Building a new home or dwelling creates a sense of pride for the owner. Turning hard-earned money into a practical application that you design is a big moment and should be celebrated.
Unfortunately, there are situations where construction defects can literally crash the party. When this happens, the attorneys at Kerkman & Dunn are ready to stand behind homeowners to make sure the wrong is set right. But you may have questions about what constitutes a construction defect.
Three Categories of Construction Defects
Typically, construction defects fall into three main categories.
Defect in Design
In terms of the construction of the building, nothing can get started without a design. An architect may be tasked to draw up a design or an engineer will produce construction documentation.
At times, the architect or engineer in charge of the project may make a mistake that causes an issue once put into practice during the build. At other times, the construction crew may not have understood the plan due to poor documentation. In either scenario, the integrity of the building can suffer and cause a major defect that makes the building unsafe or unliveable.
In addition to the initial plan designs, secondary crews such as plumbers and electricians can also suffer from poor initial plans or their own misinterpretation of plans. The result could be internals that isn’t properly equipped for the home and not workable.
In either scenario, a Milwaukee construction defect attorney can help out.
Defects with Materials
Even when all of the plans are correct and the build and install teams do their work properly, material defects can still cause the project to fail. Often, material defects aren’t discovered until after build, as it isn’t noticed until a scenario unfolds where it was needed. An example of this is a roof that starts flaking or falling off much earlier than it should or a window that leaks after heavy rain.
While building materials are typically tested prior to going onto the market for the contractor to buy, there can always be defects that weren’t caught during testing. An attorney can help with sorting out the mess that a material defect may make.
Issues with Workmanship
One of the most common construction defects is workmanship. In basic terms, this refers to the actual work put into the structure by the construction crew or handyman, depending on project size.
Typically, this scenario is when the worker does not properly follow the design that was laid out for the project, did the work themselves without a design, or lacked the proper skills to carry out the project correctly. A worthwhile construction crew should have a quality control system in place and be checking their work along the way.
Even when there are quality control measures in place, there are scenarios where something was just missed, but the fault may still fall on the contractor doing the work.
In any of these construction defect scenarios, the professionals at Kerkman & Dunn stand behind homeowners in their pursuit of fairness. Give the firm a call at 414-277-8200 or fill out the form on this page.
