When people hire a contractor to complete a construction project in Colorado, they expect it to be done correctly. Of course, there are times when the workers make mistakes or the product has deficiencies that were not immediately apparent. These may cause defects in the project.
This can certainly upset the owner of the property who may have paid a significant amount of money for the construction project.
The owners may want to bring a construction defect claim against the contractor who completed the project. However, starting a construction defect claim is different from initiating other types of lawsuits.
Process for construction defect claims
In Colorado there is a process that the owner needs to follow.
First, the owner needs to provide the contractor with 75 days’ notice for residential projects and 90 days’ notice for commercial projects that they intend to file the claim. This is called a notice of claim and it needs to be written.
If the contractor requests to inspect the defect, the owner must give them reasonable access to the property for inspection. The contractor’s inspection needs to occur within 30 days of service of the notice of claim.
After the inspection, the contractor has 30 days for residential projects and 45 days for commercial projects to provide the owner with a written settlement offer or offer to remedy the defect. The offer to remedy needs to state the findings of the inspection, the scope of work needed to repair it and the time it will take to complete the project.
The owner has the option to either accept or reject the contractor’s offer. If the owner rejects the offer, they are able to file their claim against the contractor. If the owner does not accept it within 15 days of receipt of the offer then it is deemed rejected as well.
Experienced attorneys understand this process and also how to defend against these claims. Consulting with them may be beneficial.