When you hire a contractor to build your home, you expect to be impressed with the work he or she does. Unfortunately, the process may not be as smooth as you hope, and you may wind up filing a dispute over your contractor’s work.
It is important to file your dispute in a timely manner. As with most complaints, there is a statute of limitations that applies to construction claims.
Common construction disputes
If you do not have experience with construction codes or regulations, you may have no idea what qualifies as a legitimate construction dispute. The following points are all valid disputes:
- Breach of contract
- Negligence
- Subpar work performance
- Construction defects
- Misinterpretation of work, specifications or plans
The right to cure statute
According to FindLaw, Arizona is one of the states that enforces the right to cure for construction claims. This means that before filing a formal lawsuit, you must give the contractor notice of the problem and allow him or her the opportunity to fix it.
Arizona also enforces a statute of repose to prevent contractors from being liable indefinitely for construction claims. If you do not discover the problem in the first eight years, you are unable to hold the construction company liable for the problem later.
The statute of limitations
If you discover the defect or problem within eight years and the construction company refuses to inspect and repair the mistake, you may file a lawsuit. The statute of limitations in Arizona includes the following:
- Two years for cases involving torts
- Three years for cases involving fraud
- Six years for cases involving contract disputes
While these may seem like significant time frames, it is always important to file claims as quickly as possible.