We have all heard someone accused of defective design or construction say “we did it that way because that is the way we have always done it.” While there are circumstances that require analysis of industry standard behavior, those instances do not arise often. More often than not, your obligation is controlled by an interpretation of the contract documents: the construction agreement, the plans and the project manual including the specifications. The interpretation is dependent upon both the type of contract that exists between the parties and the type of direction that is provided by the project designer. Let’s begin with some fundamentals.
Under the traditional design, bid, build delivery system, the project owner grants to the contractor an implied warranty that the contract documents are fit for their intended purpose of constructing the improvement. This warranty is known as the “warranty of constructability” and referenced in legal circles as the “Spearin Doctrine.” This doctrine springs from a United States Supreme Court opinion written in 1918, the United States versus Spearin (248 U.S. 132 is the reporter citation). The Spearin Doctrine has been adopted throughout the United States. It was adopted specifically in Florida in a 1970 case between Wood Hopkins Contracting Co. and Masonry Contractors, Inc. (235 So.2d 548). The Spearin Doctrine stands for the notion that a contractor who performs the work and supplies the materials in strict conformance with the requirements of the contract documents may have no liability if the end result is not what was anticipated by the owner. Stated another way, if a defect in the resulting construction is due to a deficiency in the project plans or specifications then a contractor will not have any liability. That is typically our starting point.