When Do You Need a Construction Defects Lawyer?
March 13, 2009
If you’re reading this, it’s likely because:
- You’ve discovered a problem in your home that you think may be a construction defect, or
- You’re having trouble getting your contractor to correct a problem in your home, and
- You’re wondering if it’s time to talk to an attorney.
Here’s a checklist to help you determine when you need a construction defects lawyer.
- You’ve notified the contractor about your problem, but the contractor is unwilling or unable to correct it.
- A home inspection professional has verified that your problem is of a type that should be corrected by the builder.
- You’ve submitted your evidence to the contractor and he is still unwilling to cooperate with you in finding a satisfactory solution to your problem, and this is going to result in significant cost to you.
You’ve Notified the Contractor
Before getting an attorney involved, give your contractor a fair opportunity to correct the problem. Any attorney knows you have no case unless you’ve taken this step.
If the problem is a serious one, be sure you’ve taken the steps necessary to prevent injury to people or additional damage to your home. If you end up in court, the court will not cover any damages that you could have foreseen and that you failed to prevent. Regardless of when you get an attorney involved, you must take action to mitigate additional damages.
For example, if a leaking water pipe in your attic is dripping on the ceiling, you must have the water leak repaired before the ceiling becomes so waterlogged that it falls in. Later you can recover the costs of the pipe repair from the contractor. If you don’t have the leak fixed, a court would not award you damages for repairing the ceiling that you could have prevented from falling.
If you have repairs made to mitigate damages, be sure to take photos before the repairs or have a professional inspect and report on the problem, and keep any other evidence that might be needed in a court case.
You Verified There Is a Valid Problem
There may be times when someone is not happy with the outcome of a construction project for reasons that are not directly related to construction quality or workmanship. For example, the new wood floors you had installed recently may be buckling not because of substandard work or materials, but because an aging water pipe under the floor has started leaking. This may be what your flooring contractor is telling you, but is it true?
For less than a few hundred dollars, an impartial home inspection professional can tell you whether or not your problem is actually due to defective workmanship or materials. Continuing our example, imagine the home inspector confirms it is indeed moisture from a leaking pipe that is buckling your wood floors. But he also informs you every flooring contractor knows to test the subfloor for moisture before installation. If the home inspector sees signs that the leak was present long before the new wood floor was applied, then the contractor is on the hook for failing to test the subfloor beforehand.
The Contractor’s Intransigence Will Cost You Big Bucks
What if the contractor is offering you something, but just not offering you everything you’re asking for? For example, in the first few months after moving into your brand new home, you’ve started seeing hairline cracks in the exterior stucco. The one right next to your front door is especially irksome. The contractor is saying hairline cracks are not unusual, they are entirely cosmetic, and that you can’t even see them when standing ten feet away from the wall.
You hire a home inspector who reports that hairline cracks in stucco are indeed common and cosmetic. However, your home seems to have an excessive number of cracks, which may indicate some deficiency in the stucco mix or not allowing the stucco to dry completely between coats. But it’s not something that can be proven.
The contractor offers to patch the cracks and re-color the stucco around your door and the front ground floor walls of your home for appearance’s sake. But you want him to patch every wall all the way around your two-story house. You check with a stucco subcontractor, and it would cost you several thousand dollars to have the other sides of your house patched and re-colored. Are you going to hire an attorney?
In this case, there is probably not enough money at stake to make the case worthwhile to an attorney unless you agree to pay his or her hourly rate. Even if an attorney did take this case on a contingency basis, think about this. If the attorney succeeds in getting the contractor to stucco four sides of your house, and the value of that work is $3,000, you owe the attorney’s typical one-third fee – or about $1,000.
On the other hand, let’s say the stucco cracks are not hairline but a quarter inch wide. And they are getting longer. And more are appearing. And cracks are starting to appear in the plaster inside your home. And they begin running across your tile floors.
Not only is your contractor not returning your calls, the home inspector you hired has confirmed your worst fears – the soil beneath your home is moving. He estimates the cost to install pilings in the ground to stop the soil movement is equal to about half the value of your home. Worse, after stabilizing the soil, the cost to repair the damages could be equal to more than half your home’s value. Your home is essentially worthless.
In this case, all the reasons for hiring an attorney are met.
- You definitely have a verified construction defect.
- After being notified and given the opportunity, the contractor is completely unable or unwilling to satisfactorily correct the defect.
- This is going to result in a significant cost to you.
Now it is definitely time to hire a construction defects attorney.
If you need assistance finding an attorney, please contact us usng the form on the right.
Related Articles
- What is a Construction Defect?
- What Does Contractor Liability Insurance Cover?
- Construction Defects - Water Intrusion
- Construction Defects - Toxic Mold
- Construction Defects - Soil Issues
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