Warranty from Date of Manufacture

Specification & Product Discussions Construction Contract Administration Discussions
1

I know there have been several warranty threads here, but I haven’t found one on point for this. You specify a ten-year warranty from date of substantial completion, manufacturer offers ten years from date of manufacture. How successful have you been with getting manufacturers to change their standard warranty to meet your specification? How important is it, anyway?

It would seem to me that at a minimum you should get a credit for the difference, but I suspect that ends up being insignificant. And if you accept date of manufacture, shouldn’t you expect the submission to give that date, instead of waiting until the product is installed to find out it is nine years and ten months old.

(Never been a big believer in the efficacy of warranties anyway…)

2

I guess I have to respond in what I feel is a systematic way, which always takes longer.

First, were not talking about the warranty. Theres only one warranty on the work and that is in the general conditions.

So, what you the specifier specifies is already termed a special warranty (AIA A201 9.10.4, 12.2.2, 13.7.1.3). You (or the owner) write the special warranty, not the contractor or producer.

Why would you ever want to accept a producers notion of warranty, which often protects him more than the owner? In your case, starting the 10-year duration from date of manufacture is the producers game, and you need not play it.

Your PART 1 SPECIAL WARRANTY article should recite most of the provisions of industry-proposed warranties common for that type of product. However, your own words must state what protects the owner in matters of duration (for instance, from date of delivery to the Work site until 10 years after date of Substantial Completion), If you do so, you have created a special warranty that does no harm to the owner, yet that is close to that industrys custom.

Construction Specification Writing, 5th Ed. (Rosen and Regener) describes the process well in pp. 87-91. It is hard to say what CSIs PRM says because pp. 5-187 5.195 are written using non-AIA terminology, and no reference to A201.

To enforce you specify that the proposed language of the producers letter of special warranty be submitted before any other submittals. If the language is approved by you, the other submittals will then be reviewed. Unless the producers stock language just happened to be right on the button, a stock special warranty form from the producer would never be acceptable.

Are there acceptable producer special warranties (or "limited warranties, or guarantys, or guarantees) out there? Yes, perhaps one in a dozen or one in a hundred. Here is an example of a good one from a quality entrance producer, only slightly compressed:
1.5 Warranty (sic)
A. Project warranty: Refer to Conditions of the Contract for project warranty provisions.
B. Producers Product Warranty: Submit, for Owners acceptance, producers warranty for entrances as follows:

  1. Warranty Period: Two years from Date of Substantial Completion of the project provided however that the Limited Warranty shall begin no later than 6 months from date of shipment by ____.

This a good, not a perfect, special warranty draft. It would be still better for you the specifier to rewrite it, taking the opportunity to designate what kinds of defects are reasonably covered, also listing any pass-through special warranties from the finish, glass, and hardware suppliers, and the nature of the remedy if the assembly (or a component) is defective.

I believe it is practical to write special warranties (editing customary industry provisions to make them benefit the owner) without ever inviting submittal of a producers stock warranty form.

I would hope that at the end of a job the Contractor / producers would have submitted signed special warranties on their letterheads, without submittal of any pretty forms surrounded by scrollwork.

3

George, consider the following:

  1. A201 3.5.1 has no term and only promises “conformance to the requirements of the Contract Documents”.
  2. A201 12.2 is relative to “DEFECTIVE WORK” not warranty. Correction of defective work is required for acceptance of the work, not as warranty work.
  3. A201 13.7 is relative to “STATUTORY LIMITATION PERIOD” not warranty. This applies even if there is no written contract.

My belief is that the warranty required by 3.5 is satisfied at the time the owner makes final payment (see A201 9.10.4).

The only A201 requirement I can find relative to warranty term is found in 9.10.4, “.3 term of special warranties required by the Contract Documents”.

Seams to me, any warranty you specify is enforceable, however, enforcement of a warranty requirement NOT OFFERED by a manufacturer is likely to result in the need for disput resolution under 4.4 or more appropriately, mediation under 4.5.

My experience has been that manufacturer’s will NOT comply with any warranty requirement other than his OFFERED warranty no matter what the contract documents require.

Irequire submission (as a informational submittal) of the manufacturer’s warranty form for the work to be provided.