What are Home Building Defects?

Spotting a Building Defect can ensure your safety in your own house. Book a consultation now and we will help you avoid or resolve building defects.

Table of Contents

Building Defects
Examples of Building Defects
People Responsible for Building Defects
How to avoid Building Defects
Consultations regarding building defects

Building Defects

Building defects are the parts of your house that are seen as not functional since they are unusable or damaged.

You can sight a building defect during construction, from the happenings on site or to the materials used. It can also happen after construction if parts of your house have started to become damaged.

But to be sure, you can also seek the help of a building defects inspector.

Examples of Building Defects

A lot of mistakes that could happen in construction is Building Defect. Some of the common ones are :

Incorrect installation of products and materials that can cause structural defects;
Use of Low quality or unsatisfactory Materials during construction;
Waterproofing defects which include water leaks and other plumbing defects;
Electrical Defects such as faulty wiring or other wiring mistakes;
External Wall Defects or wall cracks, wall bulges or bricks that could fall off;
Concrete Spalling or the deterioration of the concrete due to natural or chemical factors;
Work not compliant with Drawings and Specifications indicated in the contract and;
Other building mistakes that can be found in your house.

If you found one, there are still ways to fix them without extra cost for you. Your building contract should have a clause on statutory warranties as mandated by the Home Building Act.

These warranties are valid for 6 years for major defects and 2 years for non-major defects as stated by law. A defect is considered to be a major one if it is a major element of the building.

People Responsible for Building Defects

Building defects can be caused by any one of these people:

Builders

The first one you should approach when anything gets wrong with your house is your builder. They can take responsibility for the defect as they have overseen the house’s construction.

Contractors

You can also pinpoint the one who worked the defective part of the house as the one responsible. Since they are the one who did the defective work, they are also responsible to fix what went wrong.

Designers

If you found out that the building defect was caused by bad design, go to your engineer or architect. They are the ones who should be liable for their miscalculations.

Suppliers

You only deserve to have supplies that meet your set standards. So for defects caused by using low-quality materials, make your suppliers explain about it.

Other people can become responsible for a building defect. The contract can help you pinpoint this through provisions such as risk allocations.

How to avoid Building Defects

If you want to avoid the hassle of handling a building dispute, then do these preventive measures:

Seek Skilled Contractors and Building Professionals.

Before you even sign your contract, check if your builder and his team of contractors can do the job. They must be skillful at what they do and know how to exercise their work with care.

Review your contract well.

When doing a contract review, check for the terms relating to building defects such as risk allocations, insurances and warranties. These can serve as your guide if anything goes wrong.

Allow a Building Defects Inspection for your house.

A building defects inspection can help check if your newly-built house is safe to live in. A building defects inspector can help you pinpoint anything wrong with the construction ASAP before your warranty expires.

Seek help from a construction lawyer.

If you need assistance in checking a building defect, a construction lawyer can help you. They can help you in anything in the contract you don’t understand, or in connecting you to an inspector. They help you in your next legal steps, just in case of a building dispute.

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Consultations regarding building defects

Contracts Specialist can help you prevent a building dispute from happening.

Building a house is a large investment so we will help you enforce your rights to the Home Building Act. We can make sure that you can get the relevant insurance and warranties in case anything goes wrong.

Get legal help and book your first consultation now.

You can be confident that you are getting the right legal advice.

Contracts Specialist is a Sydney-based construction law firm that deals with Building Disputes, Construction Contracts, Debt Recovery, and Security of Payment. With Contracts Specialist, you are ensured that you are in good hands.