Tem­po­rary Dis­con­for­mi­ty In Build­ing Defects: Myth, Not Law

The “tem­po­rary dis­con­for­mi­ty” argu­ment in con­struc­tion dis­putes sug­gests that defec­tive work iden­ti­fied before prac­ti­cal com­ple­tion is not a breach while the builder retains a con­trac­tu­al right to rec­ti­fy. NSW courts have con­sis­tent­ly reject­ed this propo­si­tion, con­firm­ing that defec­tive work con­sti­tutes a breach at the time it is performed.

The notion of “tem­po­rary dis­con­for­mi­ty” is some­times advanced in build­ing dis­putes where defec­tive work is iden­ti­fied before prac­ti­cal com­ple­tion or han­dover. Builders will argue that because they retain a con­trac­tu­al right to rec­ti­fy defects, defec­tive work does not amount to a breach until that oppor­tu­ni­ty has passed. On this view, non‑conforming work is said to be mere­ly “tem­po­rary” and there­fore not action­able by the owner.