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What are construction defects?

Let's start with the fact that in every apartment in Israel, yes, in every apartment, there are some or other defects.

This is not imaginary, this is reality! But we'll touch on that later.

As a rule, a construction defect is a failure in one of the construction systems (skeleton, plaster, flooring, cladding, etc.) or any mismatch to any of the components of the apartment.

As a definition under the Sale of Apartments Law, a construction defect is in fact the difference between what was promised in the contract of sale to the buyer and what actually exists in the area.

Listed below –

4 a. (A) The seller has not fulfilled his obligations towards the buyer or the sub-buyer if one of the following has occurred:

(1) the apartment or anything in it (hereinafter – the apartment) differs from what is stated in the specification, official standard or building regulations;

(2) during the inspection period, a non-conformity was discovered in the apartment, unless the seller proved that the non-conformity was caused by an act or omission of the buyer or sub-buyer;

(3) during the warranty period a discrepancy was discovered in the apartment and the buyer or subcontractor proved that it originated in the design, work or materials;

It can be concluded, therefore, that construction defects can be reflected in plumbing plumbing, quality of finish, skeleton, flooring, cladding, carpentry details and virtually all components of the apartment wherever they are. In addition, the defect can be reflected in the gap between the approved plans and what was actually built, for example dimensions, products, etc.

Defects that are inconsistent with the requirements of the Planning and Building Laws and / or the sales specifications and / or Israeli standards (if any) are divided into several main groups –

Reasonable defects – usually at the level of finish (aesthetic defects) and those that do not affect the lifestyle of the tenants. Most often these are defects resulting from the contractor’s failed execution or implementation and directly affect the visibility of the property.

Safety defects – Defects that constitute a safety failure such as a non-standard railing and / or even the differences between adjacent tiles for which the tenant may be damaged. Another example could be as a power point in a problematic and non-standard place. These defects can harm the lifestyle of the tenants.

Severe defects – this group constitutes failures in the skeleton of the building (constructive defects), cracks as a result of the foundation of foundations, poor slopes that can cause water resistance and drainage to the interior of the apartment and / or problems in plumbing. Curved walls can also be in this category since such a situation may result in a decrease in the value of the apartment.

And back to the issue of defects in the country.

It is no secret that the level of construction here is not high and there will even be those who will define it, directly, really low.

What causes it? From a complex of lack of supervision in close stages of construction, from unskilled and incompetent manpower for certain jobs, from unprofessional and inexperienced supervisors and even from the contractor's indecisive and critical conduct towards his subcontractors.

Research was conducted in the field of defects on behalf of the Technion and found that the inspectors on behalf of the developers rarely detect the construction defects (only 3% of them), while the tenants identified at least 20% of the defects upon entering the apartment.

The defects have already become an integral part of the construction and the contractors even price it in advance since they themselves know that the defects cannot be prevented. True, this building is not high-tech and defects, minor as they are, do exist. But on the other hand, most defects are caused due to lack of attention and inadequate control and due to failure to use required materials.

The ideas and conclusions for streamlining the control system are discussed every day, but in practice things move more slowly than desired, for example – manpower upgrades, training of engineers / inspectors who will deal with quality control, professional instructors who will guide materials and more.

And that has to be dealt with right now unfortunately.

In conclusion,

Once we understand that everyone has a responsibility, from the workers (referred to in the study as the "creators of the defects") to the foremen and performance engineers (referred to in the study as "the omissions of the defects") things may change for the better.

The tenants in the end (referred to as the research "from the defect sites") are the ones who indicate existing defects, also with the help of a professional inspection company that knows how to check the same defects in a standard way.

Not all defects can be repaired and the solution will be extremely superficial. Mental sadness in these cases is not a bad word and even exists in practice. The consequence of this is financial claims and ongoing resentment of the buyers in the face of the contractor's conduct.

Only a small part is finally assimilated, but there is still a long way to go.

Bedek Beit Israel is a professional company for detecting construction defects.

The inspection is performed in a standard manner, since in order to detect a defect, it is necessary to inspect according to the standards and in a decent manner and with full transparency in front of the customer.

The level of service is a top value in our company and the consultation also continues beyond the limits of the test itself, always at your service!