As readers of this Florida law blog know, we specialize in construction law issues. One common issue with construction that often leads to litigation is construction defects, which we covered in a recent blog post.
In that blog post, we examined the most common types of construction defects. In this blog post, we will focus on how to avoid construction defects and potential litigation that results.
Construction defects generally
As a reminder, when we discuss construction defects, we refer to the four broad categories: design (architectural plans), material (construction materials actual utilized), construction (workmanship), and subsurface (drainage, grading, etc.).
Each of these types of construction defects present its unique issues. Each can cause the property to be unusable or severely limit its useful life.
Legal review
The key to avoiding construction litigation, especially those that relate to construction defects, is prevention. First, your Florida construction attorney should do your due diligence to make sure the deal itself is sound, legally. This includes the construction contracts, lending, post-construction commercial leases, etc.
You should understand the potential issues upfront, plan for them and ensure that your contracts include mitigation measures. It is usually more effective and economical to prevent issues upfront than having to litigate about facts that you could have done better to avoid with preventative legal advice.
Inspect, frequently
Chances are, if you finance the costs of construction, the lender will require periodic inspections prior to draws (paying the contractors). This ensures that there are no construction defects before the contractors are paid because the best way to mitigate defects is to fix them before construction ends.
Nonetheless, even if there are draw inspections, you should have your own inspections done as well that start from having the initial plans reviewed. You should also conduct frequent site visits to ensure defects can be mitigated as they occur.
Prevention is key
Whether you are the owner, developer, contractor, subcontractor, surety, material supplier, design professional or agent, you all need to be on the same page throughout the process.
Follow up with inspections and site visits to make sure everyone is living up to their commitments. This will help avoid contract issues, avoid disputes, resolve issue early and, hopefully, avoid construction litigation.
