Due to the often high value of property and building work, construction professionals have a great deal of responsibility and duty of care towards their clients. Poor construction can have a huge impact on clients and third parties, causing huge financial loss on top of the obvious inconvenience and delays.

 
Examples of construction negligence

• Work that goes far out of budget or takes significantly longer than initially agreed
• Construction that uses substandard materials that degrade or warp in certain conditions
• Poor workmanship or quality that has a different result than initially promised
• Loss of asset value through bad workmanship

Construction negligence compensation

Most construction professionals are engaged pursuant to a written contract which defines the duties and terms of the agreement. In the absence of any express terms, there will be implied terms that the construction professional will act with reasonable skill, care and diligence, and will carry out the required service within a reasonable period of time.

Often, the injured party will be able to claim for breach of contract. If however there is no direct contractual relationship between the parties, eg where sub- contractors are involved or where the time period for bringing a contract claim has expired, then you may be able to bring a claim for negligence in what is known as the law of tort.

Do I have a claim?

There is a 3 stage test:

1. That the professional owed you a duty of care. This is generally easy to show where you directly instructed the professional. If you did not directly instruct the professional, whether they owed you a duty of care depends on the proximity of the relationship between you and the professional.
2. That the professional has breached that duty of care. The issue is whether the professional’s work has fallen below the standard to be expected of a reasonably competent professional. Expert opinion evidence from another professional in the field may be required to establish what a reasonable standard was and whether the professional fell below this standard.
3. That the professional’s breach of duty has caused you loss. This is not always as obvious as it may seem. Even if the professional’s conduct has been negligent, you have to be able to prove that you have lost out financially through the negligence.

If you believe that you have been the victim of construction negligence, get in touch with our friendly and understanding team who can help you redress the situation. We are generally able to undertake the claim on your behalf on a no win no fee basis.

Call us now on 0292 0507 507, or click here to email us for more information.