Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Hello!

In October 2006, my husband and I had a contractor agree to remodel our master bath. He assured us the work would be done in three weeks, and introduced us to the plumber and to the tile contractor.

The main contractor himself was fine; jovial and easy to work with; all work done by him personally was on time. But his subs and the tilesetter in particular were less so. While the plumber turned out to be a little slower than promised, the guy who installed the tile was a world-record holder. The 3-week job that began in October ended up FINALLY wrapping up in Mid-March of 2007! We were so glad to have the tilesetter out of our house after five and a half months that we bit our tongues about some poor workmanship that to us was only cosmetic; we just wanted to be able to use our bath again and have a little privacy restored.

Some of that poor workmanship has come home to roost; we re-did some re-sealing of the tile some months after they left, but just today, I see where some grout must have gapped inside the shower pan, and the tile is lifting. There is a 1/4 to 1/2 inch gap running about 15 inches along the doorsill where the horizontal tiles cap the vertical tiles, and clearly water has gotten in there and under the tiles, and swollen the tileboard. Not an easy or fast fix.

What is the law regarding what the contractor is liable to repair and for how long after he originally finished? My husband has been unemployed now for seven months; money is tight and we are NOT interested in the same tile setter *ever* entering our house ever again.... please answer, now our shower is again unusable!

Thank you so much in advance for your speedy response!

Sincerely,

---Marie and Bob


Asked on 11/02/09, 1:02 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Since the tile guy was a subcontractor, only your general contractor is liable to you for the repair. You should deal with him. If the defects were not discoverable by reasonable inspection, you have ten years to sue from the date of substantial completiont of the project. The only bad news is that in residential cases there is a statute that requires you to give the contractor the opportunity to repair the defect before you seek other remedies. If he want's to use his original sub, you have to let him. You can, however, put reasonable time limits on him and if he exceeds them you can either require him to get a new sub or get one yourself and go to small claims court to make him pay the expense (assuming this will cost under $7500, which it sounds like it would). Also, make sure that when the tile is removed to be re-set that the area is checked for dryrot. Bad tile often lets moisture in and then traps it, leading to decay of the underlying structural wood. If that has happened, your general contractor is also liable to repair that before re-setting the tile.

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Answered on 11/07/09, 1:56 pm


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