After acceptance with complaints the second part begins: demanding a remedy. There is a detail here that surprises many clients — the right to subsequent performance is yours, but the law gives the choice of method to the contractor. And the route to every further right opens only with a deadline set in writing.
Notifying the defect and setting a deadline to fix it
The right to have defects remedied belongs to the customer, but the law lets the contractor choose the method. The key step is setting a reasonable deadline in writing.
✓ Verified: 02/08/2026
WHAT TO DO
DOCUMENTS 3
› Details and tips
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Max recommends:
I demanded the whole thing be redone; the tradesman offered a repair. I assumed the choice was mine as the client. It is the other way round: the law gives the contractor the choice, and I am left with the claim to the result.
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Lea recommends:
Write the deadline as a specific date, not as words like as soon as possible. A date makes the deadline verifiable, and everything that follows runs from it.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What counts as a defect in a contract for work? ▾
The law treats the work as free of defects where it has the agreed quality. Where nothing was agreed, what matters is suitability for the use assumed under the contract, and otherwise the customary use and the quality usual for work of that kind.
Can I choose how the defect is remedied? ▾
No, and this surprises people most often. The law provides that where subsequent performance is demanded, the contractor may choose either to remedy the defect or to produce the work anew. The customer demands a defect-free result; the route there is the contractor’s choice.
Who pays for the call-out and materials during the remedy? ▾
The contractor bears the expenses necessary for subsequent performance. The law expressly names transport, travel, labour and material costs. A separate invoice for travelling out to fix the contractor’s own defect is therefore unfounded.
Why is setting a deadline unavoidable? ▾
Because almost all further rights attach to the unsuccessful expiry of a reasonable deadline. Without one, self-remedy or a price reduction are premature, and your position in a dispute is markedly weaker.