Do they have to let me fix a defect before charging me for it?
Usually, yes: most subcontracts say you must get notice and a reasonable chance to fix it before others are brought in at your cost.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
It depends on your own subcontract, so read its defects and set-off clauses rather than assuming. Amended forms sometimes shorten the period, or let the main contractor act at once in an emergency. If your subcontract requires notice and none was given, the charge is exposed. Even if some cost is recoverable, the question becomes what the repair would have cost you to do yourself. That is often far less than a replacement contractor's price. If a notice was given and you did not respond, your position is much weaker. Whether a missed notice defeats the charge entirely, or only reduces it, can be a legal question for your solicitor. Either way, answer every notice to remedy in writing, with a date.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor's account is cut by £7,400 for another contractor's repair of leaking joints in its pipework. The subcontract requires written notice of defects and 7 days to attend.
What happens
- The subcontractor asks for the notice. None exists, only the site manager's email to his own commercial team.
- Its foreman prices the repair at £1,900 of labour and materials, from the other contractor's description of the work.
- The subcontractor disputes the charge because no notice was given. Without giving up that point, it puts forward £1,900 as the most the repair could have cost it.
The charge against the cost of remedy
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Charge deducted | £7,400 |
| Subcontractor's own cost to remedy | £1,900 |
| Difference in dispute | £5,500 |
The outcome
The main contractor settles the line at £1,900 and returns £5,500 in the next valuation.
Keeping every notice to remedy answered in writing is part of our Contra-Charge Prevention routine.