Good, detailed documentation of your health history and past medical procedures helps your doctor to make accurate diagnoses. Accurate documentation also enables professors, students, historians, accountants, legislators and others do their jobs and keep others apprised of developments, changes and points of view.
Detailed documentation can also help developers and general contractors minimize or even eliminate construction defect claims. It’s especially useful to document the elements of construction in the ground or in walls – parts of structures that will be hidden from view when the project has been completed – so that what is inside or beneath a finished building without expensive, time-intensive searches for alleged defects.
Robust documentation can help a contractor show that a structure was built properly with good materials and according to design. Of course, it is much easier and less costly to generate documentation as work is being done rather than after a structure has been completed.
To be clear, robust documentation is not always inexpensive to generate and maintain, but it can be much, much cheaper than the expense, time and effort needed to deal effectively with construction defect litigation.
It’s also important for construction industry professionals to carefully document any corrections you undertake, including efforts by members of your team, as well as discussions and plans agreed to by consultants, government figures, property owners and so on.
Probably the most persuasive form of documentation is created with cameras. Videos and photos will tell a court what kinds of construction methods were used and what kinds of elements were incorporated in the structure, how testing was carried out, and so on.
While no amount of detailed documentation eliminates the possibility that you might one day find yourself forced to respond to construction defect claims, robust documentation and an attorney experienced in putting it to good use can help minimize legal and corrective construction costs. Should you have any questions on construction litigation topics, please contact us using the email or telephone contacts found on our website at www.macdonaldlawgroup.com.