It may have taken a lot for you to make the financial investment of starting a new construction project in your home. So it may be rather disappointing, not to mention unacceptable, if you notice damage to your house afterwards. What’s worse is if these damages cause personal harm to you and your family. With this, you should be compensated for your troubles in some capacity. That said, please continue reading to learn who is potentially liable for a construction defect in your home and how an experienced New York City real estate attorney at Zimmet Law Group, P.C., can help you recover.
Who is potentially liable for a construction defect in my home?
There may be more than one potentially liable party for the construction defect that caused damage to your home. Overall, the general contractor you hired for this construction project may be held responsible for the work of their hired subcontractors. So, even if they did not physically contribute to the construction, they should have properly supervised the subcontractors and deterred them from any negligent actions.
And so, the subcontractors may be to blame if they performed sloppy work that directly led to your home’s damage. For example, say that when they worked on your roof, they failed to put down the right amount of shingles, install proper flashing, or apply adequate ventilation. In any of these cases, you may have experienced a roof leak during a serious rainstorm or weather event, which subsequently caused your home to incur detrimental water and flood damage.
Using this same example, the architect or engineer assigned to your construction project may be at fault if they made flaws in the roof design. That is, if they designed the roof without proper ventilation or chose unsuitable roof materials given the general local weather where your home resides. However, this responsibility may fall on the manufacturer or supplier of the roof material. This is if the materials were defective or inherently substandard.
How should I hold the negligent party liable for my damages?
No matter who the exact at-fault party is for your construction defect, you may sue them for negligence to recover from your home’s repair costs, devaluation, and other associated economic and non-economic damages. In such a claim, you must demonstrate that the at-fault party owed you a duty of care in constructing a home environment that was safe and livable. Of note, this duty of care may be explicitly written out in the construction contract you signed before the project commenced.
Then, you must prove that the at-fault party acted negligently in some way, thereby breaching their duty of care. You must show tangible evidence that, with this breach, you incurred serious property damages. You may even have proof that you or your loved ones got physically hurt as a result of this destruction. Ultimately, you must claim the compensatory damages you want to make up for this incident.
If you have made it this far, please do not hesitate to seek further information from a competent New York City real estate attorney. The team at Zimmet Law Group, P.C., is willing and able to guide you through your future legal processes.
