, known as latent defects, which may only become clear later. Maybe the pipes were not connected properly, so the water does work, but there’s a slow leak. Over months or even years, it’s going to cause substantial water damage in the home. But because it’s hidden, it may not even be discovered for a long time.
As you can imagine, latent defects can make things very complicated, but either issue needs to be addressed as soon as it is brought up. Those involved must understand exactly what legal steps to take.