Such responsibility involves trust. When consideration is given to the fact that shortcuts and, indeed, construction defects will soon be covered by other tradesmen, this places enormous faith on a subcontractor. And that subcontractor can take bankruptcy protection the day after being paid for the work. This points to the need for a better system of checks and balances to ensure that an additional layer of protection is in place. The attorneys realize that trust can only go so far and must be tempered with reality if their clients, the builders, aren't to be held responsible for construction defects that generally start with the subcontractors.
Subcontractors obtain their licenses by taking a rather simple test administered by the state.
And, reportedly the licensing authority is so underfunded that it has insufficient staff to properly administer the policing of these licensees. When the ease with which the license can be obtained is coupled with the minimum amount of technical knowledge required to perform often technically complex tasks, the stage is set for construction defects and the resultant litigation. It is therefore imperative that where the subcontractor's contract with the general contractor doesn't call for all of the subcontractor's staff to have a high degree of skill and comprehensive knowledge of the job conditions, the general contractor must then understand the particular trade involved and also watch that subcontractor's work. Simply because it is an impossible task for a general contractor to supervise every element of a construction job, logic must decree that the watcher needs to be watched as does the construction job itself.