Why Construction Defects Are Rampant In the Building industry Today

As a general contractor, expert construction witness, and a Construction deficit attorney I have observed the alarming increase in construction defects throughout California and many western states.

The reasons are obvious; Number one is skyrocketing property values in the western states. This puts developers in the position where they must accept the lowest construction bid regardless of circumstance.

 Likewise contractors must rely on unskilled labor in order to keep labor costs low to remain competitive in this highly charged market. Unskilled workers lacking the proper training and experience use only common sense in construction practices rather than tested and approved methods. This can really cause problems and result in construction defects. If these methods are repeatedly applied to production housing the defects can grow exponentially.

Also the demand for energy efficient and environmentally sound housing has brought increasing complexity to the building and home construction industry. The huge increase in building since the 1990s means that there are fewer qualified workers and short supply of proper quality materials, this has often led to shortcuts in construction. 

With this increase comes the added burden placed upon City and County inspectors. It is just not possible for them to inspect every home or building. Incidentally, inspectors are mostly immune from liability; they often miss seemingly obvious construction blunders as well as serious and oft times dangerous defects.