Masonry Magazine March 2002 Page. 16
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WRITTEN WARRANTY/continued from page 14
What is left for today's owners is a myriad of written manufacturers' warranties, all overwhelmingly benefiting the manufacturer. These written warranties commonly incorporate the words "material", "labor" and "extended terms", but then list every possible scenario for the manufacturer to escape liability if a problem with the product ever arises. Nevertheless, these written manufacturers' warranties do provide some practical benefits to the owner and the design professional.
REQUEST FOR WARRANTY FORMS
First, written manufacturers' warranties can benefit the design professional by ensuring that the material or system will be installed properly. Most products involve some type of installation procedure detailed in the specification, drawings, and technical data sheets. Most of those product installation procedures leave room for the contractor to cut corners in order to save money.
Written manufacturers' warranties can restrict or even eliminate such cheating by having the manufacturer police the installation of their material through request for warranty forms. Most manufacturers have these forms, which are simply forms that a contractor needs to complete and return to the manufacturer before a warranty is issued. Those forms contain questions such as "how many square feet are on this project" and "how many gallons of material were used."
If the answers to those questions do not match up with the manufacturer's recommended standards for such a project, that manufacturer can start a procedure in motion for that contractor to complete the installation of the product as originally recommended by the design professional and manufacturer. Since the general contractor usually holds money back from the subcontractor until such warranties are turned in, the subcontractors are strongly motivated to comply.
For example, some subcontractors are notorious for extending a manufacturer's recommended coverage rate for installing a clear water repellent on a brick, block or concrete structure. Once the material is applied, an inspector cannot determine whether the material was applied properly, or sometimes even at all, by simply viewing the building. However, if that project calls for a written manufacturer's warranty to be issued at the completion of the project, the subcontractor will need to fill out the request for warranty form for the manufacturer. That subcontractor will have to fill out a signed form stating how many gallons of water repellent was used on this project and how many square feet were covered. If the coverage rates do not match up, that water repellent manufacturer will recommend to the design professional or owner that another coat should be installed.
Simply by knowing this information will be required at the end of the project strongly affects the quality of the performance of a contractor. In addition, most diligent manufacturers follow the purchasing patterns of their subcontractors very closely, so subcontractors are properly reluctant to fill out false information on those forms. Therefore, while design professionals and manufacturers cannot guarantee the proper installation of specified materials, a written manufacturer's warranty can provide a mechanism to police a subcontractor's installation procedure, helping to ensure the proper installation of a product.
SPIRIT OF THE WARRANTY
Second, the design professional and owner can benefit from written manufacturers' warranties by having a manufacturer remedy a product failure by following the "spirit of the warranty". Two (more on page 18)