- Follow us:
Well-built structures serve as sturdy and beautiful frames to these charming dining room pieces. Featured here is the Hooker Furniture Dining Room Sanctuary Round Dining Table.
The construction of a new home or remodeling an existing one can be a pretty complex and expensive process. In an ideal world, everything goes the way you planned it and when the dust is cleared, you happily settle into your lovely home. Unfortunately – and more often than not – this is not the case. The building and remodeling process can take months to accomplish. Also, you find out that months later, the shower isn’t working anymore and roof shows a leak. So what do you do then?
Good Thing There’s Warranty
So what is a warranty? This may seem like a small piece of paper but it is one of the first things that you should ask your contractor. Warranty protects both you and the builder; you, from shoddy projects and the builders from being liable for their work for a lifetime.
Warranties are often included within a contract. There isn’t a standard length of time on which warranties are set. It is negotiable so this means that you and the contractor must come to an agreement regarding the timeframe in which the warranty is still in effect.
Warranties also describe the probable problems as well as the remedies for which the contractor is responsible for. The mechanism on how to address disputes is also discussed. Again, this is the ideal case.
Before you say yes to warranty, you must understand some basic rules that govern this protection. In the U.S., there is the so-called implied warranty that does not have to be spelled out in your contract. This includes good workmanship as well as habitability. These simply imply that the house must be habitable and safe by the time the homeowners move in.
Statutes of limitation state how long the homeowner can invoke legal claims (e.g. breach of contract). Statutes of repose, on the other hand, are applicable to construction projects and set the specific time on which the contractors are reliable for their projects.
Lastly, the right to repair law states that the homeowner must first give the contractor a chance to repair the problem before suing him.
There isn’t a single standard for the entire industry when it comes to warranties. A lot of residential contractors adopted the one year warranty for their projects. This is beneficial to the builder because it limits their risk. The homeowner, on the other hand, might end up trading away the implied warranty in the process.
Since this is so, be sure to review your contract and see if the one year warranty is ample for you. You could actually go beyond warranties. A lot of good builders – may you find one – continue to be accommodating even beyond a year. Repairs and fixes can be made even after the one year warranty has already expired.
Don’t worry, though, as warranty issues are quite rare. Builders have to do quality projects so that they protect themselves and the owners as well.
Remember that as the homeowner, you can actually request for a longer warranty period. You could state that you’re amenable to one year warranty except for latent defects. After all, these kinds of defects are those that take years to discover (e.g. foundation issues).
One other option is to ask your contractor about their insurance. Most of them have products that offer extended warranty. There are even some that offer as long as 10 years; these are, of course, already backed by insurance companies. Such insurance is often paid for by the contractor but the cost is passed on to the customer.
You can also ask the help of an attorney so that you ascertain that you’re not giving up any rights. You also need to screen your contractor carefully so that the home construction or renovation project goes smoothly.
Follow us on our social media
© McCreery's Home Furnishings | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
