Posted by admin on Apr 20, 2016 in Blog | 0 comments

A general contractor was hired to perform renovations. During the work, a defect in the work is discovered, a door that was designed as left opening was improperly installed as right opening. The contractor and homeowner agree that the issue is cosmetic and minor the homeowner approves continuation of the work without correction of the defect. Later, it is realized that the defect is more than cosmetic and is causing functional problems. The homeowner calls the contractor and requests correction of the defect. The contractor argues that the homeowner previously accepted the defect and thus the flaw is no longer the responsibility of the contractor. The homeowner hires another contractor to fix the defect. The homeowner sues the original contractor for the cost of hiring the subsequent contractor to correct the defect. General contractors and tradespersons are paid to build, assemble, install, fix or repair things and from time to time mistakes are made that are costly to correct if correctable at all, resulting in the need to recover loses, often through litigation. These types of cases are known as defective workmanship, subpar workmanship, below standard workmanships and are classified under contract and tort law. Issues in contract law allege a breach of an expressed or an implied term within the workmanship agreement, regardless of whether the agreement is verbal or in writing. When the agreement is in writing, it will typically set out that the work will be performed to a standard specific in the industry, however, if the contract is silent on the standards, there are standards within every industry that are practiced  by every person thoroughly familiar with the industry. When the industry standard is breached and results in losses, grounds for a negligence lawsuit under tort law are created. Breach of contract and negligence claims require a specialized legal approach as correctly framing the details of the breach and negligence scenario often results in the matter being settled out of court or pre-trial. Breach of industry standard versus defects Industry standard speaks for itself as no bonafide  tradesperson or contractor can argue against it, defects are different, they are highly subjective. What constitutes a defect varies...