Contractor finds failing rafters mid-deck rebuild: how to handle hidden conditions and change orders

According to a post on r/Contractor, the builder took a $10,000 deposit and pulled a permit to rebuild the balcony on a four-unit house. While setting temporary supports, the crew found that the rafters of the roof over the balcony were barely fastened to the building and that the beam carrying them had sagged and was rolling. The owner has pushed back on paying for more work.

The model contract answer is Section 3.7.4 of AIA A201, the standard general conditions published by the American Institute of Architects. It covers concealed or unknown conditions and requires the contractor to notify the owner before the condition is disturbed, and within 14 days of first spotting it. AIA Contract Documents tells contractors to stop the affected work when it is safe to do so, keep people away, and record the condition with dated photos and video, sketches and written notes before anything is removed. Shoring, investigation and changed work should be tracked under a separate cost code.

Connecticut adds a hard rule. Section 20-429 of the state's Home Improvement Act requires every change to a home improvement contract to be in writing and signed by both the owner and the contractor. Courts have held that doing changed work with no signed record of the change is not a minor technical lapse, which can leave the contractor unable to enforce the extra charge. A contractor who met the act's basic requirements can still ask a court for the reasonable value of work the owner requested.

For a small remodeler, the sequence is a written notice the day the problem turns up, an engineer's repair detail to price from, and a change order the owner signs before the added work starts. A contract that already carries a concealed-conditions clause and a unit price for structural repair shortens that argument. The temporary shoring stays up while it plays out.