To the ordinary layperson, a warranty is a mysterious piece of reading material filled with trade jargon. But facility managers need to deal with a warranty for any project or activity contracted out to professionals. In the case of deck coating projects, many manufacturers or contractors can pretty much get away with protecting their interests when drafting the warranty, simply because facility managers don’t bother to eagle-eye this piece of document.
The document may be hard to understand from the layman’s perspective, with technical language and other warranty esoteric. But the facility manager should look carefully at the warranty period — too short a period is unacceptable, but so is a 10-year warranty. Why? The facility can be stuck with the same deck coating contractor — faults and all — for 10 years.
How about deck coating materials warranty? A manufacturers’ product warranty maybe spelled out clearly, but it needs to be taken into account together with the contractor’s warranty. A 2-year warranty on certain deck coating materials but with a 4-year warranty on the activities that will use these materials may mean that worn out materials will be bought out of the facility’s pocket even when the contractor’s work is free.
With a discerning eye, deck coating project warranties can provide the best benefits not only to the contractors and suppliers but to the facility as well.
