Buildings fail for two reasons: bad building, and bad advice about building. The second category — the design that didn’t work, the survey that missed the subsidence, the certificate signed without the inspection behind it — belongs to professional negligence. These claims matter for a blunt practical reason: professionals carry insurance, which frequently makes them the recoverable defendant when the builder has vanished into insolvency.
Mary Molloy Solicitors are solicitors, not engineers, architects or building surveyors. Nothing on this page is a technical assessment of any property or works. Defects claims stand or fall on independent expert evidence — a chartered engineer’s or building surveyor’s report — obtained early. Scheme rules, grant rates and legislation in this area change frequently; confirm the current position before making any decision.
The Defendants and Their Duties
- Architects: design errors, defective contract administration (certificates issued for defective or unfinished work), supervision failures on what they undertook to inspect;
- Engineers: structural design and assessment failures — foundations, loadings, retaining structures — where errors cost most;
- Building surveyors: pre-purchase surveys missing what competent inspection of that scope should find — the homebuyer’s classic claim;
- BCAR certifiers: design certifiers and assigned certifiers whose Certificates of Compliance were given without the diligence the role demands — the post-2014 frontier: BCAR roles explained;
- Quantity surveyors and project managers within their respective undertakings.
How These Cases Are Built
On the shoulders of another professional: negligence is proven by an independent expert of the same discipline saying, in a report that survives cross-examination, that no reasonably competent colleague would have done this. Our sequence: the documents (retainer, drawings, certificates, correspondence) assembled; the right expert matched to the discipline and the defect; the claim mapped against both clocks — limitation and the insurer’s notification requirements; then the letter of claim that opens the PI-insurer negotiation where most of these cases resolve. Full guide: professional negligence claims explained.
Paid for Expertise That Failed?
Bring the report, the drawings or the certificate. We will map duty, breach and the insurance behind the defendant.
Call 01 5827148