The owners succeeded in part, with the respondent builder ordered to pay $19,092.73 in damages for defective domestic building works, substantially less than the approximately $78,500 claimed. The Tribunal found that where owners unreasonably refused the builder's offer to rectify defects (here, the stormwater drainage and concrete paving), damages are limited to what it would have cost the builder to rectify rather than the owners' actual third-party costs — but the burden of proving unreasonableness lies on the builder. The contractual right to rectify under the defects liability period clause does not create a general unfettered right to rectify defects notified outside that period. A claim for liquidated damages for late completion was refused where it was not pleaded in the final points of claim and not addressed during the hearing. The VBA Guide to Standards and Tolerances was treated as a useful but non-binding reference for assessing workmanship standards, and does not override statutory limitation periods under the Building Act 1993 (Vic).
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