When you hire someone to build or repair your property, you are buying a promise. The promise is that the work will be done with reasonable skill and care, resulting in a structure that is safe, sound, and fit for its purpose. Poor workmanship is the breaking of that promise. It is the direct cause of building defects, which are not just cosmetic annoyances but can be serious failures that compromise the integrity, value, and safety of a building. This area of construction liability holds builders, contractors, and tradespeople accountable for the quality of their work.
Poor workmanship is fundamentally about a failure to meet the accepted standard of care in the construction industry. It is not about occasional minor imperfections, which can happen in any complex project. It is about a consistent or significant departure from good practice. This can manifest in countless ways: a roofer who installs tiles incorrectly, leading to chronic leaks; a foundation crew that pours concrete improperly, resulting in cracks and settling; an electrician who uses substandard wiring, creating a fire hazard; or a carpenter whose flawed framing makes a floor dangerously bouncy. The common thread is a lack of the necessary skill, attention, or diligence.
These acts of poor workmanship directly create building defects. Defects are typically categorized into two types. Patent defects are obvious and can be discovered through a reasonable inspection during or immediately after construction—things like a visibly crooked wall, a leaking pipe joint, or incorrect paint. Latent defects are hidden and may not become apparent for months or even years. These are often the most dangerous and costly, such as faulty waterproofing behind a shower wall that leads to pervasive mold, or inadequate structural supports that only fail under a heavy snow load years later. Latent defects are particularly problematic because the damage is often extensive before the problem is even detected.
The consequences of these defects are severe and multifaceted. Financially, the cost to repair the defect itself is just the start. There is often collateral damage to other parts of the building—water from a leaky roof ruins drywall, insulation, and flooring. There are also consequential losses: a family may need to relocate during repairs, a business may lose income, and the property will almost certainly suffer a loss in market value. Most importantly, there are safety risks. Faulty electrical work can cause fires, poor structural work can lead to collapses, and toxic mold from water intrusion can cause serious health problems. The emotional stress for a homeowner dealing with a defective home they trusted to be their sanctuary should not be underestimated.
Legal liability for these issues generally falls under two main concepts: breach of contract and negligence. When you have a direct contract with a builder, they have explicitly agreed to perform the work to a certain standard. Poor workmanship is a clear breach of that contract. Even without a direct contract, the law imposes a duty of care. A builder or specialist owes a duty to the property owner to perform their work with the competence of a reasonably skilled professional in their field. Failing to do so—whether through carelessness, lack of skill, or deliberate corner-cutting—is negligence. For latent defects that appear long after completion, the legal discovery rule often determines when the clock starts ticking on the time limit to file a claim, which is from when the defect was or should have been discovered, not just from the date the work finished.
Ultimately, cases about poor workmanship and building defects are about accountability for a job poorly done. They are not about punishing honest mistakes, but about remedying failures that fall below the basic standard the industry and the law expects. The goal of the legal system in these matters is to make the property owner whole—to put them, as much as money can, in the position they would have been in if the work had been performed correctly in the first place. For anyone facing a major building defect, understanding that this is a recognized and serious legal wrong is the first step toward seeking a remedy and ensuring responsible parties bear the cost of fixing their own failures.
