Texas gives builders the Opportunity to Repair. Should they?

The Residential Construction Liability Act (RCLA), which remains intact after the legislature abolished the TRCC in 2009, gave Texas home builders the opportunity to repair construction defects and inspect their own work to verify that it was good.

These images from unhappy homeowners use humor to argue that it makes little sense to allow the same contractor that did shoddy work in the first place to come back into their home to do a shoddy FIX. Afterwards, we see an example of a very real construction defect that is affecting dozens (or hundreds) of homeowners.

But what about homes?

Would you let any of these guys back in to fix their construction defects?

Get Real

OK, the above images are over-the-top and hardly represent Texas homebuilders. But the image below shows one of the many construction defect problems we see in this state. In this case, the builder has been destroying evidence since the wall collapsed, and several San Antonio city inspectors are now under criminal investigation for taking bribes to overlook defects and building code violations.

How did RCLA happen?

To get RCLA passed, homebuilders and home warranty companies argued that contractors should have an opportunity to fix construction defects before being subjected to provisions of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). RCLA was intended to encourage the resolution of construction disputes and to protect and reward responsive contractors who timely fixed their mistakes.

This paper by attorney Cheryl Turner explains the complex history of RCLA and how it insulates contractors & warranty companies from the consumer protections of DTPA, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. RCLA's builder protections now apply even if they "don't make an offer to repair, fail to make a reasonable offer, or fail to perform the agreed-upon repairs in a good and workmanlike manner." Builders have used RCLA to prevent class actions and block access to consequential or punitive damages and attorney fees.