Tracking defects throughout the liability period

Introduction

As a quality manager, you stay responsible for tracing a defect back to the correct subcontractor long after handover. Many contracts stipulate that a contractor is responsible for defects in completed work for a fixed period. This is known as the defects liability period, liability period, or warranty period.

Dalux links every inspection, test, task, and photo to the exact location where the work was performed. This ensures that the work history is traceable when a defect surfaces months or years later.

The challenge

After a building is handed over, subcontractors are still responsible for any defects that appear during the liability or warranty period, as well as for any outstanding items that were recorded at the time of handover.

This outstanding work, which is often a patent defect, is often scheduled for completion after the building is already in use, making it difficult to follow up.

Defects that appear after handover, or latent defects, were often not visible at the time of completion. Tracing it back to a root cause and responsible party only works if the original construction documentation is complete and easily accessible. If registrations exist as loose files disconnected from a specific location or element, the documentation cannot be trusted months later.

How Dalux solves it

In Dalux, registrations and photos are recorded directly on the drawing or 3D element to which they belong, rather than being filed separately afterwards. Each registration made during construction is timestamped and linked to its physical location. Thus, the construction history of any given element accumulates as work progresses, even before handover is in sight.

The result

With Dalux you get:

• Location-linked history, built as you go: A complete history for every element, created dynamically during construction and not just assembled at handover.
• Direct traceability: A defect reported during the liability period traces directly back to the original inspection, test, or task that covered that same location.
• Evidence, not guesswork: Documentation to establish which party is responsible for a defect, rather than relying on memory or scattered files.

Building location-linked history throughout construction

During construction, each check is tied to a specific role and location. The construction manager uses inspection plans to verify subcontractors' work against predetermined points on drawings or 3D models. Contractors use test plans to check and document their own work at the same locations.

Checklists provide more detail for these points or serve as stand-alone documents for controls that do not require a full inspection or test plan. Hold point checklists route checklists through approvals when work requires sign-off from more than one discipline before continuing, such as permits for hot work or digging.

All of these types of registrations can be linked to the exact location of the task, inspection, or planned work.

The Location data field for task and checklist templates should be set to required to ensure it is always linked to the 3D model or drawing. Relevant inspection and test points should always be tied to a 3D or 2D object group to reduce the risk of unmapped registrations.

Outstanding defects remain visible and are assigned to the correct subcontractor, rather than being lost once occupancy begins. Photo albums, 360-degree photos, and SiteWalk add a visual layer to locations, showing what a room or element looked like on a given date.

A location is rarely closed permanently after a single inspection. Other trades may access the same space before it is finished, and later work can go unnoticed if there is nothing to compare it to. If a defect appears after occupancy, such as damage hidden behind a closed surface, comparing photos or 360-degree images from different dates can reveal what changed and when, even if the initial inspection found no problems.

By the time a defect is reported during the liability period, a history of the work has already been established. Those investigating can access the location to see who inspected and tested the work, which checklists and hold point approvals were used, which tasks were opened and closed, and what the area looked like at the time. This documentation is created during construction, not after a dispute begins.

Fewer disputes when a defect surfaces

When a defect is reported during the liability period, you do not start from a blank page. The location already has a documented history you and the subcontractor can both point to.

With Dalux you get:

• A ready-made timeline: Registration history and image documentation already exist for the location where the defect appeared
• Clarity on when it happened: The record shows whether the issue was caught and fixed earlier, missed during inspection, or introduced after handover
• A shared point of reference: You and the subcontractor rely on the same documented history, whether the issue involves a warranty claim, retention money, or a patent defect