Defendable Quality Systems

With construction defect lawsuits all too common, home builders might be challenged to demonstrate that every reasonable effort was made to ensure construction quality. Many builders believe they have a sound quality system in place, yet few builders have proof of their efforts. Even with good intentions, committed employees and competent trade contractors, builders without a documented system cannot convince anyone that their quality practices are sound or applied consistently. A formal quality assurance (QA) system can meet the legal challenge.

With dozens of trade contractors and thousands of building components, records that document sound construction practices can seem like a paperwork nightmare to any builder. Records should be kept as simple as possible. A look at how attorneys use the documentation helps focus on the right information.

Often, plaintiff attorneys use state-of-the-art practices to establish a reference standard of performance. In 1987, the U.S. Department of Commerce established ISO 9000 as a national standard for QA systems. In many industries, attorneys try to make the case that anything less than ISO 9000 quality practices is negligent. An attorney likely will expect documented evidence of the following: