Real estate law is complicated because it is a patchwork of laws and legal precedents that can extend past the founding of our country. However, something that has been around from the very beginning is construction defects. From the very beginning, we needed buildings, and at some point, defects started popping up. And, defects can occur at every stage of construction in Newport, Kentucky.
The stages of construction
There are essentially four stages of construction: the design phase, site and subsurface preparation, material selection and then, the construction itself. At each phase, a defect can occur, especially during the construction phase.
Design phase
The design phase refers to the planning stage when your architecture and engineer draw up the building and mechanical plans. If they make mistakes in their drawings, defects will plague your building in the future.
Site and subsurface preparations
After the plans are drawn up, the next phase is preparing the site and subsurface for the building. This includes ensuring that the planned construction site has sufficient drainage, and the land is ready for a solid foundation.
Material selection
Of course, there could be a product defect that causes issues with your new Newport, Kentucky, building, but the material selection itself could be the defect. For example, the wrong fan selection could kill airflow and make a warehouse unusable. The wrong lighting could make a building dangerous. And, the wrong pipe selection could cause a pipe to burst.
Construction phase defects
Construction phase defects refers to workmanship defects that can occur at any point in the construction phase. This could be a wiring, plumbing, drywall, etc., defect that occurred because of a lack of due care in the construction process.
Regardless of when the defect occurred, construction defects often lead to real estate litigation. And, when it occurs, you will need a Newport, Kentucky, real estate lawyer to prevail.