Contractor's Responsibility after Substantial Completion

Building Section Vignette and Multiple Choice

Contractor's Responsibility after Substantial Completion

Postby KenArquitech » Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:11 am

Below is a question from designerhacks..

The Owner occupies a portion of the building after the Architect has deemed the project is substantially complete. The Owner notices a hole in the wall that wasn’t noted on the Architect’s punch list. Who is responsible for fixing the issue?

A) The Owner has taken occupancy and is therefore responsible because the cause of the damage cannot be established.
B) The Contractor is responsible for the repair even though it was not on the original punch list.
C) The Contractor is responsible because only a portion of the building is occupied and other construction activities continue.
D) The Architect is responsible because he/she missed the damage during the original punch list walk-through.

The Answer is A; however I believe this to be incorrect due to the A201 subparagraph 12.2.2.1 that says the contractor is liable for corrections to work within a year of the last completed portion of work. Is my assumption correct?
KenArquitech
 
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Re: Contractor's Responsibility after Substantial Completion

Postby ccolley12 » Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:30 am

I think you are confusing punch-list activities with workmanship warranties. The stipulation you reference would be more for things discovered within the first year that simply were not installed correctly the first time. For this case, you couldn't say for sure if the hole was trade damage (thus the contractor's issue) or the movers fault or the occupant/owner's fault.

Having worked on school buildings though (both as the architect and contractor) if the contractor were responsible for every ding and dent for a year, they would go broke!!
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Re: Contractor's Responsibility after Substantial Completion

Postby KenArquitech » Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:41 am

ccolley12 thanks for your reply it was helpful!

Ah okay this makes sense. SO the owner waivers the right to have the contractor come correct a hole in a drywall when occupying the building BUT if something major is not complying with the CDs within the year warranty like for example.. glulam beams instead of joists.. then the contractor is liable (ignoring for now the possibility of litigation) to come fix the work. IS that right to assume? Thanks again!
KenArquitech
 
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Re: Contractor's Responsibility after Substantial Completion

Postby ccolley12 » Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:47 pm

Yeah, in general you are on the right track. The owner has the right/ability to occupy part of the project (assuming the local jurisdictions allow for a partial Certificate of Occupancy), but NOT w/o assuming some responsibility. This begins to fall into the common sense area of these exams...

From a practical point of view, when I have done phased occupancy of a project, we are very aware of when the punch list is done relative to an owner moving in. This way the contractor is clearly on the hook for the punch list items and not for things that didn't make it on the punch list.
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