{"id":901561,"date":"2023-08-31T14:22:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T20:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=901561"},"modified":"2023-08-31T14:22:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T20:22:13","slug":"construction-contract-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-contract-101\/","title":{"rendered":"Contract Drafting 101: Implied Warranties and Design Delegation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>James Yand | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.millernash.com\/industry-news\/contract-drafting-101-implied-warranties-and-design-delegation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Miller Nash<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Important elements of a strong <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-contract-top-five-provisions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">construction contract<\/a> include implied warranties and design delegation. It is necessary to pay close attention to these concepts to protect against future disputes. When a contractor is confronted by an owner\u2019s claims that the contractor did not adequately construct a project, a foundational defense is that the owner (through its design professional) provided defective plans and specifications. This is also known as the Spearin Doctrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the central issue in the Washington Court of Appeals\u2019 recent ruling in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/caselaw.findlaw.com\/court\/wa-court-of-appeals\/114543540.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>King County v. Walsh Construction Company II LLC<\/em>\u00a0(2023)\u00a0(FindLaw No. 83787-7-1 (Wash. App. July 3, 2023))<\/a>.\u00a0<em>Walsh<\/em>\u00a0affirms this important implied warranty, and ultimately reversed a trial court win for King County arising from a broken sewer pipeline. The case also highlights the importance of close contractual scrutiny of express warranties provided in the prime contract. The\u00a0<em>Walsh<\/em>\u00a0court held that the contractor could maintain its implied warranty defense to a claim that the contractor had an obligation to correct a failed pipeline. Under the implied warranty, as affirmed in\u00a0<em>Walsh<\/em>, there is a warranty automatically incorporated into every construction contract requiring the contractor to build in accordance with plans and specifications furnished by the owner: \u201cThe [owner] impliedly guarantees that the plans are workable and sufficient.\u201d\u2009Put another way, the court explained that \u201cto successfully assert a\u00a0<em>Spearin<\/em>\u00a0defense \u2018the contractor must establish that\u2026its obligations went no further than to conform with the plans and specifications prescribed by the owner as part of the contract.\u2019\u201d This clear separation of duties becomes muddled once contractor takes on design responsibilities, commonly referred to as design delegation. When added, the contractor is now responsible to make sure the materials provided to the project are adequate to carry out the design intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is increasingly common to see construction contracts that delegate to the contractor these design responsibilities through express warranties and expanded scopes of work. The owner may modify the contract to include an express warranty that the materials and equipment installed by the contractor will \u201coperate satisfactorily under the plans and specifications of the owner.\u201d If that express warranty or some similar language is included by the owner, it will displace the implied warranty of design adequacy. In the Walsh contract, no such express warranty existed. Instead, the Walsh contract disclaimed any obligations by the contractor to provide design services or to maintain the pipeline in perfect condition for a specified period of time. This disclaimer should serve as an important lesson for any contract administrator that wants to avoid any design responsibilities that are now prevalent in many construction contracts. This understanding will preserve a fundamental defense of the contractor if (and when) design deficiencies become a problem or disputed change order on a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary, look for any warranty provision in a construction contract that the work will \u201coperate satisfactorily under the plans and specifications of the owner.\u201d This is frequently identified as a warranty that the \u201cmaterials are suitable for their intended purpose.\u201d Although innocent sounding, it can have grave consequences down the road. When the owner\u2019s designer specifies the materials, the contractor should seek to have the warranty of suitability of materials removed, so the owner maintains the risk for its designer\u2019s selection and approval of materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Yand | Miller Nash Important elements of a strong construction contract include implied warranties and design delegation. It is necessary to pay close attention to these concepts to protect against future disputes. When a contractor is confronted by an owner\u2019s claims that the contractor did not adequately construct a project, a foundational defense is&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-contract-101\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Contract Drafting 101: Implied Warranties and Design Delegation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[9895,224,11947,11948,9160],"class_list":["post-901561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-design-delegation","tag-implied-warranties","tag-spearin-doctrine","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Contract Drafting 101: Implied Warranties and Design Delegation - Advise &amp; 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