Hi all,

What are the normal practice to ensure that the contractor for renovation work will repair things that they didn't do correctly ? Do you hold a small portion of the money and only after certain time if no problem only let the money go?

Normally what is the warranty period ?

Thanks

you can contractually agree to any warranty period your contractor feels comfortable. my contractor gives me a one-year full warranty beginning with the last payment. it all depends on your negotiation i guess.

I don't think there is a standard for it.

Mostly it depends on owner the contractor agreement or negotitaiton.

ok but problem is, if the contractor don't want to fulfill their warranty agreement, how ?

if you got legal documentation then sue the contractor. if you have this little trust in your contractor - go get a different one though.

don't understand the 2nd part of your statement

if you already suspect your contractor might fullfill their agreement this means you dont really trust him and you expect problems too. so i'd go for a contractor that i have more faith in.

The correct way in hiring a contractor is you should have a simple agreement with them.

1. The warranty period in construction field is called Defects Liability Period.
Normally, for renovation the owners of the house will ask for 3month to 1 year of DLP. If anything happens during this period which it is cause by the contractor fault, they will need to repair it.

2. Always hold 5-10% of your total renovation cost. This 5-10% of sum from your total renovation cost is call Retention Sum. This retention sum goes with Defects Liability Period. The retention sum is normally release upon the expiry of Defects Liability Period, whereby you have make sure that the job done by the contractor is to your satisfacton, then you can release this retention sum to the contractor.

edyek,

rentention sum is a good idea. didnt do it myself since i know my contractor but yes will keep this in mind

you think the contractor will agree to this DLP ?

Knowing your contractor or not is one thing. Black and white is a must in society these days. It is something that can secure your relationship with the other side without any dispute in later stage.


Of course if you asking some contractor to install e.g. Door grille, than this method is not effective and useless. Imagine that he only charge you RM 500 for a door grille, and he need to wait 3 months to claim the last 5%.

In this case, it applies to major reno work. Complicated renovation that cost 50k, 100k or more.

It is a common norm in construction industry. If the contractor does not agree to DLP that means he is not confidence in his work, and if that is the case, why should you hire him? There are tonnes of others contractor out there provides good services and literally making no headache for you.

thx for the advice

edyek,

of course i got a contract. it would be silly not to. i just paid in full after i was satisfied. i sort of modified my warranty period to only start upon my satisfaction witht he work provisioned and full settlement of the amount due. it all depends on preferences - and knowing the guy made me be OK with the full payment and he was OK with giving me 1 year warranty after last payment made. which effectively gave me a warranty of almost 2 years due to him beeing slow in finishing the final things

That's a very good deal you have got there. Getting your renovation contractor to give you close to 2 years warranty. It must be an extensive renovation job.

Normally, they will give the most 6 months.