Discovering a construction problem

So the first thing a building owner should do is document the problem. That's very important. And then, I think what the building owner should do is, if it's an insurance issue, if it's possibly covered by insurance, they should tender a claim to their insurance company. And then, if it's not an insurance issue, it might be something that's not covered in their insurance policy, then what they should do is ensure they document it, and then, if they think that the construction contractor might be responsible, Look at some of the documentation from their construction company.

Also, when they're reviewing the documentation, though, I think it's really important that they understand that, especially for residential property owners, whether it be HOAs or single family homeowners, that, just because the contract says one thing, doesn't necessarily mean that's enforceable under the law. And there's a lot of things that the developer or the construction company has homeowners, residential homeowners sign, that really are not enforceable under the law. So that's important to understand too. And if it is a technical issue, to seek technical assistance.

Um, and to see, you know, in order to understand it, and really be careful about what you tell, um, uh, the construction company or an insurance company, understand that, of course, you want to cooperate and be truthful, but you also want to be careful and that understand that sometimes the insurance company or the construction company, they're not actually out there to fix it. And they're really trying to create evidence in order to support a later denial or rejection of a warranty claim. And so really understand that this might not be a kind of friendly relationship, even though people might be acting friendly, you know, kind of vocal tones and things like that, but really what they're secretly doing is trying to figure out a way to deny the claim or otherwise, not perform a warranty obligation. And so you want to be very, very careful through that process as well.

And so I think that if you do feel like that might be, you might be at risk of that. What I tell people is, you know, honestly, you're better off reaching out to a professional early, uh, than later, because if, if it's too late, then, uh, some, there's limited stuff we can do to help you. But if it's early, a lot of times we can help guide someone through that process. And I think also trying to get professional help early is important, because especially if it turns out that you might have to take legal action.

There's all these deadlines that you need to meet and all these prerequisites. And so you really want to get on that early, because time really does not help these kinds of disputes. So I think early action is very important. and seeking professional help early is really important for a property owner that notices that they have a major construction problem.