There are two main types of construction defects. First, there are things that will be noticed immediately upon inspection of the property. These are known as patent defects.
For example, say that a prospective homeowner hires a construction company to build them a new house. When the homeowner arrives to see the finished product, the wrong countertops have been installed, and the wrong type of flooring was used in the living room. The homeowner knows immediately that mistakes were made and need to be rectified before the house will be up to their specifications.
Latent defects
The second type of defects is known as latent defects. These are things that are less noticeable or even hidden. They have not been hidden on purpose, but it just happens naturally because not every part of a construction project is visible to the homeowner.
An example of a latent defect is if pipes were poorly installed in the basement, and there is a slow leak in one of the walls. Upon the first walkthrough, the homeowner may not notice that anything is wrong. If they rarely use those plumbing lines, the leak may not get worse. It could take months or even years before they discover that there is an issue, and all that time the leak has been creating rot, decay, mold and other issues within the wall.
Resolving a construction dispute
For the owner of a construction company, both patent and latent defects can lead to serious disputes and potentially even litigation. It is important for those involved to understand their legal options at this time.
