As the old saying goes, your home truly is your castle, but Construction Defect can take away from your enjoyment of your home. In some cases, a destruction defect can even make your home a hazardous place to be. Weak or compromised foundations, faults in structural walls, black mold and other problems can make your home—arguably your largest and most important investment and largest purchase—go from an American dream to a nightmare quickly. Construction Defect also serve to lower your home’s value. Construction Defect may be covered under warranty, but this is not always the case, and even when it is, it sometimes takes attorney intervention to enforce the terms of your home’s warranty. Russell and Hill can help. Our attorneys have a history of helping homeowners recoup losses when Construction Defect rear their ugly heads.
A construction defect is essentially a physical condition of your property that causes a decline in its value or potentially endangers the health or safety or your family or other occupants. It can result from flaws in the design of the home, the materials used in the home, or even in the home’s workmanship. Defects are not the result of wear-and-tear or normal aging and use of the home. Some examples include:
Perhaps the most crucial factor in your successful defect claim is time. Warranties provided on new home constructions have limited durations under which they are in force; in order to win your case, your claim must fall within the allotted time period. Even if you don’t have a warranty, you can still take the responsible party to civil court when you discover a construction defect. You have an implied warranty that the home you paid for will be habitable.
Construction defect claims can turn tricky fast because they are quite complex in some instances. For example, your claim may involve more than one contractor, architect, electrician, excavator, plumber or carpenter. It may also involve the manufacturer or distributor of faulty building materials. Your attorney can help identify the source of the problem causing your defect or work with experts to help uncover the source in order to build your case in civil court. Depending on your case, your attorney may proceed with your claim based on strict liability, misrepresentation, fraud, breach of warranty, breach of contract, or negligence.
As soon as you discover a defect in your home’s construction, it’s important to move fast. Sitting on the problem only causes it to get worse over time; for example, a crumbling foundation can lead to additional structural issues if it is not corrected in a timely fashion. Consult with our Bremerton construction defect attorney as soon as you unearth a defect. We are ready and able to go to bat for you to get the justice you deserve. Contact us to schedule your no-cost, no-obligation case review and consultation today.
